Portal, Express Beta Version 6.1 Operating systems: i5/OS, Linux,Windows

Composite applications

To begin working with composite applications, click Templates from the main menu. Use the Template Library to view and manage templates for composite applications. Use the Application Library to view, create, and manage composite applications.

A composite application is a collection of components that address a business need for a particular group of users. The collection of business components provides predefined meta-data and content that supports integrated business capabilities for personal and team productivity. The integration of information from multiple business components provides application users with content specifically geared to their business roles and tasks. For example, the business components in a composite application might include a people finder, a document library, a project team room, and personal information management components such as mail, calendar, and address book. Assembled from templates and deployed using portal services such as personalization, collaboration, and search, composite applications can be reused and customized for flexible quick start to projects without reliance on administrator support.

Application templates are intended for personnel in a business unit of the enterprise who understand the business model and business processes. Application templates promote the rapid assembly and reuse of composite applications. Business analysts and application designers can create and manage templates for composite applications. Application managers and business users can create composite applications from templates and, when appropriate, save new applications as templates for reuse by other users.

From the main menu, click Templates to display the Welcome page and two additional pages, Template Library and Application Library.

• There is one common Application Template Library and one Applications catalog for each portal installation. Users see the composite applications and application templates to which they have access, regardless of virtual portal assignments. For more information about virtual portals, refer to the topic that explains multiple virtual portals.
• The Application Template Library portlet and application catalog portlets are not supported as Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP).

Template Library

The Application Template Library is where you manage templates, create a new template as a customization of an existing template, or import a template. You can start to work initially with the Portal Blank Template.

Application templates define the properties, page layout, roles, and parameters of composite applications belonging to a particular category. The template also defines the components that are deployed on the pages of an application. From templates, you can create multiple application instances that share a common definition and customize them for different teams and communities of users.

After you create or customize an application template, you see it listed in the Application Template Library. The Application Template Library is where you and other users can view all templates that are available for assembling applications and their locked or unlocked status. A template is locked if another user is editing it. Modifying a template does not alter composite applications that already exist. Template changes affect only the applications that you create after you save template changes.

• Edit Template Properties
• Edit Template Layout
• Edit Template Parameters
• Manage Roles
• Export Template
• Delete Template
• Assign Template Permissions

Application Library

The Application Library is the page where you see Applications, the composite application catalog. The application catalog is where you can view and open composite applications and create new ones from application templates. You open an application by clicking its name in the catalog, and you start to work with it from a Blank Page.

Composite applications are assembled from templates that define the properties, page layout, and roles of each application instance. The membership portlet of a composite application lists the members of the application by their assigned roles. The components of the application are deployed on one or more application pages.

After you open an application, you can customize it and the current application page by using the drop-down menu of the application page. The menu of the application page displays the choices available to you for editing the application and the page. Your access rights to work with the application and its pages determine which actions are available to you.

• Edit Application Properties
• Edit Application Layout
• Assign Application Members
• Manage Application Roles
• Show Policy Status
• Save Application as Template
• New Page
• Edit Page Layout
• Edit Page Properties
• Assign Page Permissions
• Delete Page

Refer to the conceptual topics provided here to learn more about composite applications.

Refer to the Help topics when you perform tasks for working with composite applications, application templates, and application membership.

• Users, tasks, and tools
  Preview how users in your enterprise might use various tools to perform tasks for delivering composite applications, application components, and application templates.
• User access to templates and applications
  First, assign user access to application templates and template categories using the Resource Permissions portlet. Then create and manage roles for application users using the Roles portlet. Finally, assign application users to membership roles using the Members portlet.
• Working with application templates
  Use the Application Template Library to create and manage templates for composite applications. From the Application Template Library, you can create a new template and, thereby, become its owner. You can also import a template definition, which is stored in an XML file, and customize it.
• Working with composite applications
  Use the application catalog to create, manage, and open composite applications. To work with a composite application, use the actions that are available to you on the application page menu. From the main menu, click Templates; then click the Application Library tab to work with the applications catalog. From an open application, click the page menu to see the application actions that are available to you.
• Working with application policies
  Use Resource Policies to create and manage policies for composite applications. Policies provide an efficient way for administrators and application managers to monitor and manage application lifecycle.