Sunday, March 27, 2011

what is BIDS?

Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) is a tool from microsoft
for

Integration services ( SSIS)

Reporting Services (ISRS)

Analysis Services( SSAS)

Saturday, March 26, 2011

what is the use of PortletContext?

PortletContext (similar to ServletContext) is shared among all the users and all the portlets in the portlet application. You can get and set attributes from PortletContext as a global point of communication

what are the Portlet methods to handle client request?

The Portlet interface defines two methods for handling requests,
the processAction method and the render method.

In addition the portlet may implement any of the 20 optional interfaces EventPortlet and ResourceServingPortlet that define the additional lifecycle methods
processEvent and serveResource

From Portlet Interface
--------------- processAction
--------------------render

From EventPortlet interface,

----------------- processEvent


From ResourceServingPortlet interface

------------------ serveResource

How to do get access to Portlet Context?

Once Portlet get PortletConfig object from container through init () method,

we can get PortletContext from this config object

The configuration object also gives the portlet access to a context object that describes the portlet’s runtime environment

This is same as servlets

what you do in Portlet initializatoin method?

Once Container instantiates the portlet, it calls the
initialization method of portlet (init())

In Initialization,
we initialize costly resources (such as backend connections),
and perform other one-time activities.


This init() method gets PortletConfig object from Container,
which serve initialization parameters and the ResourceBundle defined in the portlet definition in the deployment descriptor

what are life cycle methods of Portlet?

This life cycle of a portlet is expressed through the
============================================================
init,

processAction,

render ,

destroy

In case of Servlets ,
===============================
Init ()

Service () [for http servletsm service can call doget(), dopost()]

destroy()


In case of EJBs
==============================

setSessionContext and ejbCreate

Then users invoke business methods

Container may invoke ejbPassivate() , ejbActivate ()

Finally container can invoke ejbRemove ()

How many objects will be created for a portlet?

The portlet definition sections in the deployment descriptor of a portlet application
control how the portlet container creates portlet instances.

For a portlet, not hosted in a distributed environment (the default), the portlet container mustii instantiate and use only one portlet object per portlet definition

what are EventPortlet, ResourceServingPortlet interfaces?

The Portlet interface is the main abstraction of the Portlet API. All portlets implement this interface either directly or, more commonly, by extending a class that implements the interface.

The portlet can optionally implement the additional life cycle interfaces EventPortlet
and ResourceServingPortlet in order to leverage additional functionality for receiving
/ sending events or serving resources, respectively.

The Portlet API includes a GenericPortlet class that implements the Portlet,
EventPortlet and ResourceServingPortlet interface and provides default
functionality.

Developers should typically extend, directly or indirectly, the GenericPortlet class to implement their portlets.

what is the purpose of processAction , render methods in Portlet Interface?

processAction : This method used to handle state change logic

render : This method is used to render markup


In JSR -286 spefication, default rendering mechanism is JSP pages.

We can also use MVC frame works like struts , spring ..etc

Can you Explain Portlet Page Generation Process?

Portlets run within a portlet container. The portlet container receives the content
generated by the portlets. Typically, the portlet container hands the portlet content to a portal. The portal server creates the portal page with the content generated by the portlets and sends it to the client device (i.e. a browser) where it is displayed to the user.


what is portlet window?

A portlet generates markup fragments. A portal may add a title, control buttons and other decorations to the markup fragment generated by the portlet, this new fragment is called a portlet window. Then the portal may aggregate portlet windows into a complete document, the portal page

what is a fragment?

The content generated by a portlet is also called a fragment.

A fragment is a piece of markup (e.g. HTML, XHTML, WML) adhering to certain rules and can be aggregated with other fragments to form a complete document. The content of a portlet is normally aggregated with the content of other portlets to form the portal page

A Portlet Container supports Servetlet container functionality?

The portlet container is an extension of the servlet container. As such, a portlet container can be built on top of an existing servlet container or it may implement all the functionality of a servlet container. Regardless of how a portlet container is implemented, its runtime environment is assumed to support at least Servlet Specification 2.4.

Can Portlets and Servlets communicate with in the same portal application?

Portlets can leverage servlets, JSPs and JSP tag-libraries for generating content.

A portlet can call servlets and JSPs just like a servlet can invoke other servlets and JSPs using a request dispatcher

When a servlet or JSP is called from within a portlet, the servlet request given to the servlet or JSP is based on the portlet request and the servlet response given to the servlet or JSP is based on the portlet response.

For example, by default:
Attributes set in the portlet request are available in the included servlet request

• The portlet and the included servlet or JSP share the same output stream Dispatching Requests to Servlets and JSPs Chapter).

• Attributes set in the portlet session are accessible from the servlet session and vice versa

is the classloader is same for Portlets and Servlets?

Portlets, servlets and JSPs are bundled in an extended web application called a portlet
application. Portlets, servlets and JSPs within the same portlet application share the
classloader, application context and session.

Can you list Some features supported by Servlets but not by Portlets?

Portlets do not have access to the following functionality provided by servlets:


• Setting the character set encoding of the render response

• The URL of the client request to the portal

Can you list some functionalities supported by Portlets but not by Servlets?

Portlets have access to the following extra functionality not provided by servlets:

• Portlets have a means of accessing and storing persistent configuration and
customization data

• Portlets have access to user profile information

• Portlets have URL rewriting functions for creating hyperlinks within their
content, which allow portal server agnostic creation of links and actions in page
fragments

• Portlets can store transient data in the portlet session in two different scopes: the
application-wide scope and the portlet private scope.

