Liferay
have given many options to develop liferay Plugin applications among
that one of the developer choice is Liferay Plugins SDK with ANT
tool.
Plugins
SDK is liferay standard development Kit to develop liferay Plugin
applications and its consist of all required to files and library
files to develop liferay applications.
To
start development with Plugins SDK we need ANT ,Liferay Portal
Server Bundle,Plugins SDK and Text Editor
The
following steps are required
Install
JDK 1.6 or above version.
Install
Portal Server Bundle
Install
ANT
Install
Plugins SDK
Plugins
SDK Configuration
Create
Plugin Applications with Liferay SDK
Install
JDK 1.6 or above version
Liferay
portal is Java based portal so first we need to install JDK .we need
to set important environment variables such as JAVA_HOME and need to
edit path system variable and add java bin path(;%JAVA_HOME%/bin;).
We need Java 6.0 JRE or greater.
Install
Portal Server Bundle
First
we need to download portal server bundle based on developer choice.
Once we downloaded bundle archive file then extract it in you desired
location then you can see portal server bundle that consist
application server with deployed liferay portal.
Liferay
Portal Server is actual environment to run liferay Plugin
applications. Liferay Portal Run time come up with different
application servers such as tomcat,jboss,glashfish, jetty, geromino,
JOnAS and resin.
Liferay
provided these run time bundle with different server so that we can
use any one based on developer choice.
Liferay
Server Bundle Consist Application server and Deployed Liferay Portal
Application. When we observed server deployment directory(for
tomcat/webapps) we can see deployed Liferay Portal application
with name ROOT.
Install
ANT
Liferay
Development need ANT tool to build and deploy applications. Plugins
SDK developed using ANT scripts so that first we need to install ANT
tool to start development.
Once
you downloaded zip file extract in your desired location and we need
to set ANT system environment variable in your machine.
We
need to create ANT_HOME and we need to add ANT bin path in “path”
environment variable.
Set
ANT Environment Variable in Linux
Assume
We have extracted ANT in the location “/java/apache-ant-1.9.4”
Now
ANT_HOME is “/java/apache-ant-1.9.4” and ANT bin path is “$
ANT_HOME/bin”
Generally
in the Linux we will use “.bash_profile” or “bash.bashrc”
file to set all environment variables. Now open .bash_profile file in
editor and add following configuration then save it.
export
ANT_HOME=/java/apache-ant-<version>
export
PATH=$PATH:$ANT_HOME/bin
Now
open Linux Terminal type “ant -version” then it show ant
version now you have successfully installed ANT.
Set
ANT Environment Variable in Windows
Select
Start, then right-select Computer --> Properties.
In
the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
In
the System variables section, click New
Set
the ANT_HOME variable:
Variable
name: ANT_HOME
Variable
value: [Ant installation path] (e.g., C:\apache-ant-[version])
Click
OK.
Also
in the System variables section, select your path variable and click
Edit….
Insert
%ANT_HOME%\bin; after %JAVA_HOME%\bin; and click OK.
Click
OK to close all system property windows.
Open
a new command prompt “ant -version” then it show ant version
now you have successfully installed ANT.
Plugins
SDK Configuration
Plugins SDK
Configuration are like portal server and other needed information,we
need to specify in the “build.properties” file and the
file consist with default configurations. This file is available in
Plugins SDK root directory.
We need to edit
this file with our configurations. But we should not edit
“build.properties” instead of that we need to clone this
file in same location and change name as
“build.[username].properties”
Lets say system
user name is “meeraprince” then properties file will be
“build.meeraprince.properties”
The cloned
“build.meeraprince.properties” already have default build
configurations and we need to edit these configurations according to
our local environment.
Edit this file
and find the following lines and change the paths according to your
settings.
app.server.type=[the
name build.properties uses for your application server type]
app.server.parent.dir=[the
directory containing your Liferay Server bundle]
app.server.tomcat.dir=[the
directory containing your application server]
Assume we are
using Liferay Portal Tomcat Bundle and the bundle location is
“D:/workspace/liferay-portal-6.2” folder then we need to
specify the following lines in the properties file.
app.server.type=tomcat
app.server.parent.dir=
D:/workspace/liferay-portal-6.2
app.server.tomcat.dir=${app.server.parent.dir}/tomcat-7.0.42
app.server.parent.dir
we can call it as Liferay Home Directory in our case
“D:/workspace/liferay-portal-6.2” is Liferay Home
Directory.
Plugins SDK
consist many files ,required directories and these are required to
develop plugins applications.
