Liferay MVC Portlet Development with Liferay IDE
Introduction:
Liferay MVC is portlet development framework given
by Liferay. We will use Liferay MVC framework to develop JSR 168&286
standards portlet and deploy into liferay portal. This frame work is liferay
specific one and we can use in liferay portal.
Liferay IDE is eclipse Plugin and it as tool to
develop liferay portlets by using different portlet frame work.
Liferay IDE has support for multiple portlet frameworks
one of the frame work is Liferay MVC.
We will use Liferay IDE to develop Liferay MVC
portlets.
Environment:
Liferay
IDE 2.x+Eclipse (Kepler) +Liferay Plugins SDK 6.2+Tomcat 7.x Liferay Portal
Bundle
Prerequisites
Note:
Follow above two articles before start this article.
Liferay IDE have different version like 1.x and 2.x
we may expect some changes form version to version don’t worry almost same at the
time of portlet development.
Once we done all steps in above article then we are
ready with Liferay Development Environment with Liferay IDE.
Now we have to choose Liferay Prospective in the
Eclipse.
The
following is Liferay Prospective in Eclipse
Creating
Liferay MVC Portlet with Liferay IDE
Step:
1
In the eclipse click on create new liferay project option in eclipse.
The
following is screen show create new liferay project
Step:
2
In the Project Dialog we need provide project name,
Display Name, Build Type, Plugins SDK and Server Environment.
Now select Plugin Type is Portlet and click on check
box i.e. Include sample code and check the box i.e. Launch New Portlet Wizard after project is created, once we have done
all click on Next
Follow
the below screen
Note:
We have different built types and please select ANT
type which is default one.
If you have multiple server environments then select
your environment
If you have multiple Plugin SDKs then select your
Plugins SDK.
Plugin type we have options like portlet, theme, layout, ext,
web, hook and service builder portlet.
We are developing simple portlet so choose portlet Plugin
type in select box.
We need check the check box Launch New Portlet Wizard after
project is created so that we will get another widow after created the portlet
and there we can give our custom portlet
class name.
From Liferay IDE 2.x onwards Project Dialog window
have many option at the time of portlet creation and this is different from
older version of IDE.
Step:
3
Once we click on next in above step then we will get
another dialog window here we need to select portlet development frame work.
We
already know we are using Liferay MVC frame work. Now we need click on radio
button Liferay MVC then click on finish.
Note:
As soon as you click on finish it will create
Liferay MVC portlet and it will add all configuration files and it will create directory
structure it will take few seconds to create all.
Step:
4
Once project is created you will get another Dialog
Window there we need give the Custom Portlet Class Name and our class is
extends the MVC Portlet class, finally click on next button.
Follow the screen below.
Note:
Select radio button Create New Portlet so
that it will create portlet with our custom portlet class and it will be
extended the MVCPortlet class.
Need to provide our Portlet class, Java Packages and
Super class it’s MVCPortlet
Step:
5
Once we click on next in above step we will get
another dialog there we have to provide some more information so that portlet
will be created accordingly.
Once portlet is created you can see Portlet Project in
Package Explored i.e. in left side of Eclipse IDE and Portlet related ANT build
file i.e. you can see in ANT view which is right side of eclipse.
The following screen shows you Project and
it ANT file
While Project creation as I said it will create all
required portlet configuration files and its configurations as for the data we
provided at time of project creation. It will also create the directory structured
for the project.
Each Portlet project has its own ANT build file i.e.
build.xml
file and this build file have different targets to deploy the portlet into liferay
portal.
The
following is screen shows Project Directory Structure and ANT build Targets.
Note:
At time of project creation it will create one default
portlet after that we have another dialog window there we have created new portlet
and there we provided our custom class name, so totally we can see two
portlets.
Here we can ignore default portlet or you can remove
default portlet configuration form portlet.xml, liferay-portlet.xml and
liferay-display.xml files.
When we use Liferay IDE 2.x we can see above
scenario.
Portlet
Deployment:
When we create portlet project then each project has
ANT build file i.e. build.xml
file, it has ant targets to deploy the portlets in liferay portal servers.
In the eclipse if we see in ANT view right side, you
can see portlet project build file. If you e open tree view then you can see
all available ANT targets for the portlet project.
In the available targets one should be default one that
is you can see different color in the ANT view.
We will use ant deploy
target to deploy the portlet in liferay portal server.
Simply double click on deploy target in the eclipse
ANT view so that portlet will be deployed into liferay portal server that is
tomcat or Jboss
When we run deploy target all log message you can
see in eclipse console view.
If no compile time error then it will show build
success message otherwise it show compiles time errors in the console.
If build success then it will be packages as war
file and deployed into liferay deploy directory.
