Got the following error when (re)creating a streaming desktop from an updated .portal file, using the Create Desktop Wizard on Portal Admin Console.
javax.ejb.EJBException: SQL Error while trying to createPageDefinition: SQL [insert into PF_PAGE_DEFINITION ( PAGE_DEFINITION_ID, MARKUP_DEFINITION_ID, IS_PUBLIC, IS_HIDDEN, INTERSECTION_ID, PAGE_LABEL, WEBAPP_NAME) values (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)] database error code [25,222] SQL state [22028] .; nested exception is: java.sql.SQLException: Data exception -- row already exist in index AX1_PAGE_DEF on table PF_PAGE_DEFINITION.
To temporarily bypass this error this so the streaming desktop can be created with the wizard, remove all the Pages manually from the Library.

The problem is one of the Page definition(s) in the .portal file is corrupted which prevents the library page resource from being refreshed.  You will need to work out which page is causing the problem, then the redo the page in the .portal file via Weblogic Portal Workshop.

Related Posts:

1. Reading Portlet Preferences in Weblogic Portal
2. Using JSF 1.2 on Oracle Workshop for Weblogic (Portal 10.3)
3. Weblogic Portal Authorization – Get and Check User’s Roles

Step 1

Download the JavaMail and Activation Framework library .jar files

• If using Java SE, you’ll need to download JavaMail, eg mail-1.4.3.jar

• If using below Java SE 6, you’ll need to download and include Activation Framework, eg activation-1.1.1.jar

Step 2

In the same directory, create the following java source code and save it as Send.java, with class named Send.  You will need to customise the host/port/to/from entries to your own SMTP mail server settings.

import java.util.*;
import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.*; 

public class Send { 

    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception { 

        String host = "smtp.domain.com";
        String port = "25";
        String from = "sender@domain.com";
        String to = "recipient@domain.com";

        // Get system properties
        Properties properties = System.getProperties(); 

        // Setup mail server
        properties.setProperty("mail.smtp.host", host);
        properties.setProperty("mail.smtp.port", port); 

        // Get the default Session object.
        Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties); 

        // Create a default MimeMessage object.
        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session); 

        // Set the RFC 822 "From" header field using the
        // value of the InternetAddress.getLocalAddress method.
        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

        // Add the given addresses to the specified recipient type.
        message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(to));

        // Set the "Subject" header field.
        message.setSubject("This is the subject"); 

        // Sets the given String as this part's content,
        // with a MIME type of "text/plain".
        message.setText("This is the email body."); 

        // Send message
        Transport.send(message);
        System.out.println("Message Sent.....");
    }
}

Step 3

Compile the Send.java, which will create a Send.class file.  Note we must also specify the classpath of our downloaded jar libraries when we compile, otherwise it would not know how to find external JavaMail classes.

$ javac -classpath activation-1.1.1.jar;mail-1.4.3.jar Send.java

Step 4

Create a manifest plaintext file: MANIFEST.MF, containing the class name with the main-method, and the classpath of the jar files from step 1. Note the jars are in the same directory (relative) as our Send.class file.  Also make sure the last line of this file must be emtpy, since it is always rejected.

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Main-Class: Send
Class-Path: activation-1.1.1.jar mail-1.4.3.jar

Step 5

Combining our class and manifest file, we create a jar file named SendEmail.jar using the following command:

$ jar cmf MANIFEST.MF SendEmail.jar Send.class

Step 6

To run our send-email program, we only need the following 3 files: SendEmail.jar, activation-1.1.1.jar, and mail-1.4.3.jar.  Place them together in the same directory and run the following command:

$ java -jar SendEmail.jar

In a Weblogic Server domain running in production mode, username and password is always prompted during startup and shutdown (admin server and managed servers).  To bypass this manual step, we can store the username and password credentials in the boot.properties file (although this is somewhat the same as development mode)…

1) Locate (or otherwise create) the security directory within the domain servers path, eg on the admin server:

$ cd /opt/bea/user_projects/domains/mydomain/servers/AdminServer/
$ mkdir security

2) Create a boot.properties file containing the username and password plaintext entries:

username=bob
password=smith

3) You can now start the server without input prompt.

