WDPortalNavigation with portal not running on WD server

Question

Hello,
I am trying to get my application to close itself and replace itself with a non-WebDynpro iView.
I have been attempting to use:
WDPortalNavigation.navigateAbsolute("ROLES://portal_content/contentlib/corporate/mss/iviews/test_iview",
               WDPortalNavigationMode.SHOW_INPLACE,
               String) null,
               (String) null,
          WDPortalNavigationHistoryMode.NO_HISTORY,
               (String) null,
               (String) null,
               (String) null);
It seems to happily end the application (clicking on anything results in a "The Web Dynpro Application 'PortalNavTest' has expired" )- but nothing is loaded in its place.
from reading the various posts in the forum, and the portal nav tutorial, I think that this should work, however I do have a landscape difference that I believe may be causing me a problem. The server which my wd app is running on is different to the server which my portal is running on. I'm not sure how my app would "know" what URL to use to fetch the new iview. Running on a different server does not cause me any issues with running the app normally, however, it does seem to cause a problem with portal navigation.
in the help <a href="http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/d2/0357425e060d53e10000000a155106/frameset.htm">SAP Help - Calling Portal Services</a>
there is a mention of being  "service factory provides a conduit to portal services to ensure that the proper service is called, even in cases when the Web Dynpro application and the portal are running on different machines". but on the same page of the help it says:
"A portal service can be called only when the portal platform and the Web Dynpro application are running on the same machine.
It is recommended not to use your Web Dynpro-based portal content in a global or federated portal scenario"
To summarise, I'm confused! Can I use portal navigation in my application when it is not running on the portal server? Do I have to use Dynamic iViews in the page service? Can I even use the IWDPageService in NW04 (I can't seem to find the jar with this interface/class anywhere) and it's not mentioned in the NW04 help.. ?
Am I just better off just opening the new iview in a new window in the application by passing in the absolute URL - ie - the portal iview URL?
Any suggestions most welcome.
Thanks,
Chris

Answer 1

Hi Chris,
I have an issue on the same lines and just happened to stumble upon this thread. Can you please share how you resolved the problem?
My Scenario - Here I am doing an absolute navigation to a web dynpro page which works fine when I am accessing the application within the producer. Now on accessing the application from consumer portal it opens up the page in a new window the url of which is that of producer. I have opened a thread for this. If you could reply there that is really appreciated.
Federated Portal - Absolute navigation from Consumer opens new window
Thanks,
KN.