Introduction

A feature set is a set of the necessary files for a builder or set of builders. A feature set may contain models, profile sets, builders, and classes, One benefit of feature sets is that they do not add overhead in your application and WAR file unrelated to feature you are trying to implement. You can add or remove feature sets to or from the project at any time.

Installing the Import WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set plugin

Included with this article is an eclipse plugin that provides additional functionality to the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer. Follow the steps below to install this new plug-in.

1. Download and save the attached JAR file.

2. Move this JAR file to the plugins directory of the Eclipse instance used by the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer.

3. Restart the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer.

Upon completing the steps above, the Import WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set plug-in will be available for use in the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer. In the section that follows, we'll use this plug-in to import a new WebSphere Portlet Factory feature set.

Import a WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set

Follow the steps below to import a new WebSphere Portlet Factory feature set into the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer.

1. From the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer, open the import wizard. Select File then Import. The Import Wizard launches.

2. Expand the WebSphere Portlet Factory category and select WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set as shown below.

4. Click on the Next button. The Import WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set window opens.

5. Click on the Browse... button. The Import from pkg file window opens.

6. Select the WebSphere Portlet Factory feature set to import into the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer. Click on the Open button. Details of the WebSphere Portlet Factory feature set to be imported will be displayed in the Import WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set window as shown below.
7. Click on the Finish button to perform the import.

8. Once the import is complete, you'll be prompted to restart the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer to allow the changes take effect.
9. Click on the OK button to restart the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer.

The newly imported feature set will be available for use once the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer is restarted.

Conclusion

In this article we've downloaded and installed the Import WebSphere Portlet Factory Feature Set plug-in. With the plug-in installed, we walked through the steps required in importing a new feature set into the WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer. The resources section below includes links to offerings from IBM that deliver WebSphere Portlet feature sets to allow the user customise out of the box functionality.

Resources

IBM WebSphere Portal Checklists
http://www.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/portal/portal/details?catalog.label=1WP1002G5

IBM WebSphere Portal Unified Task List Portlet
http://www.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/portal/portal/details?catalog.label=1WP1001VP

IBM Government to Business template for WebSphere Portal
http://www.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/xpViewCategories.xsp?lookupName=IBM Government to Business template for WebSphere Portal

About the author

Ronan Dalton is a Software Development Manager with IBM Software Group. Ronan currently manages the Industry Templates for WebSphere Portal team in Dublin, Ireland. As a Software Development Manager Ronan enjoys an opportunity to write code and actively works to stay abreast of the technology developed by his team.

You can reach Ronan at daltonro@ie.ibm.com.