Implementing custom IBM Connections queries

IBM Connections provides a comprehensive remote API. Use this API to access social data through Atom feeds.

For more information about the API, read IBM Connections 4.5 API Documentation.

We can build custom queries for social data by constructing corresponding query URLs. To render the result of such a query on the portal pages using WCM design components, proceed as follows:

1. Identify or create the list-rendering profile for the data format the query URL serves. For example, your query might use the IBM Connections Forums remote API to query for a specific set of forum topics. In this case, use the forum topics ibm.portal.sr.forums.topics profile to transform the result documents that this URL serves.

2. Establish the list-rendering context for this query. To do so, specify the query URL as a source attribute, and address the appropriate IBM Digital Data Connector (DDC) for WebSphere Portal plug-in that can handle the request. We have two choices:

   • If the profile that we use is based on the profiles that are included with IBM WebSphere Portal v8.5, use the social rendering DDC plug-in.

   • If we use a custom list-rendering profile, use either the generic XML DDC plug-in or a custom DDC plug-in that you deployed.

   Example: To retrieve the list of all public communities, you establish the list-rendering context as follows:

   [Plugin:ListRenderingContext action="set"     extension-id="ibm.portal.ddc.sr"     profile="ibm.portal.sr.communities"     attribute="source=https://www.ibm.com/connections/communities/service/atom/catalog/public"]
   

3. To render the result, we must render an appearance component of Digital Data Connector. In that component, you extract the individual pieces of information. We do so using the [AttributeResource] tag and the attribute names the list-rendering profile that we use supports. Example: In the community query that is shown in the previous step, we can render a link to a detail view of the community. We do so by adding the following markup to the Result Design section of the DDC appearance component:

   <a href="[AttributeResource attributeName='link']">
       [AttributeResource attributeName='title']
   </a>
   

4. After the rendering of the appearance component is completed, make sure to remove the list rendering context again. This is especially important to nest list rendering contexts to render nested lists. You remove the list rendering context as follows:

   [Plugin:ListRenderingContext action="remove"]
   

   For more information, read Set the list-rendering context.

Parent Extending social lists using the digital data connector

Related information

The IBM Connections context rendering plug-in
IBM Connections 4.5 API Documentation