Web Clipping OmniPortlet Java Portlets Portlet Builder

Portlet Technologies Matrix 2-19

2.10.5 PLSQL Portlets

Similar to Java portlets, you have full control over the active elements in PLSQL portlets and, therefore, you can achieve the inline rendering functionality programmatically by implementing private portlet parameters.

2.11 Charting Capability

This section describes the portlet building tools in terms of their charting functionality.

2.11.1 Web Clipping

Web Clipping clips pre-existing content. So, while it does not create charts, it can retrieve and present HTML content that contains charts.

2.11.2 OmniPortlet

OmniPortlet supports bar, line, and pie charts. Charts in OmniPortlet are dynamically generated images, which can include hyperlinks.

2.11.3 Java Portlets

You can create sophisticated chart portlets programmatically in your Java portlets using Oracles Business Intelligence BI Beans.

2.11.4 Portlet Builder

With Portlet Builder, you can build HTML-based bar chart portlets. Among other features, you can specify the color and orientation of the bars.

2.11.5 PLSQL Portlets

In PLSQL portlets, HTML-based charting can be achieved by extensive coding.

2.12 Public Portlet Parameters Support

There are three types of parameters in Oracle Portal: page parameters, public portlet parameters, and private portlet parameters. These parameters can be described as follows: ■ Page parameters: You can use a page parameter to pass a value to a page. Using page parameters, the information that is displayed on a page can vary depending on where the page is called from and who is viewing the page. Using page parameters, page designers can synchronize the portlets on a page by passing them the same values. This provides the ability to reuse and tailor portlets on pages by merely integrating them with page parameters. Without this functionality, you would have to code portlets individually to use different parameter values. ■ Public portlet parameters: You can use a public portlet parameter to pass a value to a portlet. Using portlet parameters, the information that is displayed in a portlet can be specific to a particular page or a user. Portlet parameters are created by the Note: Oracle Reports and Oracle BI Discoverer portlets use BI Beans to create professional graphs. 2-20 Oracle Fusion Middleware Developers Guide for Oracle Portal portlet developer and are exposed to the page designer, through the user interface. After adding a portlet to a page, page designers can assign values to the public portlet parameters to make the information displayed in the portlet specific to the page. Page designers can assign values to public portlet parameters by providing a specific value constant, a system variable for example, the portal user name, or a page parameter. At run time, the portlet receives the values from the sources specified. In this way, page designers have complete control over the source of the parameter, whereas you have complete control over how the data is used after it is transmitted to the portlet. ■ Private portlet parameters: You can use private portlet parameters to implement internal navigation in your portlet. You can pass parameters to your portlets every time the page is requested. Private portlet parameters can be passed exclusively from the portlet instance to the same portlet instance. Private portlet parameters do not require a full page refresh. You can create a link in a portlet that can be used to refresh the portlet only, without triggering a full portal page refresh. By doing this, only the content of the affected portlet is updated and the rest of the page is not. Refer to Partial Page Refresh in Chapter 7, Enhancing Java Portlets for details about setting this programmatically. Portlets supporting public portlet parameters enable page designers to tailor the portlets data input for each portlet instance. In this case, the portlet developer can focus on the portlet logic, while page designers can easily reuse portlets and address the interaction between the page and the portlets. All five portlet building technologies discussed in this chapter OmniPortlet, Web Clipping, Java portlets, Portlet Builder, and PLSQL portlets support public portlet parameters. OmniPortlet, Web Clipping, and Portlet Builder provide complete support through their wizard interface. You can add public portlet parameter support to your Java portlets programmatically or with the Java Portlet Wizard. PLSQL portlets support public parameters only programmatically.

2.13 Private Portlet Parameter Support

This section describes the portlet building tools in terms of their support for private parameters.

2.13.1 OmniPortlet, Web Clipping, and Portlet Builder

OmniPortlet, Web Clipping, and Portlet Builder do not provide access to the portlet developer to private portlet parameters.

2.13.2 Java Portlets and PLSQL Portlets