The main difference with previous versions is the way to package your application, in previous versions you had to change the content of the file portal.war in order to customize the portal. Now we more consider your application as an add-on that you can packaged in another ear/war file. You just need to follow some rules in order to notify the platform that it must take into account your add-on in order to customize the portal.

Among other things, you will have to:

An extension is just a set of files that we use to customize or add new features to a given portal. An extension must be the least intrusive as possible, as we could potentially have several extensions for the same portal. In other words we are supposed to only add what is missing in the portal and avoid to change or duplicate files that are in the portal.war.

The sarter is a web application that has been added to create and start all the portals (i.e. portal containers) at the same time when all the other web applications have already been started. In fact all other web applications can potentially defined several things at startup such as skins, javascripts, google gadgets and configuration files, thus the loading order is important as we can redefine skins or configuration files or a javascript from a web application 1 could depend on another javascript from a web application 2 so if the web application 2 is loaded after the web application 1, we will get errors in the merged javascript file.

If a PortalContainerDefinition has been defined, the loading order will be the order that has been used to define the list of dependency. And if you defined a PortalContainerDefinition you need to deploy the starter otherwise the loading order will be the default one (i.e. the loading order of the Application Server)

So if you need to customize your portal by adding a new extension and/or a new portal, you need to defined the related PortalContainerDefinitions so you need to deploy also the starter. Otherwise, you don't need to define any PortalContainerDefinition and to deploy the starter.

Each portal instance has its own portal container which allows the portal to have its own set of components/services. It will ensure the isolation between the different portal instances.

A PortalContainerDefinition allows you to indicate the platform how it must initialize and manage your portal. In a PortalContainerDefinition, you can define a set of properties, such as:

You can define and register a PortalContainerDefinition thanks to an external plugin that has to be treated at the RootContainer level. In other words, your configuration file must be a file conf/configuration.xml packaged into a jar file or $AS_HOME/exo-conf/configuration.xml (for more details please have a look to the wiki article http://wiki.exoplatform.com/xwiki/bin/view/Kernel/Container+Configuration).

See below an example of configuration file that define and register a PortalContainerDefinition:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerConfig -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerConfig</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>Add PortalContainer Definitions</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the PortalContainerConfig in order to register the PortalContainerDefinitions -->
      <set-method>registerPlugin</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerDefinitionPlugin -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerDefinitionPlugin</type>
      <init-params>
        <object-param>
          <name>portal</name>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerDefinition">
            <!-- The name of the portal container -->
            <field name="name"><string>portal</string></field>
            <!-- The name of the context name of the rest web application -->
            <field name="restContextName"><string>rest</string></field>
            <!-- The name of the realm -->
            <field name="realmName"><string>exo-domain</string></field>
            <!-- All the dependencies of the portal container ordered by loading priority -->
            <field name="dependencies">
              <collection type="java.util.ArrayList">
                <value>
                  <string>eXoResources</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>portal</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>dashboard</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>exoadmin</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>eXoGadgets</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>eXoGadgetServer</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>rest</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>web</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>wsrp-producer</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>sample-ext</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

In the previous example, we define a portal container called "portal", which rest context name is "rest", which realm name is "exo-domain" and which dependencies are the web applications "eXoResources", "portal"... The platform will load first "eXoResources", then "portal" and so on.

The dependency order defined into the PortalContainerDefinition is really crucial since it will be interpreted the same way by several components of the platform. All those components, will consider the 1st element in the list is less important than the second element and so on.

So it is currently used to:

To do that you need first to change the default values used by a PortalContainer that has not been defined thanks to a PortalContainerDefinition. Those default values can be modified thanks to a set of init parameters of the component PortalContainerConfig.

The component PortalContainerConfig must be registered at the RootContainer level. In other words, your configuration file must be a file conf/configuration.xml packaged into a jar file or $AS_HOME/exo-conf/configuration.xml (for more details please have a look to the wiki article http://wiki.exoplatform.com/xwiki/bin/view/Kernel/Container+Configuration).

