Oracle9iAS Portal Developer Kit (PDK)
How to Navigate the PDK by Lifecycle Stages

The Portal Developer Kit (PDK) is organized according to a development lifecycle and contains many component areas in the Develop section.  The lifecycle covers the various stages that one encounters when using the PDK for portal development.  Following through the various stages of the lifecycle is an excellent way to learn about the PDK.  If your need is more pinpointed about specific functionalities (or features) of the PDK, you are recommended to browse the PDK by component areas.

PDK Lifecycle

Below are the stages of the PDK Lifecycle.  If you are new to the PDK, you might want to read the "Getting Started" page in the Develop Section before proceeding here.

Introduction

Start at this first phase of the PDK Lifecycle to learn more about the open Oracle9iAS Portal platform and how to extend it by building portlets with the PDK.  Here, you will find links about the different stages of the PDK Lifecycle.

Plan

This is the second phase of the PDK Lifecycle.  In this section on the Plan phase, you will learn about main features in the PDK that you might need, how your portlets should behave, what parts of your application to integrate, and your portal development strategy.  This section has links to a set of overview articles about the PDK that will get you started in your planning effort.

Install

This phase is about downloading the PDK and setting up your web server to communicate with Oracle9iAS Portal through web providers.  In this section, links are provided for how to:

• Install the PDK
• Package and deploy your providers
• Use the Oracle9iAS Portal Studio Test Suite
• Install the PDK samples

The PDK release notes and a FAQ is also conveniently linked from this section.

Develop

Build your portlets and add portal features such as single sign-on, end-user personalization, and caching.  Learn from samples and articles.  Reference API documentation.  This section contains several component areas:

• Writing Portlets
• User Interface
• Session Management
• Information Storage
• Parameters and Events
• Performance
• Security
• API Documentation

You can learn about these components areas by reading the article on PDK navigation by component areas.

Test

The Test phase is all about testing and debugging your portlets.  This Lifecycle section shows you how to use the Oracle9iAS Portal Studio and the Test Suite to test your portlets without you having to install the whole Oracle9iAS locally.  Links to debugging tips are also provided for how to handle portlet error messages, how to use JDeveloper for debugging portlets, and PDK troubleshooting issues.

Deploy

The phase is about how to deploy your portal application.  Oracle9iAS Portal makes portlet deployment a breeze with its provider framework.  This Lifecycle section points to overview articles about portlet providers and how to use them for deploying your portlets.  Portal deployment is inextricably tied to issues related to performance and scalability.  This section also links to articles explaining performance and scalability techniques such as load balancing, failover, WebCaching, and provider groups.

Publish

In the Publish phase, you can expose your portlets as reusable components for Oracle9iAS Portal pages by using page parameters, portlet-to-portlet communication and events.  This Lifecycle section provides links to primers on how to use portlet parameters and events to publish your portlets, and how to use the Oracle9iAS Portal Knowledge Exchange for publishing your portlets to the portlet community.

Maintain

The Maintain phase is about tracking changes between releases and managing how they might affect your portal applications.  This Lifecycle section shows you what the impact of upgrades and patches will be on your system.  It also has links on how to support web providers in your Oracle9iAS Portal.