Note this can be repeated on any of your managed servers.  The plaintext entries in the boot.properties will automatically update to an encrypted value upon server startup.  The same encrypted value can be generated using the weblogic.security.Encrypt utility.

Related Posts:

1. Encrypt Passwords With Weblogic Server
2. Using JSF 1.2 on Oracle Workshop for Weblogic (Portal 10.3)
3. Weblogic Portal – Create Streaming Desktop Page Definition Error

The Authorization class provides runtime methods for security policies and roles checks.  The following code fragment obtains the set of roles the logged-in user belongs to.  Note the user must be authenticated first, see Authentication class.

String entAppName = ApplicationHelper.getNonVersionedAppName();
String webAppName = ApplicationHelper.getWebAppName(request);
EnterpriseRoleResource resource = new EnterpriseRoleResource(entAppName,webAppName,EntitlementConstants.P13N_ROLE_POLICY_POOL,"");
Map userRoles = Authorization.getRoles((P13nResource) resource);
if (Authorization.isUserInRole("Admin", userRoles)) {
	return true;
}

Global and Enterprise Application roles are obtained using EnterpriseRoleResource.  For Global, Enterprise, and Web Application roles, use WebappRoleResource.

com.bea.p13n.security.Authentication

Related Posts:

1. Weblogic Portal – Create Streaming Desktop Page Definition Error
2. Reading Portlet Preferences in Weblogic Portal
3. Using JSF 1.2 on Oracle Workshop for Weblogic (Portal 10.3)

In my JSF / icefaces based portlet running on Weblogic Portal, I got the following error:
com.icesoft.faces.webapp.http.portlet.PortletExternalContext cannot be cast to javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest

It turned out I cannot simply obtain the HTTPServletRequest object like this:

FacesContext ctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
HttpServletRequest portletRequest = (HttpServletRequest) ctx.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getRequest();

In a portlet environment, to get the request/response objects, we must obtain the javax.portlet.PortletRequest/PortletResponse objects instead (which inherits methods from java.servlet.HTTPServletRequest/HTTPServletResponse):

FacesContext ctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
PortletRequest portletReq = (PortletRequest) ctx.getExternalContext().getRequest();

However sometimes we may require the HttpServletRequest / HttpServletResponse object.  To obtain this, we must extract an attribute from the PortletRequest / PortletResponse object:

FacesContext ctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
PortletRequest portletReq = (PortletRequest) ctx.getExternalContext().getRequest();
HttpServletRequest httpServletReq = (HttpServletRequest) portletReq.getAttribute("javax.servlet.request");

Portlet preferences enables portlets to be associated with external application data.  This data should generally be used to store (or update) configuration data in a portlet.  For example, to store/update dynamic stock codes in a stock quotes portlet.  A portlet preference is basically a name-value pair data structure.

Portlet preferences can be added/updated in the following ways:

1. During design-time on Workshop for Weblogic Portal (screenshot above)
2. Invoked programmatically at request-time using javax.portlet.* API
3. Manually during run-time of a portal (via Portal Administration Console when a portal desktop is created)

When we have added our preferences, we can read them using using the Weblogic Portal API’s.  The following sample code fragments are for JSP Portlets, and JSF Portlets:

JSP Portlets using JSP tag library:

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://www.bea.com/servers/portal/tags/netuix/preferences" prefix="preferences" %>
<preferences:getPreference name="stockcode" var="mycode"/>
<c:out value="${mycode}"/>

JSF Portlets using Preferences API (in backing bean):

FacesContext fc = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
PortletRequest portletRequest = (PortletRequest)fc.getExternalContext().getRequest();
PortletPreferences prefs = portletRequest.getPreferences();
System.out.println(prefs.getValue("stockcode", "default_value_if_pref_not_found"));

Related Posts:

1. Weblogic Portal – Create Streaming Desktop Page Definition Error
2. Using JSF 1.2 on Oracle Workshop for Weblogic (Portal 10.3)
3. Weblogic Portal Authorization – Get and Check User’s Roles

In a Weblogic Server environment, sometimes passwords must be unavoidably stored in text files, for example database connection details within JDBC configuration files.  When running Weblogic in production mode, only encrypted password is accepted to ensure that the password is never exposed as clear text.  To generate the encrypted password, the weblogic.security.Encrypt utility can be used, which generates a hashed password with a “{3DES}” prepended.

