How does the pluto portlet container get control?

[Kent Tong <ke...@cpttm.org.mo>]

Hi,

As the pluto portlet container is just a jar file, how does it
get control when a portlet app is trying to invoke a portlet?
Is there any hook in Tomcat specifically designed for portlet
containers to intercept the request?

Thanks!

Re: How does the pluto portlet container get control?

[Kent Tong <ke...@cpttm.org.mo>]

David H. DeWolf <david.dewolf <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> Pluto uses cross-context servlet dispatching to handle requests.  In 
> other words, when a portal implementation which uses pluto recieves a 
> request, it hands the request off to the container which then retrieves 
> the target portlet's web app servlet context.  Using this context, pluto 
> forward's the request to a "wrapper" servlet which invokes the portlet.

Thanks for the info! Does that mean that the portal app and the
portlet have to use the same instance of pluto and that all
three must run in the same servlet container?

--
Author of e-book for learning Tapestry (www.agileskills2.org/EWDT)

Re: How does the pluto portlet container get control?

["David H. DeWolf" <da...@gmail.com>]

Pluto uses cross-context servlet dispatching to handle requests.  In 
other words, when a portal implementation which uses pluto recieves a 
request, it hands the request off to the container which then retrieves 
the target portlet's web app servlet context.  Using this context, pluto 
forward's the request to a "wrapper" servlet which invokes the portlet.

David

Kent Tong wrote:
> Santiago Gala <sgala <at> apache.org> writes:
> 
> 
>>El sáb, 20-08-2005 a las 01:35 +0000, Kent Tong escribió:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>As the pluto portlet container is just a jar file, how does it
>>>get control when a portlet app is trying to invoke a portlet?
>>>Is there any hook in Tomcat specifically designed for portlet
>>>containers to intercept the request?
>>>
>>
>>Pluto is a portlet container, and it has a test/prototype portal
>>implementation. It is designed to be neutral for other portal
>>implementers, and so it is not designed as a "drop-in" war.
> 
> 
> Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm aware of that we need a portal
> app to actually invoke a portlet. But what I'd like to know
> is, when a portal app is trying to invoke a portlet, how can
> pluto, the portlet container, get the opportunity to intercept
> the request? In the same spirit, how is the code in the pluto
> jar file get called so that it can read say WEB-INF/portlet.xml?
> 
> --
> Author of an e-Book for learning Tapestry (http://www.agileskills2.org/EWDT)
> 
> 

Re: How does the pluto portlet container get control?

[Kent Tong <ke...@cpttm.org.mo>]

Santiago Gala <sgala <at> apache.org> writes:

> 
> El sáb, 20-08-2005 a las 01:35 +0000, Kent Tong escribió:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > As the pluto portlet container is just a jar file, how does it
> > get control when a portlet app is trying to invoke a portlet?
> > Is there any hook in Tomcat specifically designed for portlet
> > containers to intercept the request?
> > 
> 
> Pluto is a portlet container, and it has a test/prototype portal
> implementation. It is designed to be neutral for other portal
> implementers, and so it is not designed as a "drop-in" war.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm aware of that we need a portal
app to actually invoke a portlet. But what I'd like to know
is, when a portal app is trying to invoke a portlet, how can
pluto, the portlet container, get the opportunity to intercept
the request? In the same spirit, how is the code in the pluto
jar file get called so that it can read say WEB-INF/portlet.xml?

--
Author of an e-Book for learning Tapestry (http://www.agileskills2.org/EWDT)

Re: How does the pluto portlet container get control?

[Santiago Gala <sg...@apache.org>]

El sáb, 20-08-2005 a las 01:35 +0000, Kent Tong escribió:
> Hi,
> 
> As the pluto portlet container is just a jar file, how does it
> get control when a portlet app is trying to invoke a portlet?
> Is there any hook in Tomcat specifically designed for portlet
> containers to intercept the request?
> 

Pluto is a portlet container, and it has a test/prototype portal
implementation. It is designed to be neutral for other portal
implementers, and so it is not designed as a "drop-in" war.

Portal implementers are free to implement portals however they desire,
within the limits posed by JSR-168 (portletAPI), servlet API and other
java specifications.

In the Apache Portals project we have jetspeed, which uses pluto. Apache
Cocoon has cocoon portal, using pluto too. Other portal implementations
(Open Source or proprietary) are using pluto too.

I'd recommend you taking a look at the code of any of the OS portal
implementations, or to the pluto test portal, to have an idea on the API
for it.

Regards
Santiago

> Thanks!
> 
> 
-- 
VP and Chair, Apache Portals (http://portals.apache.org)
Apache Software Foundation