As soon as war file places in liferay deploy directory
auto deploy scanner will copy the portlet into server deployment directory and
it will be extracted in deployment directory then portlet available in the
application so that we use it.
Start
Liferay portal Server
Before you deploy the portlet your liferay portal
server should be start mode.
We can also start server from eclipse that is
configures servers in servers views you can simple click on start option then
server will be start.
Once we successfully deployed portlet and start the
server then portlet available to add in page.
Using
Portlet:
Access Liferay portal using you host name port
http://localhost:8080
Generally when create portlet then it will be
available in sample category default. We already know at time of creation we
will provide the category we can find there.
Login as liferay admin in liferay portal in the
application section you can see the sample category.
The
following is login screen
Add
portlet to page
Added
portlet to page
Now if we want
developed code or modify/add jsps we can do it for project and need to deploy
again so that changes will be applied portlet.
Important
Points
- When we create project from eclipse it will create all basic configuration files and required directory structure for the portlet project.
- Configuration files are like portlet.xml, liferay-portlet.xml, liferay-disply.xml file and web.xml and all these are available in WEB-INF directory.
- Portlet class is available in src directory we can modify.
- Jsp pages are available in the path we specified in project creation so that we can add new jsp pages or we can modify existed jsp pages that are default jsp page.
- As we already know portlet class should extends MVC Portlet class so that we can call it as Liferay MVC Portlet
- When we run ant deploy target first all java classes will be compiled and packages as war file then placed in liferay deploy directory.
- As soon as it will be placed in deploy directory then auto deploy scanner will add additional configurations to the portlet and placed into server deployment directory then portlet available
More Details about
Liferay MVC Portlet Please go through following Articles
Note:
MVC Portlet is default portlet
in liferay and we will have many choices
portlet, JSF, Struts Portlet or Spring Portlet
Portlet
Anatomy/Directory structure
The following is
portlet directory structure
In Main Project parent directory
we have docroot and build.xml file available.
Build.xml file for
build the liferay portlet and it is any file so that we can deploy the portlet.
In Liferay all files
and directories will be places in docroot
In side docroot we have
WEB-INF and this will contains all xml files, classes and lib directory and
also src directory for java classes.
Jsp pages will be
available in direct docroot.
docroot
is directory just for development conveniences after packaged as war file docroot will be excluded.
You can add more code samples
which I have given in previous articles and you can download from my source
forge location.
Download Liferay MVC Portlet Examples
Employee Liferay MVC Portlet Code samples
Web.xml
<?xml version="1.0"
encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app id="WebApp_ID"
version="2.5"
xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">
</web-app>
|
Portlet.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<portlet-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/portlet/portlet-app_2_0.xsd"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/portlet/portlet-app_2_0.xsd
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/portlet/portlet-app_2_0.xsd" version="2.0">
<portlet>
<portlet-name>Employee Liferay
Mvc</portlet-name>
<display-name>Employee Liferay
Mvc</display-name>
<portlet-class>
com.meera.liferaymvc.EmployeeLiferayMVC
</portlet-class>
<init-param>
<name>view-template</name>
<value>/html/jsps/view.jsp</value>
</init-param>
<expiration-cache>0</expiration-cache>
<supports>
<mime-type>text/html</mime-type>
<portlet-mode>view</portlet-mode>
</supports>
<portlet-info>
<title>Employee Liferay
Mvc</title>
<short-title>Employee Liferay
Mvc</short-title>
<keywords></keywords>
</portlet-info>
<security-role-ref>
<role-name>administrator</role-name>
</security-role-ref>
<security-role-ref>
<role-name>guest</role-name>
</security-role-ref>
<security-role-ref>
<role-name>power-user</role-name>
</security-role-ref>
<security-role-ref>
<role-name>user</role-name>
</security-role-ref>
</portlet>
</portlet-app>
|
Liferay-portlet.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE liferay-portlet-app
PUBLIC "-//Liferay//DTD
Portlet Application 6.2.0//EN"
"http://www.liferay.com/dtd/liferay-portlet-app_6_2_0.dtd">
<liferay-portlet-app>
<portlet>
<portlet-name>Employee Liferay
Mvc</portlet-name>
<icon>/icon.png</icon>
<header-portlet-css>/css/main.css</header-portlet-css>
<footer-portlet-javascript>
/js/main.js
</footer-portlet-javascript>
<css-class-wrapper>
employee liferay mvc-portlet
