| Last Updated: | November 17, 2003 |
| Status: | Production |
| Version: | PDK Release 2 (9.0.4.0.2 and later) |
Introduction
OmniPortlet Provider Dependencies
OmniPortlet Provider Test Page
Registering the OmniPortlet Provider
Troubleshooting
Before you configure the OmniPortlet Provider, you must install the PDK-Portal Tools. This is described in the installing.portaltools.html document, which can be found under the pdk/portalTools directory when you unzip pdksoftware.zip.
This document describes how to configure the OmniPortlet Web provider that is included in the PDK-Portal Tools download.
The OmniPortlet Web Provider provides portlets whose default settings page designers can modify to:
The OracleAS components shown in the table below are required for the OmniPortlet Provider to function properly. These are installed as part of the OracleAS installation. For more information, see installing.portaltools.html (located under the pdk/portalTools directory when you unzip pdksoftware.zip).
| Component | Description | Required? | Degradation Policy if Not Installed or Configured |
| UIX | Used to render the Edit Defaults and Customize pages, as well as the Test Page. | Yes | None. UIX must be installed. On UNIX, if X Display Server is not configured, these pages may not render properly. |
| Web Cache | Used for invalidation-based caching of portlet content. | No | If not configured, portlet content will not be cached. |
| BI Graph Bean | Used to generate chart outputs. | No | If not installed, the portlet cannot produce chart
layouts. Same behavior on UNIX if X Display Server is not configured. |
| Secured Data Repository | Used for storing credential for secured data access as well as Web Clipping info. | No | If repository is not configured, Web Page data source cannot
be used. Also, the SQL and other data sources using HTTP protected URLs will not work. |
You can configure all of the above components using the OmniPortlet Provider Test Page.
The OmniPortlet Provider Test Page indicates whether the OmniPortlet provider is functioning properly. You can access the Test Page by clicking the OmniPortlet Provider link on the Portal Tools Welcome Page, located at http://<server>:<host>/portalTools. The Test Page displays:
UIX is required in order for the OmniPortlet provider to function properly. UIX is installed when you install the Portal Tools. No additional configuration is necessary.
The following are optional configurations for the OmniPortlet provider. If not available, the provider will degrade gracefully, or specific functionality may become unavailable. On the OmniPortlet provider Test Page, click the links in the Actions column next to a Setting to configure it.
If a proxy server is required for the provider to make URL connection to a server outside the firewall, you must set up the HTTP Proxy. To do this, click Edit next to HTTP Proxy on the OmniPortlet provider Test Page. An Edit Provider page displays, on which you can specify the HTTP Proxy Host and Proxy Port. You do not need to restart OC4J for the new settings to take effect.
If you want your portlet content cached using invalidation-based caching, an Oracle Web Cache instance must be configured in front of your provider. For more information on how to set this up, see Setting up the Invalidation Caching Sample.
After you set up and start the Web Cache instance, register the OmniPortlet provider as usual, but set the URL host name and port number to point to the Web Cache instance instead. For example,
http://<cache_instance_name>:<cache_port>/portalTools/omniPortlet/providers/omniPortlet
When an OmniPortlet definition is altered either through the Edit Defaults or Customize page, the provider generates a request that invalidates and removes the portlet content from the cache. The invalidation request is sent to the invalidation port of the Web Cache instance.
The invalidation port is defined by the cache.xml configuration file (a template copy can be found under pdk/portalTools/conf/portal/conf directory). To specify the port, modify the configuration file as indicated by italicized entries shown in the following example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<webcache>
<invalidation
host="cache.us.oracle.com"
port="4001"
authorization="invalidator:invalidator"/>
</webcache>
The provider locates the cache.xml file using one of the following methods:
If the Web Cache Invalidation setting is not configured properly, Web Cache will continue to return stale content that no longer reflects the portlet definition. To fix this, check the application.log file for these errors:
See the Troubleshooting section below for the location of the application.log file. For additional Web Cache troubleshooting tips, see Setting up the Invalidation Caching Sample.
If BIGraph Bean is not installed properly, the portlet cannot produce graphical output such as charts. To fix this, check the application.log file for these errors:
See the Troubleshooting section below for the location of the application log.
If the middle tier where you are hosting this provider is a UNIX system, you must have a valid DISPLAY setting. Without a valid DISPLAY setting, the portlet still renders, but the Edit Defaults and Customize pages, as well as the Provider Test Page may not display buttons and tabs properly. In addition, the portlet will not produce any graphical output.
To set a valid DISPLAY setting, you can:
You can set the DISPLAY environment variable prior to starting your OC4J instance. For example:
setenv DISPLAY localhost:0.0
java -jar oc4j.jar
or:
java -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar oc4j.jar
Follow the these steps:
<process-type id="OC4J_Portal" module-id="OC4J">
<environment>
<variable id="DISPLAY"
value="localhost:0.0"/>
</environment>
...
or:
<process-type id="OC4J_Portal" module-id="OC4J">
...
<module-data>
<category id="start-parameters">
<data id="java-options"
value="... -Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx512M"/>
<data id="oc4j-options" value="-properties"/>
</category>
...
</module-data>
...
OmniPortlet leverages the Web Clipping Repository to store credentials needed to access secured data. This is a required configuration if you intend to use the Web Page data type or work with secured data (e.g., SQL database server or data source URL with HTTP Basic Authentication). To configure the Repository, click Edit next to Secured Data Repository on the OmniPortlet provider Test Page. An Edit Provider page displays, on which you can enter the Repository information.
OmniPortlet can access data through HTTPS URLs. To access these URLs, OmniPortlet needs access to njssl9.dll (for Windows®) or libnjssl9.so (for Unix). For providers running on Windows®, njssl9.dll must be present in a folder defined in the PATH environment variable. For Unix systems, libnjssl9.so file must be found in the folder defined in LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.
You can typically find this library and copy it from the $IAS_HOME/bin directory (for Windows®) or $IAS_HOME/lib directory (for Unix) in an OracleAS installation. After copying, you must restart OC4J.
After you've successfully configured the OmniPortlet Provider, you'll need to register it as a portlet provider in an OracleAS Portal instance before you can add its portlets to a portal page. The registration steps may vary depending on your version of OracleAS Portal.
If you are running Oracle9iAS Portal:
| Field | Value |
| Name | OmniPortlet |
| Display Name | OmniPortlet Provider |
| Timeout | 200 seconds |
| Timeout Message | OmniPortlet provider timed out. |
| Implementation Style | Web |
| URL | http://<server>:<port>/portalTools/omniPortlet/providers/omniPortlet |
| The user has the same identity in the Web providers application as in the Single Sign-On identity. | (Select this radio button) |
| Select User, to send user specific information to the provider. | (Select this radio button) |
| Login Frequency | Never |
| Require Proxy | No (as long as no proxy is required to contact the Provider Adapter) |
Note:
You can view errors that occur when bringing up the OmniPortlet Provider Test Page:
You can view errors that occur during the execution of the OmniPortlet:
Errors you are most likely to encounter and possible solutions for them are listed below.
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