The
following are the different files and required directories in
Plugins SDK
Each directory
in the Plugins SDK contains build xml file and command scripts for
creating new plugins of that type. Here is the directory structure of
the Plugins SDK.
liferay-plugins-<version>/
- Plugins SDK root directory.
clients/
- client applications directory.
dist/
-it consist of all plugins applications generated .war files
ext/ -
consist created “ext” plugins applications.
hooks/ -
consist created hook plugin application
layouttpl/
- consist created layout templates directory.
lib/ -
commonly referenced libraries like all jar file required to
development of plugins.
misc/ -
development configuration files. Example, a source code formatting
specification file.
portlets/
- consist created portlet plugins applications.
themes/ -
consist created themes plugins directory.
tools/ -
plugin templates and utilities to created basic Plugin application
structure.
webs/ -
web plugins directory.
build.properties
- default SDK properties.
build.<username>.properties
- (optional) override SDK properties.
build.xml
– ANT build file consist all applications build information.
build-common.xml
- contains common targets and properties referenced throughout the
SDK.
build-common-plugin.xml
- contains common targets and properties referenced by each plugin.
build-common-plugins.xml
- contains common targets and properties referenced by each plugin
type.
When we create
Plugin applications then it will be created in respective directory
which I specified above.Each created Plugin application consist
“build.xml” file in project root directory and this “build.xml”
file have other build files references to define build process.
Each plugins
application consist different ANT targets to compile,package and
deploy applications. We need to navigate to respective project root
directory and need to invoke these targets then it will perform
respective tasks on Plugin project.
When we run “ant
deploy” target from Plugins SDK root directory then all Plugin
applications will be deployed.
When we run “ant
deploy” target from portlet directory then all Plugin portlets will
be deployed same we can apply this for “ext,themes, layouttpl and
hooks”.
The
following are important ANT targets.
ant compile :
Compile all java class files and make it as .class files in the
Plugin applications.
ant clean
: cleans the files created by the invocations of the compilation,
archiving, and deployment targets.
ant deploy
: this target deploy Plugin application means compile,package war
file placed in deploy directory of server.
ant
build-service : builds the service layer for a Plugin, using
Liferay Service Builder.
ant war : its
just packaged Plugin application as war file and placed in dist
directory.
Note:
Generally ant
targets are depends on other targets to complete the complex task.
Lets say when we run “ant deploy” then its automatically
invoke the ant compile and ant war targets to complete
the deploy task.
Create
Plugin Applications with Liferay SDK
Liferay Plugins
SDK is providing command line user interface to create plugins
projects. We already know tools directory consist of template and
these commands will use templates and create basic plugins
applications with required files,folders and its configurations.
Based on our
Plugin type we need to navigate to respective directory form command
prompt then need to execute project creation command and these
commands are different for each Plugin type.
When you look
into Plugin type directory such as
portlets,themes,hooks,layouttpls,webs and ext then you can see two
files such as “create.bat” and “create.sh”.
When you open these files in text editor then you can find respective
Plugin project creation command.
create.bat
is for windows environment and we need to use this when we are
working with Windows OS.
create.sh
is for Linux environment and we need to use this when we are working
with Linux OS.
Assume we want
develop portlet plugin application then we need to navigate to
portlet directory through the command prompt/Linux terminal from
there we need to issue the portlet creation command.
On Linux and Mac
OS X, enter
./create.sh
hello-world "Hello World" "mvc"
On Windows,
enter
create.bat
hello-world "Hello World" "mvc"
The first
hello-world is your portlet id. A new directory will be created based
on the portlet id in the portlet directory.
The second "Hello
World" is the portlet's display name. The quotation marks are
only needed because there is a space in the display name.
A third value
can be passed to specify the portlet framework to use. Valid
values
"jsf", "icefaces", "liferay_faces_alloy",
"mvc", "primefaces",
"richfaces", or
"vaadin". The default value is "mvc".
Now you can go to
portlets directory( liferay-plugins-<version>/portlets) and
open newly created portlet project then you can see all required
files, folders and its configurations. Now open file in editor you
can edit the files as for your need.Once we done with all editing of
files then we need deploy plugin portlet using “and deploy”
target.
Now go to newly
created Plugin portlet project directory from command prompt then
issue ant target that is “ant deploy” then portlet
will be deployed in the portal server.
After successful
deployment you can see message like portlet for hello-world-portlet
is available for use. If not, double-check your configuration.
