Tips for Process Portal Customization

Answer

The new Process Portal since BPM 8.0.0 only supports the customization of below 3 areas:

1. Login page: You can make superficial changes to the appearance of the login page.

2. Banner: You can modify the content appearance or behavior of the banner that appears at the top of Process Portal.

3. Theme: Themes control the navigation appearance and layout of Process Portal. You can modify the appearance of the page including the colors fonts and images.

But in many cases the user want to customize the Process Portal in much more areas such as remove some views add some views update some views. How can we achieve such requirement? Technically the main content of the new Process Portal was built with JavaScript using DOJO framework so in most casee we can find the JavaScript source code of Process Portal and update it to implement the required customization.

First you should know where can you find the source code:

1. For BPM 8.0.x the source code of Process Portal can be found under the folder ROFILE_HOME\installedApps\192Node01Cell\IBM_BPM_Portal_192Node01_server1.ear\process-portal.war and the folder structure looks like

   

2. For BPM 8.5.x the source code is put in a zip file at BPM_INSTALL_FOLD\UIStaticContent\process-server\portal.ear\process-portal.war\static-web.zip and if you un-zip this file the folder structure looks like
   

Under the com\ibm\bpm\social folder you can find the JavaScript source code that defined the Process Portal

you may go through the JavaScript files under this folder to understand how the Process Portal is implemented and investigate how to update it to implement your customization requirement.

Under the layers folder you can find the packaged and compiled version of the source code that the Process Portal real referenced and used. Both the compressed and uncompressed js file are included but only the compressed version is used.

Now the simple way to apply your customization is update the uncompressed version to implement your customization replace the compressed version with your updated version restart the server to see if your portal customzation works or not.

NOTE:

1. always back up the file you will update so that you can revert it back if there is any error

2. the customization may lose when you apply iFix or upgrade. So it will be better also keep a backup of you updates so that it will be easier to apply your customization again.

3. Contact IBM On Demand Consulting(ODC) in case you see any issue during portal customization