Prerequisite information

The Portal Scripting Interface provided by WebSphere Portal is based on the wsadmin scripting tool that is provided by IBM WAS. Therefore, before you use the Portal Scripting Interface, familiarize yourself with how to use the WAS wsadmin tool.


Interactive mode

Use the interactive mode if you want to interact directly and dynamically with the portal to perform simple administrative tasks that should only be executed once. For example, the administrator wants to modify the permissions of a page for a certain principal, or the administrator wants to add a portlet to a page. Use the interactive mode if you do not intend to repeat the operation.

Before initiating a session in interactive mode, verify WebSphere Portal is running. The portal script client is located in the WebSphere Portal installation directory:

You can invoke the portal script client using the following commands:

The following procedures provide examples:

  1. If WAS security is enabled, specify a user ID and password during login...

      ./wpscript.sh -port port_number -user user_id -password password

    Parameter Description
    -lang Specifies the language of the script file, command, or an interactive shell. Specify one of the following values for the -lang parameter:

    • jacl
    • jython

    Optional and has no default value. This option overrides language determinations that are based on script file names, profile script file names, or the com.ibm.ws.scripting.defaultLang property.

    If you do not specify the script language in the command line or as a parameter, and the wsadmin tool cannot determine the script language, an error occurs. If you do not specify the script language as the value for -lang, the wsadmin tool determines the script language as follows:

    • If you specify -f script_file_name, wsadmin determines language from the name of the target script file.
    • If you specify -profile profile_script_name, wsadmin determines language from the name of the profile script.

    -conntype The type of connection that should be established between scripting. Valid connection types include:

    The default value is SOAP. Optional. Use the -conntype NONE option to run in local mode. The result is that the scripting client is not connected to a running server. If the connection type NONE is selected, the scripting beans are inactive and cannot be used for administration, with the exception of the help command.
    -port
    -port_number
    The name of the connection port. This parameter is optional.

    The port_number depends on values chosen during installation. You can verify the value that is set for the WasSoapPort property in the properties/wkplc.properties file found in the appropriate directory below:

      WP_PROFILE/ConfigEngine

    If you are running wpscript on a machine that is part of a cell managed by a dmgr, the port_number can vary depending on what ports are in use on the system when the dmgr is created. To verify the value, check the setting for SOAP_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS in serverindex.xml located in the appropriate directory below:

      dmgr_profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name

    -user The user ID under which you establish the connection. This parameter can be mandatory, depending on security configuration.
    -password The password for the user ID under which you establish the connection.

  2. Log on to the portal using one of the following script commands:

      Portal.login("user_ID", "password")
      /$Portal login user_ID password

  3. Issue portal script commands as required.

  4. After you have completed all tasks by the portal scripting interface, close and exit the script processor. All changes that you committed are applied to the portal configuration.


Script mode

Use the script mode to apply predefined changes to the configuration of a portal.

The wpscript tool executes a Jython or JACL script that contains the administrative operations. The scripting client inherits the script processor from wsadmin, so an administrator can exploit the Jython or JACL scripting language, in order to write re-usable, extendable administration scripts. This mode is typically preferred if reproducible administration tasks are created: For example, the administrator can write a script that produces a complete page subtree, and adds individual page layouts and portlets on each page.

Users who have access permission to perform XML configuration interface requests can change configurations of all resources. The Portal Scripting Interface is mostly consistent with the administration model that is exposed by the Portal user interface.

Before using script mode, verify WebSphere Portal is running and a portal script file is available. Use the following procedure:

  1. Update the script file with the appropriate credentials, if required.

  2. Use one of the following commands to launch the script processor tool:

      wpscript.sh -port port_number -f script_file_name.py
      wpscript.sh -port port_number -f script_file_name.jacl

    This initializes the interactive script environment of the portal JACL or Jython script processor.

  3. Check the output from the script processor to ensure that no errors occurred during the execution of the script.

All changes committed by the script are immediately applied to the portal configuration.

