Using JBoss with Portlet Factory

On several projects I've had to develop portlets using WPF that are deployed to a Websphere Portal environment, but the options for executing in a development environment are a little limited. I can choose Websphere CE, Websphere Portal or Tomcat, and my first choice is usually Tomcat because it has a small footprint and fires up quickly. But in some cases I need to test some portal specific features like wiring or portlet configuration, and this requires a portal server. Websphere Portal is great for a production environment, but running it locally is not practical since it takes so many resources and has a long startup time.

Running JBoss

At one point I was really under pressure to get some work done and I finally gave up on Websphere Portal and turned to JBoss Portal Server (looks like that project has been merged into project Gateln). Unfortunately WPF doesn't have a configuration option for JBoss so I had to roll my own.

Step 1
The platform definitions that show up in the project properties originate from files located in \IBM\Portlet Factory\Designer\FeatureSets\Web-App_7.0.0\Deployment\antscripts\platformdefs (or wherever WPF is installed). All I need to do is add my own file called JBoss.pfConfig, which is a copy of the Tomcat file looks something like this:
wpf.installedappsdir=C:\jboss-portal-2.7.2\server\default\deploy
wpf.serverport=8080
wpf.serverUrl=localhost
wpf.servertype=appserver
wpf.servername=JBoss
wpf.config.antfile=JBoss.xml
wpf.config.publishtarget=publishJBoss
wpf.webxml.file=standalone.web.xml
wpf.autodeploy=false
wpf.configid=3
wpf.description=CreateServerDialog.TomcatDescription


Step 2
The pfConfig refers to an ant file JBoss.xml which lives in \IBM\Portlet Factory\Designer\FeatureSets\Web-App_7.0.0\Deployment\antscripts\publish. Here again I copy from the Tomcat version and make a few changes:
<!--Ant implementation for deploying to JBoss server.-->

<project name="jboss" basedir=".">
 <!-- Target for deploying project to JBoss server. -->
 <target name="publishJBoss">
  <echo message="Publishing to JBoss server..." />

  <!-- Copy project contents to server. -->
  <copy todir="${wpf.installedappsdir}/${project.name}.war" preservelastmodified="yes">
   <fileset dir="${webcontent.location}">
    <include name="**/**" />
    <excludesfile name="${webcontent.location}/.excludeFromServer" />
    <excludesfile name="${webcontent.location}/../.deployment/excludes/allServers.excludes" />
    <excludesfile name="${webcontent.location}/../.deployment/excludes/JBoss.excludes" />
   </fileset>
  </copy>

  <!-- Copy the standalone web.xml file to the server. -->
  <copy file="${webcontent.location}/WEB-INF/bin/deployment/standalone.web.xml" tofile="${wpf.installedappsdir}/${project.name}.war/WEB-INF/web.xml" />


 </target>
</project>
This is the script that the designer will invoke when publish application (V7) or build war for dev testing (V6.1.2) is selected.

Step 3
Well actually there is no step 3, I think that's all that is needed. When I look at my project properties I can now see JBoss as an available server:


There are a few caveats:
- In some earlier versions of WPF, the designer treats the JBoss configuration like Tomcat and strips off the .war file extension. Every time I explicitly deploy I get an error message and have to go back into the properties and put the extension back on. This doesn't happen when auto sync runs, only when an explicit deploy is requested.
- In WPF V7 the designer will complain about a missing exclude file the first time. Just add an empty file named \myproject\.deployment\excludes\jboss.excludes.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Open QR Codes

Image
I feel like it's been forever since I blogged... the beginning of the school year has been beyond crazy!  Well, I'm back to share with you a quick and easy tutorial: how to open up a QR code!  QR codes are all the rage today so I hope this help you feel more comfortable with starting to use them! Here is the poll! Now for the tutorial... You can download this tutorial as a PDF by clicking this picture! Note: This tutorial is hosted on Google Drive.  To save it from there, just open the file and click File > Download to save onto your computer! Of course, this intro QR code tutorial of course means that I'll be adding another QR code tutorial to the poll: how to make pretty QR codes (if you're going to take the time to do it, you might as well make it look good!)
Read more

Jim Henson predicted the end of the world

Or more accurately, Brian Henson did. But more on that in a second... I read an article today about the BP oil spill, and some analysts think the oil spill won't end until Christmas. Meaning 4 million barrels oil would be dumped in the Gulf. And (I'm quoting) "That much oil would wipe out all life in the Gulf and completely change the ecosystem." (read the full story here ) Let me repeat that:  That much oil would wipe out all life in the Gulf. In less than a year, those greedy bastards and their lack of foresight will probably lead to the destruction of an entire ecosystem.  Fish, crabs, eels, dolphins, sea turtles, and all the plant life. Here's a list of how and what animals are effected by this: here . This doesn't even mention the economic damage it will do to tourism and the jobs of people who thrived on fishing and dependency on the Gulf life. One more time: That much oil would wipe out all life in the Gulf. Let's put aside how devastating it is to ...
Read more

Mega Giveaway! (Today only!!!)

Image
Okay, I admit it... I have been slightly neglecting my blog, but not because I haven't been doing work!  I've been working hard to prep for the new school year and for the Phonics, Vocabulary, and Comprehension PD that Katie (over at Kdot's Learning Spot ) and I have been working on! Well of course, this big TPT sale coming up tomorrow has inspired me to post a few of the things I've been working on!  And of course, to repay all of you for continuing to follow me even though I'm posting less frequently... I think I'll give away ALL OF MY NEW ITEMS today! :) And of course, if you don't win, all of these products will be on super sale tomorrow and Monday! (Props to Krista  from  The Creative Chalkboard  for the amazing sign!!) Now... let's see what you can win! I'm going to start with the project that took me the most time.  I made videos that are about 5 minutes long each for each letter of the alphabet!  And even though the video itself is only about...
Read more