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

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.

To work with application templates, follow these general steps:

1. From the main menu, click Templates and click Template Library to view the Application Template Library.
2. From the Template Library, click New.
3. Type a name for the template.
4. Select an existing category or create a new category to help you manage the applications that users will assemble from the template. Categories are useful for filtering the views of both the template library and the applications catalog.
5. Describe the template. Type meaningful text to characterize the template to meet the needs of all users.
6. Select an existing template as your starting point. Initially, the only template available for selection is Portal Blank Template, which defines the category of applications known as Composite Applications. Each application template that you create will become available for selection as a starting point to create another template.
7. Click OK to display the Template Library, which now includes the new application template.
8. Filter the view of the template library to show all application templates or templates belonging to a particular category.
9. For each template in the library, you can see its name, owner, category, modification date, and lock status. The name of the template owner includes the person link, which displays business card information, online presence, a menu of actions for contacting the template owner.
10. If you want to customize an application template by importing a template definition from your file system, click Import.
11. From a template listed in the Application Template Library, click the name of a template to display the drop-down menu of choices for managing application templates:

    • Edit Template Properties
    • Edit Template Layout
    • Edit Template Parameters
    • Manage Roles
    • Export Template
    • Delete Template
    • Assign Template Permissions
    The menu choices that you see will depend on the level of access that you have for editing application templates.

• Application template properties
  Use the Properties portlet to view and edit the properties of a template that defines applications. From the drop-down menu of an application template that is listed in the Application Template Library, click Edit Template Properties to display the properties of an application template.
• Application template pages
  Use the Application Layout portlet to view, create, and manage pages defined by the template for instances of applications that are created from the template. From the drop-down menu of an application template that is listed in the Application Template Library, click Edit Template Layout to work with template pages.
• Application parameters
  Use the Parameters portlet to view and edit the parameters defined by a template for the applications and application components created from the template. From the drop-down menu of an application template that is listed in the Application Template Library, click Edit Template Parameters.
• Roles and access levels
  Use the Role portlet to manage membership roles for composite applications. From the drop-down menu of an application template that is listed in the Application Template Library, click Manage Roles to display the Roles portlet.
• Deploying a template
  Deploy a composite application template to another sever by exporting and importing the template XML file from the source server to the target server. Use the Application Template Library on the source server to export the template XML file. Use the Application Template Library on the target server to import the template XML file.
• Staging application templates to production
  Stage templates for composite applications to a production environment using the procedure for staging document libraries to a production environment.