In Unix environment:

$ cd /opt/bea/user_projects/domains/mydomain/bin
$ . setDomainEnv.sh
$ java weblogic.security.Encrypt mycleartextpasswordhere
{3DES}xLLwrOm7asb4imZOYYwxz5TcBqDBEe6S

In Windows environment:

C:\>cd c:\bea\domains\mydomain\bin
C:\bea\domains\mydomain\bin>setDomainEnv.cmd
C:\bea\domains\mydomain\bin>java weblogic.security.Encrypt mycleartextpasswordhere
{3DES}lieJgIkTqg1xSBBoy3YxnHbPuz+tMxhY

Note that running the same command on different environment (or different Weblogic server installation) will produce a different password.

Related Posts:

1. Start & Stop Weblogic Without Username & Password
2. Weblogic Portal Authorization – Get and Check User’s Roles
3. Reading Portlet Preferences in Weblogic Portal

If you like reading your feeds on Google Reader however dont use the social features (eg sharing items and following other people), there is a way to turn off this feature.

1) Go to Google Reader.

2) Type this in the address bar and let the page reload:

javascript:antisocial('true')

3) The reader will now remove the “People you follow” section and any shared items from your friends.

4) This setting is saved on your Reader account, so to enable it back, just undo it:

javascript:antisocial('false')

String contentQuery = "cm_path like 'WLP Repository/*'";
ISortableFilterablePagedList<Node> nodes = null;
ISearchManager searchManager = ContentManagerFactory.getSearchManager();
ContentContext context = new ContentContext();
Search search = new Search(contentQuery);
search.setSortCriteria("cm_nodeName");
try
{
   nodes = searchManager.search(context, search);
}
catch (RepositoryException message)
{
   System.out.println(message);
}

for (Node node : nodes)
{
   /*
     process each node
   */
   Property[] props = null;
   try
   {
      props = node.getProperties();
   }
   catch (AuthorizationException message)
   {
      System.out.println(message);
   }
   for (Property property : props)
   {
      /*
        process each node property
      */
   }
}

Related Posts:

1. Weblogic Portal Authorization – Get and Check User’s Roles
2. Reading Portlet Preferences in Weblogic Portal

When choosing facets during the creation of a new portal web project, the built-in Sun RI JSF 1.2 (together with JSTL 1.2)  facets cannot be selected.  Here are the recommended (by Oracle) steps to get around this problem.  Note that this is because Apache Beehive Page Flow has a dependecy with  JSF 1.2, therefore only follow this if not using the page flow integration components provided by Beehive.

1)  Select JSF 1.1 (together with JSTL 1.1) first, and create the portal web project, making sure the other dependencies with other facets are valid.

2) Open the web projects properties, under the Java Build Path, and locate the the Libraries tab.  Find the “jsf-ri” shared library containing JSF 1.1 jar files and remove it.

3) Next, Add Library, add a Weblogic Shared Library, Next, then Browse and select jsf 1.2.  Press OK and Finish.

4) Edit the “jstl” shared library and change the Specification Version from 1.1 to 1.2. Press OK to close the properties.

4) The last step is to modify the weblogic.xml file under the WEB-INF directory depending on where you set your WebContent directory:

- Find the library entry containing jstl and update the version from 1.1 to 1.2
- Delete the library entry containing jsf-ri
- Add a new library entry containing jsf and make sure the version is 1.2

5) Clean, build and redeploy your EAR and WAR projects.

Related Posts:

1. Weblogic Portal – Create Streaming Desktop Page Definition Error
2. Reading Portlet Preferences in Weblogic Portal
3. Weblogic Portal Authorization – Get and Check User’s Roles