Before you start

About this tutorial

With the right open source tools, you can build a Web portal just as capable and multifunctional as any huge corporate site. This tutorial explores a method of creating such a portal by using three tools:

• The Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) to develop the project
• An Apache Geronimo application server to deploy it
• The Liferay portal to provide the overall structure

It takes some effort to install these components and work out the version incompatibilities. But after configuration, the process of building and deploying the portal is straightforward.

Objectives

This tutorial covers:

• Organizing and simplifying portal development with the Eclipse WTP.
• Structuring portlets within the Liferay portal.
• Deploying a servlet-based portlet application to a Geronimo application server.
• Deploying a Java™Server Pages (JSP)-based portlet application with a Geronimo application server.

Prerequisites

This tutorial is written for enterprise Java developers whose skills and experience are at a beginning to intermediate level. You should have a general familiarity with Java technology, servlets, and JSP pages as well as a passing familiarity with Eclipse and how it manages projects.

System requirements

To start this tutorial, you need a recent version of Eclipse 3.2 or later on your system. You install the WTP, Geronimo server, Geronimo server run time, and Liferay portal platform during the course of the tutorial.

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• Portals, portlets, and Geronimo
• Create the Eclipse environment
• Install the Geronimo application server
• Install the Liferay portal platform
• The deployment descriptors
• Create the portlet descriptors
• Build and deploy the servlet-based portlet
• Build a JSP-based portlet
• Summary
• Downloads
• Resources
• About the author

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