Portal Server 7.2 and Portlet

Question

Hi ,
I have a serious problem with Portlet and Sun Portal 7.2
I don't understand how I can retrive user information (like username,password, email..) from a portlet.
I read about
Map userInfoMap = (Map) request.getAttribute(PortletRequest.USER_INFO);but is always null.
is a portlet.xml problem ?!?!
thanks in advance.
Alessandro
Edited by: Peritus on Aug 6, 2008 2:08 AM

Answer 1

You'll need something like the following in portlet.xml (the attribute names are from the spec):
<user-attribute>
    <description>Given name of user.</description>
    <name>user.name.given</name>
</user-attribute>
<user-attribute>
    <description>Family name of user.</description>
    <name>user.name.family</name>
</user-attribute>And something like the following in a users.properties file which is referenced when you deploy the portlet in Portal Server 7.2:
givenName=user.name.given
sn=user.name.familyWhat happens is the portal server manages the LDAP attribute to portal attribute mapping (eg, user.givenName in LDAP maps to user.name.given in portal) and the portlet container maps the attribute into the read-only USER_INFO map. I'm sure someone will correct my terminology, but it's something like that anyway. Check it out with an LDAP browser if you need to figure what's available in the Directory Server. The result is being able to call something like:
Map userInfoMap = (Map) request.getAttribute(PortletRequest.USER_INFO);
String firstName = (String) userInfoMap.get("user.name.given");
String lastName = (String) userInfoMap.get("user.name.family");Also, roles are handled in a similar way, defining them in portlet.xml, web.xml, and finally mapping in roles.properties at deploy time.
web.xml:
<web-app ... >
     <security-role>
          <description>Sample role.</description>
          <role-name>Sample</role-name>
     </security-role>
</web-app>portlet.xml:
<portlet-app ... >
     <portlet>
          <security-role-ref>
               <role-name>Sample</role-name>
               <role-link>Sample</role-link>
          <security-role-ref/>
     </portlet>
</portlet-app>roles.properties:
cn\=Sample,o\=Sandbox,dc\=example,dc\=com=SampleSo after all that you can do:
if (request.isUserInRole("Sample")) {
    // do stuff...
}HTH,
Rich
Edited by: RichardBarrington on Nov 2, 2008 4:48 PM
description element must be ahead of name element.
Edited by: RichardBarrington on Nov 2, 2008 4:50 PM
Added more complete role example.