In the example below we will rename:

See below an example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <component>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerConfig -->
    <type>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerConfig</type>
    <init-params>
      <!-- The name of the default portal container -->
      <value-param>
        <name>default.portal.container</name>
        <value>myPortal</value>
      </value-param>
      <!-- The name of the default rest ServletContext -->
      <value-param>
        <name>default.rest.context</name>
        <value>myRest</value>
      </value-param>
      <!-- The name of the default realm -->
      <value-param>
        <name>default.realm.name</name>
        <value>my-exo-domain</value>
      </value-param>
    </init-params>
  </component>
</configuration>

{+}Once your configuration is ready, you need to:+

The end of the process depends on your application server

To indicate the platform that a given web application has configuration file to provide, you need to:

The simple fact to add this Servlet Context Listener, will add the Servlet Context of this web application to the Unified Servlet Context of all the PortalContainers that depend on this web application according to their PortalContainerDefinition.

{+}See an example of a web.xml below:+

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
                 "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd">
<web-app>
  <display-name>sample-ext</display-name>

  <context-param>
    <param-name>org.exoplatform.frameworks.jcr.command.web.fckeditor.digitalAssetsWorkspace</param-name>
    <param-value>collaboration</param-value>
    <description>Binary assets workspace name</description>
  </context-param>

  <context-param>
    <param-name>org.exoplatform.frameworks.jcr.command.web.fckeditor.digitalAssetsPath</param-name>
    <param-value>/Digital Assets/</param-value>
    <description>Binary assets path</description>
  </context-param>

  <context-param>
    <param-name>CurrentFolder</param-name>
    <param-value>/Digital Assets/</param-value>
    <description>Binary assets workspace name</description>
  </context-param>

  <!-- ================================================================== -->
  <!--   RESOURCE FILTER TO CACHE MERGED JAVASCRIPT AND CSS               -->
  <!-- ================================================================== -->
  <filter>
    <filter-name>ResourceRequestFilter</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.exoplatform.portal.application.ResourceRequestFilter</filter-class>
  </filter>

  <filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>ResourceRequestFilter</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
  </filter-mapping>


  <!-- ================================================================== -->
  <!--           LISTENER                                                 -->
  <!-- ================================================================== -->
  <listener>
    <listener-class>org.exoplatform.container.web.PortalContainerConfigOwner</listener-class>
  </listener>
  <!-- ================================================================== -->
  <!--           SERVLET                                                  -->
  <!-- ================================================================== -->
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>GateInServlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.gatein.wci.api.GateInServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>0</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <!--  =================================================================  -->
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>GateInServlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/gateinservlet</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

A portal extension is in fact a web application declared as a PortalContainerConfigOwner (see previous section for more details about a PortalContainerConfigOwner) that has been added to the dependency list of the PortalContainerDefinition of a given portal.

See below an example of configuration file that add the portal extension "portal-ext" to the dependency list of the portal "portal":

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerConfig -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerConfig</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>Add PortalContainer Definitions</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the PortalContainerConfig in order to register the PortalContainerDefinitions -->
      <set-method>registerPlugin</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerDefinitionPlugin -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerDefinitionPlugin</type>
      <init-params>
        <object-param>
          <name>portal</name>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerDefinition">
            <!-- The name of the portal container -->
            <field name="name"><string>portal</string></field>
            <!-- The name of the context name of the rest web application -->
            <field name="restContextName"><string>rest</string></field>
            <!-- The name of the realm -->
            <field name="realmName"><string>exo-domain</string></field>
            <!-- All the dependencies of the portal container ordered by loading priority -->
            <field name="dependencies">
              <collection type="java.util.ArrayList">
                <value>
                  <string>eXoResources</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>portal</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>dashboard</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>exoadmin</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>eXoGadgets</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>eXoGadgetServer</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>rest</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>web</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>wsrp-producer</string>
                </value>
                <!-- The sample-ext has been added at the end of the dependency list in order to have the highest priority towards
                the other web applications and particularly towards "portal" -->
                <value>
                  <string>sample-ext</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

Refer to How to deploy the sample extension?

