RE: Embedding Pluto

Hi,

Firstly, thank you very much for your help so far Brent. 

Perhaps I am not explaining myself properly:

I am fully versed in the JSR-168 portlet specification and all the
associated portlet tags. However this is NOT a portlet issue, but a
portal one.

What I was trying to do, and now have achieved, is embed pluto into my
own web application. I have several JSR-168 portlets that another
developer has developed AND TESTED on a vanilla pluto portal
installation. (i.e. they use "defineobjects" in them) I wished to embed
these via the portlet tags exclusively. 
After much frustration from having to build pluto from scratch, using
something other than maven to make it spring 2.0 compatible, I have
finally got there. It is working.

However, during one part of my frustration, I discovered a null pointer
exception. 
This was solved by placing the scriptlet:

<% new PortalEnvironment(request, response); %> 

Before the PLUTO tag <pluto:portlet>.

(and just for my own piece of mind, I tried adding defineobjects instead
of this and, of course, I was back to the same null pointer exception
:o)

Now I assume that it is ME who is making the mistake here and not a bug
in pluto. However, the latter is possible of course so I thought it was
worth mentioning to the rest of the community.

Please note I am EMBEDDING pluto into my web app. This means that my jsp
pages call the pluto tag independently of the pluto portal. I am just
using the driver. (i.e. PortalDriverServlet, PortalStartupListener and
the pluto tags) 
I don't know if this is "best practice" or even if it is suppose to work
this way, but I have a (not exhaustively "pluto-tested" of course)
working version currently. 

I would not have even wondered about any of this if it wasn't for
needing that scriptlet!. :)

Anyways, thanks again for your help. 

Shane

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brent Thomas [mailto:[email protected]] 
> Sent: Thursday, 4 May 2006 12:56 a.m.
> To: [email protected]; [email protected]
> Subject: RE: Embedding Pluto
> 
> The tag <portlet:defineObjects/> is part of the portlet spec 
> since 1.0.
> From the Portlet spec 1.0:
> 
> <quote>
> PLT.22.1 defineObjects Tag
> The defineObjects tag must define the following variables in the JSP
> page:
> * RenderRequest renderRequest
> * RenderResponse renderResponse
> * PortletConfig portletConfig
> These variables must reference the same Portlet API objects stored in
> the request object
> of the JSP as defined in the PLT.16.3.1 Included Request Attributes
> Section.
> A JSP using the defineObjects tag may use these variables from
> scriptlets throughout
> the page.
> </quote>
> 
> Brent
> 
> -----
> Brent Thomas
> Acutely Obtuse, Inc.
> [email protected]
> 
> ----- Original message -----
> From: "Shane Paul" <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected], [email protected]
> Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 10:00:53 +1200
> Subject: RE: Embedding Pluto
> 
> Hi Patrick,
> 
> Thanks for the response, but I am a little confused by your response.
> 
> I "discovered" this fix by tracing the source of a null pointer
> exception. (i.e. as opposed to documentation) I know this is 
> (probably?)
> a hack and that I am missing something here, but I am not sure what.
> Just wanted a heads up from someone who knows about how 1.1 works.
> 
> The main confusing bit is that <% new PortalEnvironment(request,
> response); %> has only request/response dependencies and 
> could have been
> handled via a filter perhaps? 
> 
> Anyways, my question was essentially: "Is this a hack? If so, 
> what am I
> doing wrong?"
> 
> 
> Shane
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Patrick Huber [mailto:[email protected]] 
> > Sent: Tuesday, 2 May 2006 3:38 a.m.
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: Embedding Pluto
> > 
> > Hi Shane
> > 
> > Usually, you'd put this somewhere above the first portlet 
> tag of a jsp
> > page: <portlet:defineObjects/>. I haven't seen your scriptlet
> > before... it's probably doing the same. Using the above tag is the
> > recommended way of initializing portletRequest, 
> portletResponse and a
> > few other objects.
> > 
> > Patrick
> > 
> > 2006/4/30, Shane Paul <[email protected]>:
> > > Well that was a mission, but it is done:
> > >
> > > Built the pluto driver+extras from scratch using eclipse 
> and made it
> > > compatible with spring 2.0M3.
> > > Embedded it into our website using nothing more than the 
> > portlet tags,
> > > as originally hoped.
> > > I guess now you know it can be done. Writing some docs on 
> > what I did for
> > > my personal and company records. If anyone is interested, 
> just ask.
> > >
> > > Very happy. :)
> > >
> > > The only thing I cannot work out is having to add:
> > > <% new PortalEnvironment(request, response); %>
> > > To the jsp file before using the portlet tag. I 
> understand it places
> > > "things" into the request and/or session scope, but I am 
> > not sure why
> > > this does not happen when the tag is called. Will most 
> > likely edit the
> > > source again to add this.
> > >
> > > cheers.
> > >
> > > Shane
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly
> > by." -- Douglas Adams
> > 
>