The same process
you can apply for all other Plugin types such as
themes,webs,hooks,ext and layouttpl.
Hooks
Linux OS
./create.sh
hello-world "Hello World"
Windows OS
create.bat
hello-world "Hello World"
Layouttpl
Linux OS
./create.sh
hello-world "Hello World"
Windows OS
create.bat
hello-world "Hello World"
Theme
Linux OS
./create.sh
hello-world "Hello World"
Windows OS
create.bat
hello-world "Hello World"
Whats
is Plugins SDK?
Plugins
SDK is liferay applications development kit consist of
libraries,files and Plugin templates. with this we can create and
develop liferay plugins.
Plugins
SDK provided command bases user interface i.e. ANT command and its
targets to create and develop liferay plugins.
What
is Portal Server Run Time?
Liferay
Portal Run time is run time environment run liferay Plugin
application and it consist of application server with deployed
liferay portal along with HSQL database and one deployment directory
i.e deploy.
Liferay
Portal Run time come up with different Application server developer
can choose any one among those(tomcat,jboss, glashfish,
jetty,geromino, JOnAS and resin).
The
portal run time available as bundle and no more configuration is
required we can directly start server and access liferay portal.
What
are the minimum Artifacts required for Liferay Application
Development with Plugins SDK?
Liferay
Portal Server Bundle
JRE/JDK
Liferay
Plugins SDK
ANT
One Text
Editor
Where
we need to configure liferay server information?
We
will use build.properties
file available in Plugins SDK but we should not modify these
properties so we need to clone build.properties file and change name
as build.UserName.properties
then modify the configurations
Can
i modify build.properties file directly?
Yes
you can modify but its not recommended process instead of that simply
clone file in same location and change name as
build.userName.properties
If
suppose system user Name is meeraprince then what is the name of
cloned properties file?
build.meeraprince.properties
What
is server configuration in builld.userName.properties file for
tomcat?
app.server.type
= tomcat
app.server.parent.dir
= /opt/LiferayWorkSpace62/bundles
app.server.tomcat.dir
=${app.server.parent.dir}/tomcat-7.0.42
app.server.tomcat.deploy.dir
=${app.server.parent.dir}/tomcat-7.0.42/webapps
app.server.tomcat.lib.global.dir
=${app.server.parent.dir}/tomcat-7.0.42/lib/ext
app.server.tomcat.portal.dir
=${app.server.parent.dir}/tomcat-7.0.42/webapps/ROOT
where
is the hot/auto deployment directory?
The
directory name is deploy which is available in liferay portal server
run time bundle.
Example:
liferay-portal-6.2-ce-ga2/deploy or bundles/deploy
Can
i change hot deployment directory location?
Yes
you can change but you need to configure in build.username.properties
with below property.
app.server.parent.dir
= /opt/WorkSpace/bundles
auto.deploy.dir
= ${app.server.parent.dir}/deploy
What
is app.server.parent.dir ?
app.server.parent.dir
is directory where portal server available
example:
in our case tomcat7.x
server available in the directory WorkSpace/bundles
Note:
these directory is your choice but make sure portal server should be
available specifies location .please provides fully qualifies path.
What
is Liferay Home?
Liferay
Home
directory and app.server.parent.dir
are same where liferay portal servers are placed.
How
can I change liferay database configurations?
Liferay
Data base configurations are placed in portal-ext.properties file
and this file should be placed on Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir directory.Liferay
Support Many Databases so we can configure any one that specified by
Liferay.
What
are the databased supported by liferay?
db2,derby,hypersonic,ingres,mysql,oracle,postgresql,sqlserver,sybase
Suppose
my database Mysql then how could configure in Liferay?
We
need to configure Mysql database connection settings in
portal-ext.properties with following properties and this file should
be available in Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir directory.
#
MySQL
jdbc.default.driverClassName=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
jdbc.default.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost/lportal?
useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8&useFastDateParsing=false
jdbc.default.username=
jdbc.default.password=
Note:
When
we change database then we need to add respective jdbc
implementation jar file in sever global lib directory. For MySQL we
can find mysql.jar file. Fortunately liferay already added mysql.jar
file in server global lib directory.
What
is Server Global lib directory?
Server
global lib directory consist of all jar files those are required by
applications which are deployed in server. When we place any jar file
in server global lib directory then it will be available to all
applications. For tomcat tomcat-7.0.42/lib
is
server global lib directory.
What
is liferay portal global lib directory?
