portlet:actionURL-please help

[suryakul kumar]

hI,
i am new to portlets.i have code that says action='<portlet:actionURL><portlet param name="simplecall"value="simplecall/>"</portlet:actionURL>

where does the form in which this code is present take me.where do i look to get the actual value of the URL?

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

What does the actionURL do? It takes you to the action processing phase of the portlet. You're doing it with a custom tag in a JSP, but here's the same sort of thing all done in one portlet below:

  
 
package com.examscam.portlet;
 
import java.io.*;
import javax.portlet.*;
 
public class StateShifter extends GenericPortlet {
 
public void doView
(RenderRequest request, RenderResponse response)
throws PortletException, IOException {
 
response.setContentType("text/html");
 
PortletURL url = response.createActionURL();
url.setParameter("shift", "true");
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
out.print("<A href=" + url + " >State Shift!!!</A>");
}
 
public void processAction (ActionRequest request, ActionResponse response) throws PortletException, java.io.IOException {
 
if (request.getParameter("shift") != null) {
WindowState state = request.getWindowState();
 
if (state == WindowState.NORMAL) {
response.setWindowState(WindowState.MAXIMIZED);
}
 
if (state == WindowState.MAXIMIZED) {
response.setWindowState(WindowState.MINIMIZED);
}
 
if (state == WindowState.MINIMIZED) {
response.setWindowState(WindowState.NORMAL);
}
}
}
}
  

Notice the lines of code:

  
PortletURL url = [B]response.createActionURL();[/B]
url.setParameter("shift", "true");
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();  
out.print("<A href=" + [B]url [/B]+ " >State Shift!!!</A>");

That will print out the URL. The URL itself is pretty meaningless to you, as it's generated by the portal, but if you REALLY want to see it, you can.

The ActionURL triggers the action processing phase of a portlet, which is essentially the processAction method. This method is where session management should take place, and other tasks, like mode and state changes, can only happen in this stage. This stage occurs before the rendering phase that includes methods like doView or doEdit.

Here's a full, cbt, multimedia tutorial on the topic. You should totally take the time to look at it. The tutorial fully explains the action processing phase of the portlet.

Enjoy!

-Cameron McKenzie

[suryakul kumar]

Thank you so much .please tell me what the folowing means

<a>href="/portal/auth/index.html?ctrl:cmd=action&ctrl:windowstate=normal&ctrl:window=default.Home.UserPortletWindow&op=userLogout">Logout</a>