They both sounds like great portlets.
Why do they need to be framework portlets? Do they really need access to some internal uPortal API? Could we just use a combination of the allowExpandedContent feature, portlet definition parameters, and some structure/theme XSL modifications to make this work? Unless a portlet really needs access to uPortal internals it would be nice to have it in its own webapp.
-Eric On 10/07/2011 02:06 PM, Drew Wills wrote:
Hey folks,
At OHIO we're gearing up for an exciting effort to migrate to uP 4 in
the coming weeks. In light of that, it seems to be a good time to do a
little "housecleaning," by which I mean contribute some OHIO innovations
to Jasig uPortal itself.
This is an important tactic for us, because it means we won't have to
re-apply these innovations to the newer codebase(s) as we migrate. And
I feel strongly that it's a great opportunity for the community as well,
since (1) these are nice features that (I hope) many schools would like
to leverage, and also (2) because (I believe) these features could be
attractive to new schools evaluating the uPortal platform for possible
adoption.
The features I'm looking at are these:
- (1) An Emergency Notifications portlet, which would make a good
framework portlet since it uses theme hooks for placement
- (2) A "Tips" portlet, which displays a random, one-liner message
that helps users understand how to use the portal better; also uses
theme hooks for placement, also would make a good framework portlet
I have included a screenshot that shows both in the OHIO portal. I have
a Unicon designer available to style these beautifully for the skins
that come with uPortal out-of-the-box.
Some implementation details...
Emergency Notifications
-----------------------
When there's no notice (i.e. most of the time) this portlet simply
renders a small HTML comment in the page. Currently reads notices from
XML over HTTP; ultimately might want different adapter classes to
integrate with common providers. Very open-minded about back-end
details. In uP default data, I'm thinking of adding an "Emergency
Notifications Demo" portlet (to the admin tab) to toggle a demo message
on/off (similar to resource aggregation).
Tips
----
Also currently reads from XML, but from a location in the webapp (iirc).
I'm thinking perhaps the tips themselves could move to
(massively-multivalued) portlet preferences, since that would give us
both a management interface and a migration strategy.
Both portlets could be added to the header of the 'welcome-lo' fragment
-- or some other fragment everyone gets -- and thereby propagate to
regular users via the 'allowExpandedContent' feature for DLM. This
detail is important because it's not fun to make changes to header and
footer content across the whole userbase (though the use of header and
footer portlets opens up some nice options).
Please look at the screenshot and share thoughts.
Cheers,
drew wills
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