RE: Portals

> From: meovino@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> First off, great articles!  A few questions:

Thanks, Mike!


> 1.  Do portals render portlets in iFrames, or do they suck in the HTML
and
> display it inline?  Do you have a choice (I can see situations that
might
> merit either)?

Yes <grin>.  Actually, the standard is to render the information inline,
but there is a capability in WebSphere Portal Server to also use
IFrames.  There are pluses and minuses to the IFrame approach, and I'll
try to have more on that as time goes on.


> 2.  Can I use old web apps (CGI, Net.Data, etc.) as portlets?

Not without work.  You'll need a way to force the CGI or Net.Data
program to generate the HTML it would normally generate, and then return
that to the portal server.  JSPs and servlets are inherently easier to
use because they can be redirected to a PortletResponse object.  At
least I hope this is the case <grin>.


> 3.  If the answer to #3 is yes, do you think this would be a way to
> quickly migrate old (but still functioning) apps to Websphere?  Or is
> there a way in Java to send an HTTP request and get the HTML back and
> render it?

The pseudo-HTTP request would be another technique.  You can certainly
do this, although it's not exactly the crème de la crème of
architectural choices.


> 4.  How long until we see WPE for the iSeries?

It's available now, I'm pretty sure.  I'm getting lots of information
about the whole thing and hopefully I can return more information in
upcoming articles.  Please vote in the poll to let me know what else
you'd like to hear about.

Joe