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Portal Application Archive (PAA) file creation


Developers should use the Portal Application Archive (PAA) file format to install their applications with the Solution Installer. The PAA file is a customized compressed file containing an application. This application is installed on IBM WebSphere Portal using the ConfigEngine.

A PAA file contains a directory structure, component properties, and database support.


PAA file structure

Root directory Single directory containing the components and documentation subdirectories, as well as sdd.xml.

The top-level directory must match the name of the assembly as specified in sdd.xml.

Name the root directory the same as the PAA file. For example, if the PAA is...

    samplePaa.paa

...name the directory...

    samplePaa
sdd.xml Contains directions that the ConfigEngine uses to install the application.
Documentation directory Contains all the documentation that the developer considers relevant to the application, including readme files and license information. The PAA specification does not allow us to store documentation anywhere else in the file.
Components Contains one directory per component that will be installed for this application. Each component directory contains the following subdirectories:

    Config Contains subdirectories: includes and templates.

    • The includes directory contains ant tasks listed in the extension points of sdd.xml.
    • The templates directory contains script file that might be invoked with developer provided ant tasks.

    These scripts are used when storing files in other locations of the PAA file does not suffice. These scripts are also used when the script type has no direct mapping to resource types covered in the PAA specification.

    Content Contains any IBM WCM content that needs to be imported. It also contains JCR, JSP, WCM, xmlaccess, database, and PZN subdirectories.
    InstallableApps Artifacts that must be installed on the WebSphere_Portal server, including EAR files, portlets, WAR files, and compressed file subdirectories.
    Shared Library jar file that the application uses after the installation. The Shared directory has the following three subdirectories:

    • The App directory contains any jar file that needs to be globally available after the installation.
    • The Common directory contains jar file required for a limited solution.
    • The Ext directory contains any jar file that need to be globally available to all applications after the installation.

    After installing these library jar files, you must restart the server to load them into the classpath.

    Template Contains file used to create a new site template, based on one or more of the application components. Each template has its own subdirectory.
    Version Contains a single .component file with the application version information. The file contains build date, build version, name, and spec version.

    The directory specific to each component also contains the component level sdd.xml file. If sdd.xml does not exist, the installation process automatically generates it. Include sdd.xml if the installation uses custom code.


Component properties

Configuration properties can be included in the PAA file at either the assembly or component level. The properties must be stored in a file with the name of the enclosing assembly/component directory followed with .properties. The currently recognized properties include properties from a remote database and a selection property when customers want to install a nondefault template.

If no file is included for a component, the Solution Installer creates a sample properties file only where database scripts or templates exist. For database properties, the PAA developer can include a default properties file in the content or database directory that the Solution Installer uses as a starting point. Priority is given to already specified properties contained in the component_name.properties file.

See Property files for information.


Database support

The PAA developer must include all default database properties in a file called default.properties in the content or database directory. There are two directories, install and uninstall, in the database directory in the PAA file. The PAA developer should place the following scripts in these directories:

If we are providing setup scripts for different database types in a single PAA file, there is an additional step that must be performed during the PAA creation phase. For each database type a properties file must be added to the directory...

Derby scripts.derby.properties.
DB2 scripts.db2.properties.
Oracle scripts.oracle.properties.
SQL Server scripts.sql.properties.

The properties file should contain a comma separated list of scripts in the order in which they should be run for a specific database type. The Solution Installer determines at runtime which set of scripts to run for the database type requested.


See

  1. Registering multiple applications with a shared library
  2. Database properties for the Solution Installer
  3. The assembly level sdd.xml file


Parent: Develop basic solution applications
Related:
Portal Application Archive (PAA) file specification
Checking server dependency