new rational application developer portal tools pdf

Copyright IBM Corporation 2012 TrademarksWhat's new in IBM Rational Application Developer 8.5 portal tools Page 1 of 12

What's new in IBM Rational Application Developer 8.5portal toolsJaspreet Singh ([email protected])Software ArchitectIBM

Mansi Gaba ([email protected])Staff Software EngineerIBM

06 November 2012

This article provides detail on all the features that have been introduced or enhanced in Version8.5 of the IBM Rational Application Developer portal and portlet development tools, includingadditions for mobile devices. The authors explain use of some of these tools and include codesnippets and illustrated examples. Familiarity with Rational Application Developer will be helpfulin following the article.

IntroductionThe IBM Rational Application Developer integrated development environment (IDE) forsoftware developers includes tools that help in designing, developing, testing, and deployingportal applications. The workbench provides tools to design and develop portal applications thatcan integrate with Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) frameworks, including JavaServer Faces (JSF)technologies to access data. Plus, it provides tools and features to integrate seamlessly with client-side JavaScript libraries, such as the Dojo widgets, to visualize data. You can also use it to testyour application and publish it to a WebSphere Portal server.

Highlights of the new and enhanced featuresThe Rational Application Developer portal development tools in Version 8.5 have been enhancedto take advantage of IBM WebSphere Portal Version 8.0 capabilities. You also get revampedsupport for developing portlets that will be access from mobile devices, including smartphones andtablets.

WebSphere Portal 8.0 runtime support to create and test portlet projects

Rational Application Developer 8.5 has a new server runtime environment (shown in Figure 1),server type (Figure 2), and stubs for WebSphere Portal 8.0 support.

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What's new in IBM Rational Application Developer 8.5 portal tools Page 2 of 12

Figure 1. New Server Runtime Environment wizard

You can create portlets targeted to WebSphere Portal Version 8.0 runtime and then publish ordeploy to it, as well. This allows creation of portlets that leverage new features in the WebSpherePortal Version 8.0.

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Figure 2. New Server wizard

JavaServer Faces 2.0 portlets support

Rational Application Developer 8.5 provides tools for creating a JavaServer Faces (JSF) 2.0 portletapplication by using the New Portlet Project wizard shown in Figure 3. The portlet project createdgenerates a default Facelet and the entire configuration required for deploying a JSF 2.0 portleton WebSphere Portal 8.0. The default JavaServer Faces facet version is 2.0 for the Faces portletproject, with target runtime as WebSphere Portal 8.0, as shown in Figure 4 You can drag thestandard JSF components and portlet palette items onto the Facelet page to generate Java codeautomatically, following coding best practices. All new JSF 2.0 features can be used seamlessly inportlet applications created in Rational Application Developer.

Note:The JSF 2.0 portlet bridge acts as a broker between a portlet container and a JSF container torender a portlet on a portal page. You can use it to create portlets based on JSF 2.0 specificationsand publish them on IBM WebSphere Portal 8.0. The JSF 2.0 portlet bridge is included inWebSphere Application Server Version 8.0.0.3 and later versions.



Figure 3. New Portlet Project dialog window

The Manage Features wizard lists the project facets, including all facet names and versions. Thismakes using all new features of JSF 2.0 on WebSphere Portal very convenient



Figure 4. Project Facets page

Rich page Editor for portlet development with CSS3 and HTML5

The browser-based editor introduced in Version 8.5 helps you preview the Facelet or JavaServerPage (JSP), as they would appear in a web browser. The rich page editor provides WYSIWYG(preview) designing capabilities and supports HTML5 and CSS3 editing. It also offers instantpreview and Content Assist help. You can create and edit JSP portlet files using the rich pageeditor. It shows different representations of your portlet page, with Source, Split, and Design viewoptions. The editor uses embedded browsers to produce a visual representation of a page in thedesign view. For example, you drag any palette item onto a Border Container, as shown in Figure5, and use the Split view to see both the Design (preview) and Source (code) views.



Figure 5. Rich page editor

Single-click enablement of Web 2.0 featuresThe New Portlet Project wizard has been redesigned (see Figure 6) to provide single-clickenablement for various Web 2.0 features that you can use in portlets. This is both intuitive andeasier than having to enable these through project facets.

Figure 6. Web 2.0 features in the New Portlet Project creation wizard

Mobile browser simulatorRational Application Developer provides a fast and easy way to test multichannel portletapplications by using a mobile browser simulator. You can test the output view of the portlet onthis simulator without having to install any separate device simulator. You can view the output onvarious mobile devices in a mobile browser simulator, and you can do all of this by staying withinthe integrated development environment (IDE).

To run a portlet project on a mobile browser simulator, right-click on the portlet project, selectRun As, and then select Run on Mobile Browser Simulator (see Figure 7). The mobile browser



simulator offers other features, such as switching orientation of the device, adding multiple devicessimultaneously, mapping devices to their actual physical sizes. It is a very convenient and effectivenew feature to aid you in mobile portlet application testing.

Figure 7. How to access a mobile browser simulator

Improved smartphone and tablet portlet support

The improved smartphone and tablet support enables you to work on separate views forsmartphones and tablets, rather than using a single portlet view page for both of those devices, asin earlier versions.

