开源portal的选择

  开源portal的列表可以参见: http://www.open-open.com/17.htm<o:p></o:p>

我选择开源portal的标准：<o:p></o:p>

(1). 支持JSR168<o:p></o:p>

(2). 支持WAP<o:p></o:p>

(3). 容易入门(不能没有文档， 也不能有文档但是都是垃圾)。<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

比较著名的开源portal要数Liferay和JetSpeed 2,这两个都是功能非常强大的Portal, 其他比较引人关注的还有Pluto, 不过，这个portal太过简单，只能用来平常的测试开发，要用于真正的项目恐怕不行，因为对apache比较有感情，所以我第一个尝试的目标就是JetSpeed2, 它有一大串features, 不过对我来说最重要的是他的JSR168 compliant和对wap的支持，但是当我开始JetSpeed 2的tutorial的时候，我发现我根本没有办法入门， 它的文档那个叫烂阿！！先是这个tutorial在不告诉我到哪里下载resources.zip的情况下就让我打开resources文件夹。。。，为了这个我郁闷的几天，后来在他的maillist里面知道了resource.zip在哪里下了，但是当我尝试创建一个新的项目的时候，它又给我报错了，说某个文件无法下载，我用ie去下载，果然没法下载，根本就没这个文件。唉，让我无法入门阿，我还发现它所谓的对wap的支持只是一句话，我没有在他的文档里面找到任何有关wap portlet开发的指导，于是我放弃。<o:p></o:p>

接着我试了试liferay, 他的文档比jetspeed2写的要好不少，但是在我运行它的struts portlet的第三个例子的时候，liferay还是让我失望了，报错了， 我不想找错，而且我发现liferay也没怎么提到有关wap portlet的开发。失望啊。<o:p></o:p>

于是我在那个开源portal的列表里面一个一个的找，一个一个的试，剩下的这些明显比Liferay和JetSpeed2还要差很多，不支持wap, 有的甚至不支持JSR168!如JPortlet。<o:p></o:p>

最后发现只有一个没有看了：StringBeans，之所以没看，是因为我怎么也无法把它和Portal联系在一起，但是一试发现这真是个好东西！支持JSR168,支持wap，没有tutorial, 但是他的帮助文档是如此的好以至于我觉的没有tuorial也没什么。比JetSpeed2那个tutorial乱tutor要好得多，我发现我能在StringBeans的帮助文档里面找到大部分我想知道的东西。推荐大家使用StringBeans!!!!<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

下面是一位外国仁兄的blog,它和我有一样的观点，大家不妨一看：<o:p></o:p>

(http://www.telio.be/blog/)<o:p></o:p>

Hi all,<o:p></o:p>

For one of our customers, we had to recommend and prototype a portal engine. For those of you who know me a little, I use the now famous (at telio at least) “10 minute” test.
Here is how it goes : <o:p></o:p>

Phase 1 <o:p></o:p>

1. Cross read the application’s, utility’s, tool’s website and get a first impression <o:p></o:p>
2. Download a binary package <o:p></o:p>
3. Install the binary package <o:p></o:p>
4. Run/test the application <o:p></o:p>

Assuming the first phase went well (which should probably eliminate 75% or your initial list), proceed to phase 2 :<o:p></o:p>

Phase 2 <o:p></o:p>

1. Download the source package <o:p></o:p>
2. Build the source package <o:p></o:p>
3. Install the source package <o:p></o:p>
4. Run/test the application <o:p></o:p>

If you reached point 4 of phase 2, you’ve got a winner <v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><v:path o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" style="WIDTH: 11.25pt; HEIGHT: 11.25pt" alt=":-)" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata o:href="http://www.telio.be/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\XMM\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape>Now by winner I mean an application that could potentially help you in what you are looking to do, or that you can at least modify to suit your needs.<o:p></o:p>

In my portal engine research, I started off with Liferay, StringBeans, Exo, Jetspeed 2.
Jetspeed 2 was eliminated at step 1.1 (don’t ask me why exactly, it’s purely subjective), Exo failed at step 1.2, Liferay at step 1.3 (issues with tomcat 5 or something like that .. ), the winner was StringBeans.<o:p></o:p>

So let’s go on to phase 2 with StringBeans. Download the source, unpack, “ant” (they don’t use maven, which is a good sign .. <v:shape id="_x0000_i1026" style="WIDTH: 11.25pt; HEIGHT: 11.25pt" alt=":-)" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata o:href="http://www.telio.be/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\XMM\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape>, no errors and I’ve got a war file ready to go matching the binary distribution. <o:p></o:p>

Now how about the features I was looking for : <o:p></o:p>

• JSR 168 compliant (not only on paper) <o:p></o:p>
• easy customization of portal look and feel <o:p></o:p>
• ability to plugin NTLM authentication <o:p></o:p>
• Understandable source code and architecture <o:p></o:p>

In less than one day, I had all requirements met and especially the last one. The source code is clear and simple.<o:p></o:p>

For all of you looking for a nice portal implementation, try it out at http://www.nabh.com/projects/sbportal<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>