You have no need anymore, to duplicate the entire "portal.war" file to create a new portal, you just to duplicate the following files from the original "portal.war":

You need also to duplicate the "rest.war" file to create a dedicated rest web application for your portal as we must have one rest web application per portal, in fact you just need to duplicate the following files from the original "rest.war":

Finally you need to register and define the corresponding PortalContainerDefinition. The PortalContainerDefinition of your portal will be composed of:

See an example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerConfig -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerConfig</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>Add PortalContainer Definitions</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the PortalContainerConfig in order to register the PortalContainerDefinitions -->
      <set-method>registerPlugin</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the PortalContainerDefinitionPlugin -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerDefinitionPlugin</type>
      <init-params>
        <object-param>
          <name>sample-portal</name>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.container.definition.PortalContainerDefinition">
            <!-- The name of the portal container -->
            <field name="name"><string>sample-portal</string></field>
            <!-- The name of the context name of the rest web application -->
            <field name="restContextName"><string>rest-sample-portal</string></field>
            <!-- The name of the realm -->
            <field name="realmName"><string>exo-domain-sample-portal</string></field>
            <!-- All the dependencies of the portal container ordered by loading priority -->
            <field name="dependencies">
              <collection type="java.util.ArrayList">
                <value>
                  <string>eXoResources</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>portal</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>dashboard</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>exoadmin</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>eXoGadgets</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>eXoGadgetServer</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>rest-sample-portal</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>web</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>wsrp-producer</string>
                </value>
                <value>
                  <string>sample-portal</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

Refer to How to deploy the sample portal?

Now, the ConfigurationManager uses by default the unified servlet context of the portal in order to get any resources in particular the configuration files. The unified servlet context is aware of the priorities that has been set in the PortalContainerDefinition of the portal. In other words, if you want for instance to import the file war:/conf/database/database-configuration.xml and this file exists in 2 different web applications, the file from the last (according to the dependency order) web application will be loaded.

So, in order to avoid issues when we would like to package several products at the same time (i.e. WCM, DMS, CS, KS), we need to:

The example below, is an the example of a file WEB-INF/conf/configuration.xml of the product "sample-ext".

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <import>war:/conf/sample-ext/common/common-configuration.xml</import>
  <import>war:/conf/sample-ext/jcr/jcr-configuration.xml</import>
  <import>war:/conf/sample-ext/portal/portal-configuration.xml</import>
  <import>war:/conf/sample-ext/web/web-inf-extension-configuration.xml</import>
</configuration>

In your configuration file, you can use a special variable called container.name.suffix in order to add a suffix to values that could change between portal containers. The value of this variable will be an empty sting if no PortalContainerDefinition has been defined otherwise the value will be \-$portal.container.name. See an example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<configuration
   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
   xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <component>
    <key>org.exoplatform.services.database.HibernateService</key>
    <jmx-name>database:type=HibernateService</jmx-name>
    <type>org.exoplatform.services.database.impl.HibernateServiceImpl</type>
    <init-params>
      <properties-param>
        <name>hibernate.properties</name>
        <description>Default Hibernate Service</description>
        <property name="hibernate.show_sql" value="false"/>
        <property name="hibernate.cglib.use_reflection_optimizer" value="true"/>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:file:../temp/data/exodb${container.name.suffix}"/>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"/>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.autocommit" value="true"/>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.username" value="sa"/>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.password" value=""/>
        <property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect"/>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.min_size" value="5"/>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.max_size" value="20"/>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.timeout" value="1800"/>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.max_statements" value="50"/>
      </properties-param>
    </init-params>
  </component>
</configuration>

Now you can add new JCR repositories or workspaces thanks to an external plugin, the configuration of your JCR Repositories will be merged knowing that the merge algorithm will:

See an example of jcr-configuration.xml below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the RepositoryServiceConfiguration -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.services.jcr.config.RepositoryServiceConfiguration</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>Sample RepositoryServiceConfiguration Plugin</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the RepositoryServiceConfiguration in order to add the RepositoryServiceConfigurations -->
      <set-method>addConfig</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the RepositoryServiceConfigurationPlugin -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.config.RepositoryServiceConfigurationPlugin</type>
      <init-params>
        <value-param>
          <name>conf-path</name>
          <description>JCR configuration file</description>
          <value>war:/conf/sample-ext/jcr/repository-configuration.xml</value>
        </value-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

{+}See an example of repository-configuration.xml below:+

<repository-service default-repository="repository">
  <repositories>
    <repository name="repository" system-workspace="system" default-workspace="portal-system">
      <security-domain>exo-domain</security-domain>
      <access-control>optional</access-control>
      <authentication-policy>org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.access.JAASAuthenticator</authentication-policy>
      <workspaces>
        <workspace name="sample-ws">
          <container class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.jdbc.JDBCWorkspaceDataContainer">
            <properties>
              <property name="source-name" value="jdbcexo${container.name.suffix}" />
              <property name="dialect" value="hsqldb" />
              <property name="multi-db" value="false" />
              <property name="update-storage" value="true" />
              <property name="max-buffer-size" value="204800" />
              <property name="swap-directory" value="../temp/swap/sample-ws${container.name.suffix}" />
            </properties>
            <value-storages>
              <value-storage id="sample-ws" class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.value.fs.TreeFileValueStorage">
                <properties>
                  <property name="path" value="../temp/values/sample-ws${container.name.suffix}" />
                </properties>
                <filters>
                  <filter property-type="Binary" />
                </filters>
              </value-storage>
            </value-storages>
          </container>
          <initializer class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.ScratchWorkspaceInitializer">
            <properties>
              <property name="root-nodetype" value="nt:unstructured" />
              <property name="root-permissions"
                value="any read;*:/platform/administrators read;*:/platform/administrators add_node;*:/platform/administrators set_property;*:/platform/administrators remove" />
            </properties>
          </initializer>
          <cache enabled="true">
            <properties>
              <property name="max-size" value="20000" />
              <property name="live-time" value="30000" />
            </properties>
          </cache>
          <query-handler class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
            <properties>
              <property name="index-dir" value="../temp/jcrlucenedb/sample-ws${container.name.suffix}" />
            </properties>
          </query-handler>
          <lock-manager>
            <time-out>15m</time-out><!-- 15min -->
            <persister class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.lock.FileSystemLockPersister">
              <properties>
                <property name="path" value="../temp/lock/sample-ws${container.name.suffix}" />
              </properties>
            </persister>
          </lock-manager>
        </workspace>
      </workspaces>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
</repository-service>

Now you can add new Resource Bundles, thanks to an external plugin.

See an example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the ResourceBundleService -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.services.resources.ResourceBundleService</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>Sample ResourceBundle Plugin</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the ResourceBundleService in order to register the ResourceBundles -->
      <set-method>addResourceBundle</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the BaseResourceBundlePlugin -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.services.resources.impl.BaseResourceBundlePlugin</type>
      <init-params>
        <!--values-param>
          <name>classpath.resources</name>
          <description>The resources that start with the following package name should be load from file system</description>
          <value>locale.portlet</value>
        </values-param-->
        <values-param>
          <name>init.resources</name>
          <description>Store the following resources into the db for the first launch </description>
          <value>locale.portal.sample</value>
        </values-param>
        <values-param>
          <name>portal.resource.names</name>
          <description>The properties files of the portal , those file will be merged
            into one ResoruceBundle properties </description>
          <value>locale.portal.sample</value>
        </values-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

Now each portal container has its own ClassLoader which is automatically set for you at runtime (FYI: it could be retrieved thanks to portalContainer.getPortalClassLoader()). This ClassLoader is an unified ClassLoader that is also aware of the dependency order defined into the PortalContainerDefinition, so to add new keys or update key values, you just need to:

In the example below, we want to change the values of the keys UIHomePagePortlet.Label.Username and UIHomePagePortlet.Label.Password, and add the new key UIHomePagePortlet.Label.SampleKey into the Resource Bundle locale.portal.webui.

