"Reset" pageflow portlet state (SP2 Fix causing problems)

Question

Hello-
In SP2 there was a modification that prevents the begin() method from being called
in a pageflow portlet on a page refresh. I am trying to port an application that
depends on the former behavior. Basically when I click on the navigation item
for a page, I want the portlet on that page to run the begin() action, regardless
of the current state. Does anyone know how to force this behavior? Is there a
way I can reset the state of a portlet after running a specfic action?
thanks,
Howie

Answer 1

A little more investigation reveals that "_nfls=false" actually resets ALL pageflows.
Not what we wanted.
We have a messy technique that depends on us knowing the pageLabel, the portlet
definition label AND the controller path. We're not proud of it, so any suggestions
are very welcome.
I've received the following suggestion from BEA, but this is also too messy and
disjointed for us to be happy with:
Description:
CR129301 adds a new attribute called "refreshAction" to the
<netuix:pageflowContent> control in .portlet files. This new attribute allows
you to specify a page flow action to be executed during refresh conditions.
This attribute is only available for page flow portlets.
To use this new functionality, open the .portlet file for a page
flow portlet in a text editor and add the "refreshAction" attribute to the
<netuix:pageflowContent> control:
<netuix:content>
<netuix:pageflowContent contentUri="/portlets/test/testController.jpf" refreshAction="portalRefresh"
/>
</netuix:content>
The value of the "refreshAction" should be the name of an action in your page
flow. If the action specified does not exist, you will get
ActionNotFoundExceptions when the page flow portlet is refreshed.
To avoid unexpected ActionNotFoundExceptions, specify a default refresh action
in your web application's Global.app:
* @jpf:action
* @jpf:forward name="success" return-to="page"
protected Forward portalRefresh()
return new Forward("success");
On refresh this action will cause the portlet to render the last page
that was displayed by the page flow. Placing this action in Global.app will
cause it to be invoked for any page flow that does not explicitly provide a
refresh action.
The existing page flow portlet refresh behavior is still available even with
the "refreshAction" specified. The page flow's onRefresh() lifecycle method
is always called. The exact behavior with the refreshAction enabled is:
1. The refreshAction is executed
2. If the refreshAction forwards to somewhere else, we don't restore attributes
from the previous request. If the refreshAction returns null, the old request
attributes are restored as if the refreshAction was never invoked
3. onRefresh is called
So to not have the attributes from the previous request restored you must:
1. Specify a "refreshAction" for the page flow portlet
2. Make sure the refreshAction forwards somewhere (return-to="page" and
return-to="action" should work fine as a default case)
"Graham Patterson" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get around to trying this, but...
THANK YOU! This innocent looking parameter is exactly what we need.
just add "_nfls=false" to your URL to reset the pageflow state.
I haven't found this documented anywhere, except as a reserved parameter,
so I
wonder if this could change in a future release?
"mikeladze" <[email protected]> wrote:
try to add the loadstate param (GenericURL.LOADSTATE_PARAM)
to your page url and set it to false.
"Graham Patterson" <[email protected]> wrote:
We too, desperately need a fix to reset pageflow state.
This should enable us to go from one page to another with confidence
that the
destination page is in an appropriate state.
We really need a way to do this from a pageflow action method.
The closest I have got is for a pageflow to set it's next action to"begin"
when
the page changes. This way, when the user returns to the page it is
in it's initial
state. This technique is initiated from a JSP and has severe limitations.:
Define a backing file for one of the books (this seems to get invoked
for ALL
incoming URLs).
In the handlePostbackData method, check for a "pageChange" parameter
and invoke
setupPageChangeEvent(pageChange) on the BookBackingContext. This takes
the user
to the specified page in it's current pageflow state.
NOTE: handlePostbackData is called BEFORE any action in the pageflow,
so this
sequence has to be initialised from the JSP (i.e. an anchor with a
"pageChange"
parameter, or a form with a "pageChange" hidden field). This is aserious
limitation,
as the destination page may depend on data entered in a form, or there
may be
some server-side validation to do which should result in a return to
the JSP with
an error message.