• Portlets can send and receive events from other portlets or can receive container
defined events.

What are differences between portlets and servlets?

Portlets differ in the following aspects from servlets:

• Portlets only generate markup fragments in the render method, not complete
documents. The Portal aggregates portlet markup fragments into a complete portal
page
i.e portlets wont generates html , head ,title, body ..etc tags ...Its portal
duty to include content generated by portlets within these tages


• Portlets can only be invoked through URLs constructed via the portlet API.

We can construct URL and invoke servets on the server.. developer does this
at development time.

Ex: http://localhost/banner/LoginServet?user=suresh&password="suresh123"

We are not able to construct URL like this for a portlet.... we need to use portlet
API to generate an URL


• Web clients interact with portlets through a portal system



• Portlets have more refined request handling, i.e.
action requests,
event request,
render request and
resource requests

• Portlets have predefined portlet modes and window states that indicate the
function the portlet is performing and the amount of real estate in the portal page

No Modes for Servlets

• Portlets can exist many times in a portal page

Can you say some similarities between portlets and servlets?

Portlets share many similarities with servlets:


• Portlets are Java technology based web components
• Portlets are managed by a specialized container
• Portlets generate dynamic content
• Portlets lifecycle is managed by a container
• Portlets interact with web client via a request/response paradigm

what is a Servlet?

A Servlet is a Java technology based web component, managed by a container, that
generates dynamic content

What are minimum JDK, J2EE requirements supported by a portlet server?

The Portlet API v2.0 is based on the Java Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 and Enterprise
Edition v1.4

So Portlet Server must support JDK 5.0 and J2EE 1.4

Can you list some portlet API objects ?

Servets ========================== Portlets
=========================================================
ServletContext --------------------- PortletContext

ServletConfig --------------------- PortletConfig


ServletRequest --------------------- PortletRequest

ServletResponse --------------------- PortletResponse

RequestDispatcher --------------------- PortletRequestDispatcher
(include + forward) (include + forward )

HttpSession --------------------- PortletSession


URL --------------------- PortletURL

NA --------------------- RenderRequest

NA --------------------- RenderResponse

what is JSR 168?

JSR 168 is older Java Specification Request for Portlets

JSR286 is latest one

what is the latest version of Java Portlet Spefication?

Currently we have Java Portlet Spefication V 2.0


Its same as V1.0 with some changes

One difference can be :

RenderResponse.setContentType is no longer required before calling getWriter
or getOutputstream in V2.0 Specification


Allowing portlets to share parameters with other
portlets.


Portlet filter – allowing on-the-fly transformations of information in both the
request to and the response from a portlet

A Portal directly interacts with Portlets. True / False?

False..

Portal always communicates with Portlets through Portlet Container

GenericServlet Class implements only one interface and that is Portlet interface. True / False?

False...

GenericPortlet Interface implements Portlet Interface and also other two
interfaces

ResourceServingPortlet

EventPortlet

We have Generic Servet Class in Servlet API... do you know anything like this in Portlet API?

Yes.. I Know

Its GenericPortlet class which implements Portlet Interface along with other two
interfaces:

ResourceServingPortlet

EventPortlet

In Servlet API, Servlet is top level interface.. what is the top level interface in Portlet API/Specification?

Its Simple.....

Servlet is top level interface in Servlet API

Portlet is top level interface in Portlet API

A Portlet container aggregates information from Portlets and shows to users. True / False?

False....

A portlet container is not responsible for aggregating the content produced by the
portlets. It is the responsibility of the portal to handle the aggregation

what is Porlet Container?

I hope you are aware of Servet Container ....What a Servlet container does?
It provides an environment for Servlets....It instantiate servlets, it manages servlets it removes servlets from memory when if it no more required....

Similarly Servlet Container provides environment for Portlets...It instantiates portlets, creates Portlets, manages portlets....and destroy portlets if no more required


who develops portlet container? Any one can develop if you understand JSR-286 specification

Portlet container can be part of your web server (standalone) it can be a different modules in your Web / Application server ....Its like EJB Container.... It can be stand alone or can exists as a separate modules

Can you Mention some Portlet container implementer names?

Ans : Yes.. Liferay, Oracle /BEA Web Logic, IBM Web sphere....who has their own portlet container in their servers

what is Portlet?

A Portlet is a small web application which is can be embedded / included
on portal web page....

A Portal will have lot of portal pages.... Each Portal Page has lot of portlets....

On server side this portlet is nothing but small application / web component like
Servlet, which generates a piece of information to user


So Portal has lot of portal pages.. A portal page has lot of Portlets

what is Portal?

Portal is nothing but a web application which provides

Personalization

Authentication

Aggregation for content from various systems...

In an Organization it can acts as presentation layer for all information systems
in the organization

Ex: Intranets in organization.... CMC LTD / TCS - Ultimatix ( an intranet portal),
Infosys - intranet , ....

It Can be Extranet for public .... iGoogle, My Yahooo....etc

What is JSR-286?

JSR-286 (Java Specification Request ) is specification from Sun for Portlets.

Its same as Servlet Specification from Sun for Servlets.

It Useful for standardization

It provides required information / rules to implementers of Portlet containers

It defiles How Portlet look likes, what services Portlet container should provide
....any more....

Thursday, March 24, 2011

SQLPLUSW is available on oracle 11g?

No. Oracle is no more giving SQLPLUSW as part of oracle installation...

Oracle 11g and future versions wont carry Sqlplusw user interface....
Oracle forcing to use Sqldeveloper , a free tool from oracle