#############################################################################
#org.exoplatform.portal.webui.component.UIHomePagePortlet															#
#############################################################################

UIHomePagePortlet.Label.Username=Usr:
UIHomePagePortlet.Label.Password=Pwd:
UIHomePagePortlet.Label.SampleKey=This is a new key that has been added to the Resource Bundle "locale.portal.webui" of "sample-ext"

Now each portal container has its own ServletContext which is automatically set for you at runtime (FYI: it could be retrieved thanks to portalContainer.getPortalContext()). This ServletContext is an unified ServletContext that is also aware of the dependency order defined into the PortalContainerDefinition so to replace a groovy template of the portal, you just need to:

Now you can add new Portal Configurations, Navigations, Pages or Portlet Preferences thanks to an external plugin.

See an example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the UserPortalConfigService -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.portal.config.UserPortalConfigService</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>new.portal.config.user.listener</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the UserPortalConfigService in order to register the NewPortalConfigs -->
      <set-method>initListener</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the NewPortalConfigListener -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.portal.config.NewPortalConfigListener</type>
      <description>this listener init the portal configuration</description>
      <init-params>
        <object-param>
          <name>portal.configuration</name>
          <description>description</description>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.portal.config.NewPortalConfig">
            <field name="predefinedOwner">
              <collection type="java.util.HashSet">
                <value>
                  <string>classic</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
            <field name="ownerType">
              <string>portal</string>
            </field>
            <field name="templateLocation">
              <string>war:/conf/sample-ext/portal</string>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
        <object-param>
          <name>group.configuration</name>
          <description>description</description>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.portal.config.NewPortalConfig">
            <field name="predefinedOwner">
              <collection type="java.util.HashSet">
                <value>
                  <string>platform/users</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
            <field name="ownerType">
              <string>group</string>
            </field>
            <field name="templateLocation">
              <string>war:/conf/sample-ext/portal</string>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
        <object-param>
          <name>user.configuration</name>
          <description>description</description>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.portal.config.NewPortalConfig">
            <field name="predefinedOwner">
              <collection type="java.util.HashSet">
                <value>
                  <string>root</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
            <field name="ownerType">
              <string>user</string>
            </field>
            <field name="templateLocation">
              <string>war:/conf/sample-ext/portal</string>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

We added a GenericFilter that allows you to define new Http Filters thanks to an external plugin. Your filter will need to implement the interface org.exoplatform.web.filter.Filter.

See an example of configuration below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the ExtensibleFilter -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.web.filter.ExtensibleFilter</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the plugin -->
      <name>Sample Filter Definition Plugin</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the ExtensibleFilter in order to register the FilterDefinitions -->
      <set-method>addFilterDefinitions</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the FilterDefinitionPlugin -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.web.filter.FilterDefinitionPlugin</type>
      <init-params>
        <object-param>
          <name>Sample Filter Definition</name>
          <object type="org.exoplatform.web.filter.FilterDefinition">
            <!-- The filter instance -->
            <field name="filter"><object type="org.exoplatform.sample.ext.web.SampleFilter"/></field>
            <!-- The mapping to use -->
            <!-- WARNING: the mapping is expressed with regular expressions -->
            <field name="patterns">
              <collection type="java.util.ArrayList" item-type="java.lang.String">
                <value>
                  <string>/.*</string>
                </value>
              </collection>
            </field>
          </object>
        </object-param>
      </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

{+}See an example of Filter below:+

...
import org.exoplatform.web.filter.Filter;

import java.io.IOException;

import javax.servlet.FilterChain;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.ServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.ServletResponse;

public class SampleFilter implements Filter
{

   public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain) throws IOException,
      ServletException
   {
      System.out.println("SampleFilter start");
      try
      {
         chain.doFilter(request, response);
      }
      finally
      {
         System.out.println("SampleFilter end");
      }
   }
}

