How iWidgets are represented in the portal model

For easy handling of iWidgets WebSphere Portal provides a dedicated IWidget Wrapper portlet. This portlet maps the iWidget concept into the portal administration model.

The portal unique name of this portlet is wp.p.IWidgetWrapper .

An iWidget definition is identified by a corresponding unique iWidget Definition URI. For each individual iWidget definition the portal has at least one corresponding clone of the IWidget Wrapper portlet that provides management access to this iWidget. The portal creates such an IWidget Wrapper portlet clone in the following cases:

When you register a new iWidget definition URI in the portal, the portal infrastructure loads the corresponding iWidget definition XML file and maps the information provided by the referenced iWidget definition into corresponding portlet metadata. This includes information about events and modes that the iWidget supports. The title and description of the created IWidget Wrapper clone are derived from the corresponding values of the iWidgets idescriptor item set.

The portal maps all preferences exposed by individual iWidgets, that is elements of the iWidget attributes item set, directly to corresponding portlet preferences. Consequently you can configure the values for those preferences by using the corresponding portal administration interfaces. For example, if an iWidget defines an attribute named zipcode, the corresponding IWidget Wrapper portlet clone defines a portlet preference named zipcode. You can modify this value, for example, by using the Manage Portlets portlet. You can also create additional clones of such IWidget Wrapper portlet clones for supporting multiple pre-configuration variants of the same iWidget definition. Users can overwrite these preferences in the Edit Shared Settings and Personalize modes in the same way as portlet preferences.

The iWidget specification includes an attribute named sandbox. You can use it to determine whether you want the corresponding iWidget definition to be rendered in an iWidget sandbox. For details about the iWidget sandbox refer to the iWidget specification. The portal maps this iWidget sandbox attribute to a portlet preference named com.ibm.portal.iw:iwidget:sandbox. You can modify this preference by using the same approach as mentioned in the previous section to control whether the corresponding iWidget definition is rendered in an iWidget sandbox.

The portal stores the URI that points to an iWidget Definition used for a specific IWidget Wrapper clone in a portlet preference with the key com.ibm.portal.iw:iwidget:base . If the actual IWidget Definition changes, for example if new events are declared in the definition, this URI allows to reload the updated iWidget definition information from the given URI and update the IWidget Wrapper portlet accordingly. You trigger such reloads by one of the following two options:

You manage access control privileges on individual iWidgets by granting users and user groups access to the corresponding IWidget Wrapper portlet clones. The portal applies the same access control enforcement model that it uses for portlets to iWidgets wrapped by IWidget Wrapper portlets. This means:


Parent

Use widgets


Related tasks


Register iWidgets for use with the Page Builder theme
Reusing registered iWidgets
Customize iWidget attributes
Update iWidget attributes when refreshing iWidget definitions
Manage the Page Builder theme by configuration tasks

 


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