Is there a command cheatsheet for personalization server?

Question

Hello,
I am having trouble understanding how different commands work to forward a
page. Is there a simple cheat sheet that explains when to use different
commands? Here are some examples:
How do I forward control to a standalone JSP page? Currently from
portal.jsp, I use <jsp:forward page="somepage.jsp"/> Is this the best way
from portal.jsp. What about from other pages?
How do I get back to the main jsp page. In the somepage.jsp I have tried
the following:
<%
response.sendRedirect(response.encodeURL("/TestProduct/application/TestProdu
ct")); %>
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request, getHomePage(request), null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request,
response.encodeURL(getTrafficURI(request)), null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request, 'portal.jsp', null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request, getHomePage(request), null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=getTrafficURINoContext(request)%>">
Sometimes one of them works, other times they don't. I still don't get the
difference between these. Yes, I have looked at the JavaDocs, but I still
don't get it. I am hoping that there is someone out there that has been
through these leaning pains that can help out with this!
I have one situation where I am at a standalone jsp page in the portals
directory. Depending on which button the user selects, I either want to
redirect back to the main portal page, or back to a login screen by logging
the user out (I require a login on all pages except the login page). Going
to the main page required using the sendRedirect. None of the jsp:forward
commands would work. I still havent been able to figure out how to log a
person out. I was trying to use jsp:forward back to portal.jsp with a
jsp:param of headerAction="signout", but that didn't work either.
Am I making this harder than it should be?
Thanks for any help any one can offer.
Ken Lee
[email protected]

Answer 1

Hi Kenneth,
I assume you are talking about WLCS/WLPS 3.5. You will want to check out
Webflow http://edocs.bea.com/wlcs/docs35/wflopipe/index.htm , which is included
with WLCS 3.5, but only if you have the Commerce Server license. The
Webflow/Pipeline framework has been popular and it is included with the basic
WLPS 4.0 license in the newest release and will enable you to manage your
application navigation without changing your initial JSP code.
That said, it looks like you are talking about navigation without using
Webflow, so I'll address that. I would not recommend simply doing a JSP forward
out to a standalone .jsp page from your WLPS application because you will lose
track of your WLPS/WLCS session attributes that were set with
JspBase.setSessionValue(), JspBase.setLoggedIn(), etc. You should navigate by
passing requests through the FlowManager servlet, which will put an attribute
into the request, containing a String representing your web application's
context. This is used as a namespace for session attributes so that you can
have things like "exampleportal.SERVICEMANAGER.LOGGED.IN" and
"testportal.SERVICEMANAGER.LOGGED.IN" session attributes that are independent.
In other words, if you do a jsp:forward to a JSP page without going through the
FlowManager then the special key won't be present in the request, and then
JspBase.getLoggedIn() will always be false because JspBase.getLoggedIn() will
look for an attribute with a null component to the key like
"(null)SERVICEMANAGER.LOGGED.IN" and won't find it because it was set with
something like "myapplication.SERVICEMANAGER.LOGGED.IN" when you were in your
main application (which was accessed through the FlowManager servlet, which set
the special key in the request).
Look at
<wlcs3.5-install-dir>/config/wlcsDomain/applications/wlcsApp/exampleportal/portals/repository/_userreg.jsp:
<%
setOverrideDestination(request, JSP_USER_REG_SUMMARY);
setLoggedIn(request, response, true);
%>
<jsp:forward page="<%=getTrafficURINoContext(request)%>"/>
This setOverrideDestination() call sets a request parameter that the FlowManager
servlet uses to forward to the real destination (after putting a "key" into the
request that will be used by all subsequent JspBase.getSessionValue() ,
getLoggedIn(), etc. calls). Then the jsp:forward is done to the FlowManager
servlet.
Another common way to go through the FlowManager to another JSP page is through
the use of an HTML form. To do this, look at the example in
<wlcs3.5-install-dir>/config/wlcsDomain/applications/wlcsApp/exampleportal/portals/repository/loginSuccess.jsp.
Look at the hidden input in the HTML form:
<input type=hidden name="<%=DESTINATION_TAG%>" value="<%=getRequestURI(request)%>">
and the action:
<form method="post" action="<%=response.encodeURL(getTrafficURI(request))%>" name="UserLoginForm">
The hidden input sets a request parameter that says, "the real destination is
getRequestURI(), which is this page, so submit the form back to this .jsp
page". The action says, "submit the request to the FlowManger servlet that is
registered with this application in the Application Init property set ( search
for application_init and 'application init' in the docs, for instance:
http://e-docs.bea.com/wlcs/docs35///////portal/portldev.htm#1042719 ) The
FlowManager servlet forwards the request to the destination set with the hidden
parameter (or with JspBase.setOverrideDestination, or with a request parameter
in the query string like "dest=/mystuff/index.jsp".
Note that the FlowManager implements a security feature that will not allow you
to go through the FlowManager servlet to a resource that is not in your
applications workingdirectory, as specified in the application init property
set.
It is a long story. I would recommend that you use exampleportal to create a
few simple test portlets that practice these techniques. You should also create
a portlet that iterates through all session attributes and request attributes
and parameters so that you can see what I am talking about with the "key" used
to fix up WLPS session keys.
After you practice a little bit, you can contact support with a specific
navigation problem and they can help you solve it: (
http://www.bea.com/support/index.jsp )
Kenneth Lee wrote:
Hello,
I am having trouble understanding how different commands work to forward a
page. Is there a simple cheat sheet that explains when to use different
commands? Here are some examples:
How do I forward control to a standalone JSP page? Currently from
portal.jsp, I use <jsp:forward page="somepage.jsp"/> Is this the best way
from portal.jsp. What about from other pages?
How do I get back to the main jsp page. In the somepage.jsp I have tried
the following:
<%
response.sendRedirect(response.encodeURL("/TestProduct/application/TestProdu
ct")); %>
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request, getHomePage(request), null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request,
response.encodeURL(getTrafficURI(request)), null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request, 'portal.jsp', null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=createURL(request, getHomePage(request), null)%>">
<jsp:forward page="<%=getTrafficURINoContext(request)%>">
Sometimes one of them works, other times they don't. I still don't get the
difference between these. Yes, I have looked at the JavaDocs, but I still
don't get it. I am hoping that there is someone out there that has been
through these leaning pains that can help out with this!
I have one situation where I am at a standalone jsp page in the portals
directory. Depending on which button the user selects, I either want to
redirect back to the main portal page, or back to a login screen by logging
the user out (I require a login on all pages except the login page). Going
to the main page required using the sendRedirect. None of the jsp:forward
commands would work. I still havent been able to figure out how to log a
person out. I was trying to use jsp:forward back to portal.jsp with a
jsp:param of headerAction="signout", but that didn't work either.
Am I making this harder than it should be?
Thanks for any help any one can offer.
Ken Lee
[email protected]
Ture Hoefner
BEA Systems, Inc.
2590 Pearl St.
Suite 110
Boulder, CO 80302
www.bea.com
[att1.html]