We added a GenericHttpListener that allows you to define new HttpSessionListeners and/or ServletContextListeners thanks to an external plugin. Actually, the GenericHttpListener will broadcast events thanks to the ListenerService that you can easily capture. The events that it broadcasts are:

If you want to listen to org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.sessionCreated, you will need to create a Listener that extends _Listener<PortalContainer, HttpSessionEvent>_If you want to listen to \_org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.sessionDestroyed_, you will need to create a Listener that extends _Listener<PortalContainer, HttpSessionEvent>_If you want to listen to \_org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.contextInitialized_, you will need to create a Listener that extends _Listener<PortalContainer, ServletContextEvent>_If you want to listen to \_org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.contextDestroyed_, you will need to create a Listener that extends Listener<PortalContainer, ServletContextEvent>

See an example of configuration below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd"
  xmlns="http://www.exoplaform.org/xml/ns/kernel_1_0.xsd">
  <external-component-plugins>
    <!-- The full qualified name of the ListenerService -->
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.services.listener.ListenerService</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the listener that is also the name of the target event -->
      <name>org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.sessionCreated</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the ListenerService in order to register the Listener -->
      <set-method>addListener</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the Listener -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.sample.ext.web.SampleHttpSessionCreatedListener</type>
    </component-plugin>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the listener that is also the name of the target event -->
      <name>org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.sessionDestroyed</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the ListenerService in order to register the Listener -->
      <set-method>addListener</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the Listener -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.sample.ext.web.SampleHttpSessionDestroyedListener</type>
    </component-plugin>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the listener that is also the name of the target event -->
      <name>org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.contextInitialized</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the ListenerService in order to register the Listener -->
      <set-method>addListener</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the Listener -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.sample.ext.web.SampleContextInitializedListener</type>
    </component-plugin>
    <component-plugin>
      <!-- The name of the listener that is also the name of the target event -->
      <name>org.exoplatform.web.GenericHttpListener.contextDestroyed</name>
      <!-- The name of the method to call on the ListenerService in order to register the Listener -->
      <set-method>addListener</set-method>
      <!-- The full qualified name of the Listener -->
      <type>org.exoplatform.sample.ext.web.SampleContextDestroyedListener</type>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>
</configuration>

{+}See an example of Session Listener below:+

..
import org.exoplatform.container.PortalContainer;
import org.exoplatform.services.listener.Event;
import org.exoplatform.services.listener.Listener;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpSessionEvent;

public class SampleHttpSessionCreatedListener extends Listener<PortalContainer, HttpSessionEvent>
{

   @Override
   public void onEvent(Event<PortalContainer, HttpSessionEvent> event) throws Exception
   {
      System.out.println("Creating a new session");
   }
}

{+}See an example of Context Listener below:+

..
import org.exoplatform.container.PortalContainer;
import org.exoplatform.services.listener.Event;
import org.exoplatform.services.listener.Listener;

import javax.servlet.ServletContextEvent;

public class SampleContextInitializedListener extends Listener<PortalContainer, ServletContextEvent>
{

   @Override
   public void onEvent(Event<PortalContainer, ServletContextEvent> event) throws Exception
   {
      System.out.println("Initializing the context");
   }
}

Actually, it is not possible but you can create a rest component instead. For more details about rest, please refer to the following wiki article http://wiki.exoplatform.com/xwiki/bin/view/WS.

Actually, you have nothing to do, you just need to ensure that you get the context parameter value from the unified servlet context of the portal, that should be set for you but you can still get it from portalContainer.getPortalContext().

We added an example of portal extension (i.e. ability to customize a portal without changing anything in the portal.ear) that you can find in the svn of gatein at gatein/sample/extension.

We added an example of new portal (i.e. ability to create a new portal from another portal without changing anything in the portal.ear) that you can find in the svn of gatein at gatein/sample/portal.

To fix this issue you need to check if:

Refer to the dedicated wiki article What has been done to allow GateIn extensions?