The following script example creates a new page with the title A page. This page resides beneath the Home label. The page contains two portlets that are arranged horizontally.
Portal Jython script example

The following example is a Jython script file named testme.py:

# Scripting bean example: create a simple page (multi-column Layout)
#
 
# Procedure: create a multi-column page below the page that is currently
# selected, and place the given portlets into the layout.
#
# parameters:
#   name The name of the page
#   portlet_names A list of portlet names.
# returns:
#   oid The id of the page that has been created
def create_multi_col_page(name, portlet_names):
    thePage = Content.create("page", name, "html")
    Content.select(thePage)
    lyt0 = Layout.create("container", "horizontal", "select")
    for pn in portlet_names:
        pid = Portlet.find("portlet", "cn", pn)
        Layout.create("control", pid)
 
    return thePage
 
 
# main code starts here
 
# set User ID/ pwd for portal Login command
# Hint: User ID and passwords should normally not be placed inside a
# configuration script; better use property files or command line arguments
user = "user_ID"
pwd = "password"
Portal.login(user, pwd)
 
# determine and select the parent of the page to be created.
# In this example, This is the "Home" label.
Content.select(Content.find("all", "uniquename", "ibm.portal.Home")
# Invoke the page creation procedure. The label of the page is "My test page",
# portlets to be added are the reminder portlet and the welcome portlet.
newbie = create_multi_col_page("A Page",  ["Reminder", "Welcome_to_WebSphere_Portal"])
 
print "ok, we are done."


Portal JACL script example

The following example is a JACL script file named testme.jacl:

# Scripting bean example: create a simple page (multi-column Layout)           
#                                                                              
 
# Procedure: create a multi-column page below the page that is currently       
# selected, and place the given portlets into the layout.                      
#                                                                              
# parameters:                                                                  
#   name              The name of the page                                     
#   portlet_names     A list of portlet names.                                 
# returns:
#   oid               The id of the page that has been created                 
proc create_multi_col_page { name portlet_names } {                            
  global Content Layout Portlet                                                
    set thePage  [$Content create page $name html]                              
    $Content select $thePage                                                   
    set lyt0  [$Layout create container horizontal select]                      
    foreach pn $portlet_names {                                                
      set pid  [$Portlet find portlet cn $pn]                                   
      $Layout create control $pid                                              
    }                                                                          
  return $thePage                                                              
}                                                                              
                                                                               
# main code starts here                                                        
                                                                               
# set User ID/ pwd for portal Login command                                    
# Hint: User ID and passwords should normally not be placed inside a           
# configuration script; better use property files or command line arguments    
set user user_ID                                                           
set pwd  password                                                              
$Portal login $user $pwd                                                       
                                                                               
# determine and select the parent of the page to be created.                   
# In this example, This is the "Home" label.                              
$Content select  [$Content find all uniquename "ibm.portal.Home"]                 
                                                                               
# Invoke the page creation procedure. The label of the page is "My test page", 
# portlets to be added are the reminder portlet, and the welcome portlet.   
set newbie  [create_multi_col_page "A Page" { "Reminder" "Welcome_to_WebSphere_Portal" } ]
                                                                               
puts "ok, we are done."       

The scripts can receive parametric information externally, by using one of the following features:

Scripts can access command line arguments with the following variables:

argc

argv

Jython: In the preceding example script, testme.py, delete the following statements:

user = "portaladmin"
pwd = "adminpwd"

and replace them with the following:

if len(sys.argv) != 2:
   print "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.py <user> <pwd>"
   sys.exit(1)
 
user = argv [0]
pwd = argv [1]

JACL: In the preceding example script, testme.jacl, delete the following statements:

set user portaladmin                                                           
set pwd  adminpwd 

and replace them with the following:

if { $argc != 2 }  {
    puts "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.jacl <user> <pwd>"
	  exit
  }
  set user  [lindex $argv 0]
  set pwd  [lindex $argv 1]

The security-sensitive username and password are removed from the script. The modified code expects the user ID and password to be specified as command line arguments, for example:

Jython: wpscript.sh -port port_number -f testme.py user_IDpassword

JACL: wpscript.sh -port port_number -f testme.jacl user_ID password


Run scripting commands in a profile

A profile is a script that runs before the main script, or before entering interactive mode. Profiles can be used to set up environment specific behavior or user specific data. Profiles are specified when invoking wpscript, using the -profile parameter. For example, the login command can be placed in a profile.
Jython profile script example


JACL profile script example

The benefit of this change is that the environment-specific login procedure is removed from the administration script. For systems with enabled WAS security, the login procedure is as follows:
Jython scripts


JACL scripts


Parent

Portal Scripting Interface
About the Portal Scripting Interface
Configure portal behavior
xmlaccess.sh


Related tasks


Get started with the Portal Scripting Interface
Running migration tasks for composite applications
Command reference for Portal Scripting Interface
Portal Scripting Interface
Scripting for static pages


Administer WebSphere Portal


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