You can also choose support for either or both tablets and smartphones for your portlets, or both.When you select either of those options while creating a portlet project, Rational ApplicationDeveloper now automatically provides support for selecting the devices as well, as show n inFigure 8. This opens further new options while developing portlets for these devices.



Figure 8. Improved smartphone and tablet support

The different portlet view JSPs created for devices as shown in the project structure of a device-enabled portlet project (see Figure 9).

Figure 9. Different device-enabled portlet project views generated

Dojo Mobile widgets support

You can create interactive, multichannel portal applications with exceptional GUIs for mobiledevices by using Dojo Mobile, which is an HTML5 mobile JavaScript framework. It is an optimizedset of widgets well-suited for smartphone requirements, such as smaller footprint and a native lookand feel for mobile devices. You can drag the Dojo mobile widget from the palette (as shown inFigure 10) onto the portlet JSP and deploy it on WebSphere Portal Server.



Figure 10. Dojo Mobile widgets

Dojo markup and other boilerplate content is automatically generated when any Dojo mobilewidget is dragged onto a portlet JSP file. Listing 1 shows an example of code generated for Dojomobile widgets.

Listing 1. Code generated for Dojo mobile widgets

Support for device classesThe multichannel smartphone and tablet support is now enhanced and standardized to includedevice classes. Earlier versions relied on the user agent string to detect the device from which theincoming request originated. This meant that no new device support could be added at run time,and it was also a non-uniform way of detecting devices.

Now, the WebSphere Portal runtime provides a standard API called Client profile information (CC/PP) for accessing client profiles. These APIs are exposed to the portlet developers as device



classes, such as smartphone or desktop. These are referred in the portlet class to render thespecific page based on the device class, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Screen capture of code generated automatically for a device class

Summary

Version 8.5 advances Rational Application Developer in both multichannel developmentcapabilities and the tools it provides for developers to create exceptional web experiences for endusers. Both the tools and the ease of using them make it a very intuitive and productive to createthe next generation of portal applications that give businesses an extra edge.



Resources

Learn

Browse the Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software page ondeveloperWorks for links to technical articles and many related resources. Also check theseresources related to this article:

Read What's new in Rational Application Developer 8.5, and see the RationalApplication Developer Version 8.5 information center for documentation.

Check the Portal tools overview and the portal tool videos about creating a JSF 2.0portlet project, mobile device support, plus a viewlet that demonstrates WebSpherePortal 8.0 runtime support for creating and publishing portlet.

Explore the Optional software available that can support and enhance your work. Subscribe to the developerWorks weekly email newsletter, and choose the topics to follow.

Stay current with developerWorks technical events and webcasts focused on a variety of IBMproducts and IT industry topics.

Attend a free developerWorks Live! briefing to get up-to-speed quickly on IBM productsand tools, as well as IT industry trends.

Watch developerWorks on-demand demos, ranging from product installation and setupdemos for beginners to advanced functionality for experienced developers.

Improve your skills. Check the Rational training and certification catalog, which includesmany types of courses on a wide range of topics. You can take some of them anywhere, anytime, and many of the Getting Started ones are free.

Get products and technologies

Try Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software, free. Evaluate IBM software in the way that suits you best: Download it for a trial, try it online,

use it in a cloud environment, or spend a few hours in the SOA sandbox learning how toimplement service-oriented architecture efficiently.

Discuss

Check Rational Application Developer wiki and in the Portal tools section there to keep upwith news and to contribute.

Join the Development Tools forum to ask questions and participate in discussions. Rate or review Rational software. It's quick and easy. Share your knowledge and help others who use Rational software by writing a

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Ask and answer questions and increase your expertise when you get involved in the otherRational forums, cafs.



About the authors

Jaspreet Singh

Jaspreet Singh is a software architect for the Rational WebSphere Portal tools in ICS.His areas of expertise span the WebSphere Portal domain, Eclipse plug-ins, JavaEnterprise Edition (JEE), and Web 2.0 frameworks. He has presented at the RationalSoftware Development Conference in 2008, Portal Excellence Conference 2009, theRational software Innovate 2010 conference, and the Exceptional Web ExperienceConference in 2011.

Mansi Gaba

Mansi Gaba is a staff software engineer at the IBM Software Labs in Delhi, India.Her areas of expertise include JavaServer Faces (JSF) portlet bridge, the JSR-286Java Portlet specification, and portlet server tools. She has completed Sun CertifiedJava Programmer, Sun Certified Web Component Developer, and Oracle CertifiedProfessional, Java EE 5 Business Component Developer.

Copyright IBM Corporation 2012(www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml)Trademarks(www.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/trademarks/)

Table of ContentsIntroductionHighlights of the new and enhanced featuresWebSphere Portal 8.0 runtime support to create and test portlet projectsJavaServer Faces 2.0 portlets supportRich page Editor for portlet development with CSS3 and HTML5Single-click enablement of Web 2.0 featuresMobile browser simulatorImproved smartphone and tablet portlet supportDojo Mobile widgets supportSupport for device classes

SummaryResourcesAbout the authorsTrademarks

new rational application developer portal tools pdf

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