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IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets is a JSR 168 portlet that enables enterprise portal users to integrate Google Gadgets for web pages with their portal pages. Google Gadgets for web pages are remotely accessible services that provide access to online content and applications designed to be aggregated into the context of a web page. These include language translators, maps, YouTube videos, and Wikipedia.
Using IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets with appropriate access rights, users can search and select a Google Gadget from the available set of thousands of Google Gadgets for their portal pages and modify the settings of the selected gadget as per their preferences. Additionally, users can specify the number of gadgets to be displayed per page while selecting a gadget.
IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets is supported in a proxied environment and supports inter portlet communication. Using this feature, other (source) portlets can interact with the selected gadgets in the IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets instances on the same page, i.e., the gadgets react in response to events triggered in the other portlets. You can utilize this feature to create portal-based mashups suited to your business requirements.
Note: This version of IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets is also supported on WebSphere Portal Version 6.1.
Using IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets
IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets is supported in a proxied environment. However, the user machine should have a direct connection to Internet.
The key concepts and implementation details for the inter portlet communication feature of IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets have been discussed in the article IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets: Using the inter portlet communication feature.
Updates
- February 2, 2009: Internal changes for compliance and caching enhancements
- October 3, 2008: Provision of partial support for the display of DBCS characters
- June 30, 2008: Separate .war files provided for WebSphere Portal versions 6.0.x and 6.1, respectively
- October 08, 2007: Addition of support for inter portlet communication
- September 03, 2007: Support for proxy environment and an additional Edit Shared Settings mode
- April 24, 2007: Initial Version
Setting up IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets
Client requirements
This portlet supports browsers capable of rendering HTML markup. The following table provides detailed information.
| Attribute | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Markup level | HTML 4.01 Transitional |
| Java applet | None |
| JavaScript | No |
| <iframe> | Yes |
| Style sheets | Portal styles only |
| Software | This portlet has been tested on the following browsers:
|
| Accessibility | No |
Server requirements
IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets runs on WebSphere Portal versions 6.x
Deployment and installation
The 1wp1001aj.zip package contains two folders, WP6.0x and WP6.1. Install GoogleGadgetIntegrated.war in the WP6.0.x folder for WebSphere Portal versions 6.0.x and GoogleGadgetIntegrated.war in the WP6.1 folder for WebSphere Portal version 6.1.
For general information about installing a portlet, refer the Information Center of the appropriate WebSphere Portal release. In case you already have IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets installed on your Portal, you simply need to update the portlet war file with the new war file downloaded from the Catalog.
Note:Before updating an existing .war file for the portlet, take a backup of /config/gadget_param_mapping.xml and /config/gadget_param_mapping.xml files. Replace the corresponding files either in the new .war file or the fresh installation of the portlet with the backup copies of the two files.
After you have installed IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets, you need to configure the portlet so that it works in a proxied environment. Refer the Configuration parameters section for details.
Configuration parameters
To enable IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets to work in a proxied environment, you need to set the values for the following parameters in the proxy.properties file located in the portal_server_root\installedApps\<Integrated_getPortlet_PA_tmq2jbh.ear>\<PA_tmq2jbh.war>\config directory.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| http.proxyEnabled | Set to true if the portal server is in a proxied environment, otherwise, false. |
| http.proxyHost | The host name of the HTTP Proxy Server |
| http.proxyPort | The relevant port number of the HTTP Proxy Server |
| http.proxyCredentialSlotName | Name of the Credential Slot that contains the authentication details for the HTTP Proxy Server. The credential slot must be of the type UserPasswordPassive. |
For the proxy settings to take effect, stop and start the portlet application from the Administrative console of WebSphere Application Server.
Known limitations
- Some of the Google Gadgets may not function properly when using the CSA mode of Portal Web 2.0 theme.
- Some of the Google Gadgets may not work with the IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets even though they may work in the iGoogle environment. Please use an alternative gadget to suit your requirements.
- The portlet may not work properly when SSL is enabled in the WebSphere Portal server(i.e., the server's URL starts with https).
Note: The responsibility for the stability and availability relies with Google for the services provided by Google and with the respective third parties for gadgets published to the gadget catalog by third parties.