</css-class-wrapper>
</portlet>
<role-mapper>
<role-name>administrator</role-name>
<role-link>Administrator</role-link>
</role-mapper>
<role-mapper>
<role-name>guest</role-name>
<role-link>Guest</role-link>
</role-mapper>
<role-mapper>
<role-name>power-user</role-name>
<role-link>Power User</role-link>
</role-mapper>
<role-mapper>
<role-name>user</role-name>
<role-link>User</role-link>
</role-mapper>
</liferay-portlet-app>
|
Liferay-display.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE display
PUBLIC "-//Liferay//DTD
Display 6.2.0//EN"
"http://www.liferay.com/dtd/liferay-display_6_2_0.dtd">
<display>
<category name="category.sample">
<portlet id="Employee
Liferay Mvc"></portlet>
</category>
</display>
|
Portlet
Action Class (EmployeeLiferayMVC.java)
package
com.meera.liferaymvc;
import
java.io.IOException;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import
javax.portlet.ActionRequest;
import
javax.portlet.ActionResponse;
import
javax.portlet.PortletException;
import
com.liferay.portal.kernel.util.ParamUtil;
import
com.liferay.util.bridges.mvc.MVCPortlet;
public class EmployeeLiferayMVC
extends MVCPortlet {
public void
addEmployee(ActionRequest actionRequest,
ActionResponse
actionResponse) throws IOException, PortletException {
String employeeName
= ParamUtil.getString(actionRequest, "employeeName");
String employeeAddress =
ParamUtil.getString(actionRequest,
"employeeAddress");
Map<String, String>
employeeMap = new HashMap<String, String>();
employeeMap.put("employeeName", employeeName);
employeeMap.put("employeeAddress", employeeAddress);
actionRequest.setAttribute("employeeMap", employeeMap);
actionResponse.setRenderParameter("mvcPath","/html/jsps/displayEmployee.jsp");
}
}
|
Default portlet view
page i.e. view.jsp (/html/jsps/view.jsp)
<%@ taglib
uri="http://java.sun.com/portlet_2_0" prefix="portlet" %>
<portlet:defineObjects />
<portlet:renderURL var="addEmployee"
windowState="normal">
<portlet:param name="mvcPath"
value="/html/jsps/addEmployee.jsp"/>
</portlet:renderURL>
<h1>Welcome to Liferay
MVC Employee Portlet</h1>
<a href="<%=addEmployee.toString()%>">Add Employee</a><br/>
|
Add
employee jsp page (/html/jsps/addEmployee.jsp)
<%@ taglib
uri="http://java.sun.com/portlet_2_0" prefix="portlet" %>
<portlet:defineObjects />
<portlet:actionURL var="addEmployeeActionURL"
windowState="normal" name="addEmployee">
</portlet:actionURL>
<h1> Add Employee</h1>
<form action="<%=addEmployeeActionURL%>"
name="emplyeeForm" method="POST">
Employee Name<br/>
<input type="text"
name="<portlet:namespace/>employeeName" id="<portlet:namespace/>employeeName"/><br/>
Employee Address<br/>
<input type="text"
name="<portlet:namespace/>employeeAddress" id="<portlet:namespace/>employeeName"/><br/>
<input type="submit"
name="addEmployee" id="addEmployee" value="Add Employee"/>
</form>
|
Display
employee jsp page (/html/jsps/displayEmployees.jsp)
<%@page import="java.util.Map"%>
<%@ taglib
uri="http://java.sun.com/portlet_2_0" prefix="portlet" %>
<portlet:defineObjects />
<h1>Display Employee
Details</h1>
<%
Map<String,String>
employeeMap=(Map<String,String>)renderRequest.getAttribute("employeeMap");
if(employeeMap!=null){
%>
Emplyee Name: <%=employeeMap.get("employeeName")%> <br/>
Emplyee Address: <%=employeeMap.get("employeeAddress")%><b/>
<%}%>
|
The
following are portlet application screens
Portlet screen
Add
employee screen
Display
Employee Details Screen
Create
Liferay Portlet Project form existing source with Liferay IDE
Before we have seen
creating New Portlet Project with Liferay IDE and Eclipse now we will see
create liferay portlet from existing source.
Generally we can
download many portlet examples from different places we want use it in our
development we need create project from existed source code.
Step: 1
We need place the downloaded
portlet or source portlet in Liferay Plugins SDK portlets directory.
Example:
D:\Liferay
Work Space\liferay-plugins-sdk-6.2.0\portlets
|
Step: 2
Now open project
directory and delete all environment related configuration files like .classpath, .project, .settings.
These files are related
to previous developed environment configuration so we don’t need these files so
simply delete.
Step: 3
Go to eclipse and click
on create Liferay project there we need select create new liferay project from
existing source code option.
Step: 4
Now browse project location
which in Liferay Plugins SDK portlets directory.
Once we select the project then
click on finish button then portlet project will be created from existing
source code and that will be visible in package explorer right side.
Step: 5
Now we need to add ant build
file to ANT vies so that we can run ant commands.
Simply open project in package
explorer and find ant build file then drag and drop build.xml in ANT view that
is in right side
Now we can run ant targets by
simply double click on targets in ANT view.
If you have any environmental Challenges
go through following link
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