Liferay
portal global directory consist of all jar files which is used by
liferay portal and all liferay deployed Plugin applications. If any
library jar file placed in liferay global lib directory then it will
be accessible to liferay portal and all Plugin applications. This
directory name is ext which is sub directory of tomcat server lib
directory that is /tomcat-7.0.42/lib/ext
If
my data base then how can configure it in Liferay?
Liferay
Data base configurations are placed in portal-ext.properties file
and this file should be placed on Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir directory. The
following
are the Oracle Database connection properties.
#
Oracle
jdbc.default.driverClassName=oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver
jdbc.default.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:xe
jdbc.default.username=lportal
jdbc.default.password=lportal
Here
we need to add oracle jdbc implementation ojdbc6.jar
file in server global lib directory
What
is portal-setup-wizard.properties?
portal-setup-wizard.properties
file is properties file this will be created when we start liferay
portal for first time.
When
we access liferay portal for first time we will get some
configuration pages such as admin user registration and liferay
database configurations and all these configuration will be stored in
portal-setup-wizard.properties.
Where
portal-setup-wizard.properties file will be created?
portal-setup-wizard.properties
will be created in Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir directory
Example
properites stored in portal-setup-wizard.properties
admin.email.from.name=Test
Test
liferay.home=/opt/LiferayWorkSpace62/bundles
admin.email.from.address=test@liferay.com
setup.wizard.enabled=false
How many
places can I configure liferay database connection details?
We can use
portal-setup-wizard.properties
or portal-ext.properties and make sure both should available
Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir.
portal-setup-wizard.properties
will created automatically by liferay when we access liferay portal
first time and portal-ext.properties we need create to override
existed portal properties.
Is
this mandatory portal-ext.properties file should be in Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir directory?
No. We can also
placed portal-ext.properties
in portal classes directory i.e.
/tomcat-7.0.42/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/classes.
But
use Liferay
Home/ app.server.parent.dir is
best practice to place portal-ext.properties file.
If
place portal-ext.properties all above three places then what could
be the my configuration?
Liferay
will finally read the properties from Liferay
Home/ portal-ext.properties.
How
does plugins are packaged?
All
liferay plugins will be packaged as .WAR
file and these war files places on dist
directory it will be available in plugins SDK directory.
What
is the ANT target to deploy liferay plugins?
We
will use ant
deploy
target and its default target for each liferay Plugin application. We
can also use ant
direct-deploy too.
Where
is application build process will be defined?
In
plugins SDK we can find buid.xml
file where all liferay Plugin application build process will be
defined. This file available in Plugins SDK root directory.
Do
i need to modify liferay plugins build file?
No.
all build process defined by liferay we never get chance to change
those file.
What
is difference between ant war and ant deploy targets?
Ant
war target do the job like compile and package Plugin application as
.WAR file and places .war file dist directory.
Ant
deploy target do the job like compile and package plugins application
as .war file place .WAR
file in dist directory in addition to that it will copy .WAR
file into liferay portal deploy(${app.server.parent.dir}/deploy)
directory so that it makes Plugin application available to
deployment.
What
is Plugin portlet creation command?
On Linux and Mac
OS
./create.sh
hello-world "Hello World" "mvc"
On Windows
create.bat
hello-world "Hello World" "mvc"
How
many input option will take portlet creation command?
Three
input options and third one is optional. The default option value is
“mvc”
What
are the valid inputs values for portlet create command third input
option?
A
third value can be passed to specify the portlet framework to use.
Valid
values "jsf", "icefaces",
"liferay_faces_alloy", "mvc", "primefaces",
"richfaces", or "vaadin". The default value is
"mvc".
What
are the create commands for theme,layouttpl,web,ext and hook?
Linux OS
./create.sh
hello-world "Hello World"
Windows OS
create.bat
hello-world "Hello World"
all
are take only 2 input option for create command except portlet note
it third input option always optional for portlet.
What
are the main directories in Plugins SDK?
Clients,dist,
ext, hooks, layouttpl, lib, misc, portlets, themes, tools and webs
What
are build files available in Plugins SDK?
build.xml,
build-common.xml, build-common-plugin.xml and
build-common-plugins.xml
What
are other important properties in build.properties file?
database.name=lportal
database.types=db2,derby,firebird,hypersonic,informix,ingres,interbase,jdatastore,mysql,oracle,postgresql,sap,sqlserver,sybase
#javac.compiler=modern
javac.compiler=org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter
lp.version=6.2.0
Note:
any
of build properties should be override by the
build.[username].properties
file and this file should be in Plugins SDK root directory.
Author
Posts
