Working with portlet deployment descriptors

In addition to the Web application deployment descriptor (web.xml), portlets must also provide a portlet deployment descriptor (portlet.xml) that defines the portlet's capabilities to WebSphere Portal. This information includes configuration parameters specific to a particular portlet or portlet application as well as general information that all portlets provide, such as the type of markup that the portlet supports. WebSphere Portal uses this information to provide services for the portlet. For example, if a portlet registers its support for the help and edit mode in the portlet deployment descriptor, WebSphere Portal presents icons with which the user can invoke the portlet's help and edit pages.

Whenever you create a new Portlet project, a portlet deployment descriptor file is automatically created in WEB-INF under the project's WebContent folder. It will be displayed as a Portlet Deployment Descriptor node under the project folder.

 

Portlet deployment descriptor editor

You can edit the portlet deployment descriptor (portlet.xml) using the portlet deployment descriptor editor. Double-click the Portlet Deployment Descriptor node in the portlet application project to open the portlet deployment descriptor editor.

Using this editor, you can create, edit, or remove a portlet, a concrete portlet, or a concrete portlet application.

The editor, like other XML editors, supports the XML source view. You can see the XML source view by selecting the Source tab. Editing the source directly is not the recommended method for editing the portlet deployment descriptor.

 

Working with the Outline view

You can use the Outline view as a navigational tool. When you select an object in the Outline view, the portlet deployment descriptor editor switches to the corresponding page and highlights the selected object. The object can also open to the Source page where the representing XML tag within the deployment descriptor will be highlighted. When you are working in the Source page, you can navigate using the XML tags.

 

Working with the Properties view

You can modify property values for specific attributes in the Properties view. To edit another tag using the Properties view, you can select the desired node in the Outline view, or select an attribute in the Source view of the portlet deployment descriptor editor. The Property column in the Properties view contains a list of attributes, and the Value column contains the editable values of those attributes. Attributes that are already included in the selected tag are displayed with their values. When you select the Value column of a property, you are provided with an editing option.

Use the Restore Default Value menu or its toolbar button to change any value back to its default setting.

 

Related tasks

Customizing IBM API portlets
Customizing JSR 168 portlets

Related reference
References