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How to work with JavaServer Faces (JSFs) portlets on HCL DX pages

Applies to

HCL Digital Experience 9.5 and higher

Introduction

JSF portlets in HCL Digital Experience (DX) that use AJAX tags (such as <f:ajax>) might experience issues where the server fails to handle requests correctly. For example, a button might render a result only once, ignoring subsequent clicks.

This problem typically stems from resource caching in the JSF framework. To resolve this, use one of the following methods:

  • Add the com.ibm.portal.theme.hasBaseURL property to the portal theme used by the portal page containing the JSF portlet.

  • Add the following property to the portlet.xml file within the JSF portlet:

    <init-param>
    <name>org.apache.myfaces.RESOURCE_HANDLER_CACHE_ENABLED</name>
    <value>false</value>
</init-param>

For more information, refer to org.apache.myfaces.RESOURCE_HANDLER_CACHE_ENABLED

The hasBaseURL tag and resource caching

DX provides the hasBaseURL tag for portal pages and themes to optimize internal processing. When used with portal-core:stateBase, this tag inserts a <base> element into the page, explicitly setting the base URL for all relative links. This prevents the browser from implicitly setting the base URL to location.href.

Using the <base> tag allows JSF to cache relative resource URLs for both authenticated and anonymous users. Because these URLs do not include portal or myportal, you can avoid issues with implicit logouts or unintended redirects to the login page.

Instructions

The following steps describe how to add the hasBaseURL parameter to the Portal 8.5 theme.

Note

Add the hasBaseURL setting to all themes and pages that use JSF portlets to avoid caching and performance issues.

  1. Create a file named ExportPortal85Theme.xml in a temporary directory and add the following content:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="PortalConfig_8.0.0.xsd" type="export">
<!-- This sample exports all theme and skin definitions. -->
    <portal action="locate">
      <theme action="export" uniquename="ibm.portal.85Theme" />
    </portal>
</request>

  2. Export the current theme configuration by running the xmlaccess command from the <wp_profile_root>/PortalServer/bin directory:

    • On Linux or Unix:

      ./xmlaccess.sh -in <path_to_file>/ExportPortal85Theme.xml -out <path_to_file>/FileToModify.xml -url http://<servername>:<portnumber>/wps/config -user <admin_user> -password <admin_password>

    • On Windows:

      xmlaccess.bat -in <path_to_file>\ExportPortal85Theme.xml -out <path_to_file>\FileToModify.xml -url http://<servername>:<portnumber>/wps/config -user <admin_user> -password <admin_password>

    For more information about XML Access, refer to Generating a complete XML Access export of a Portal configuration.

  3. Open the FileToModify.xml file in a text editor and add the following line inside the <theme> element, along with the other parameter settings:

    <parameter name="com.ibm.portal.theme.hasBaseURL" type="string" update="set"><![CDATA[true]]></parameter>

    Sample of the exported Portal 8.5 theme (FileToModify.xml):

    hasBaseURL Sample

  4. Save the FileToModify.xml file and run the following command to apply the changes:

    • On Linux or Unix:

      ./xmlaccess.sh -in <path_to_file>/FileToModify.xml -out status.xml -url http://<servername>:<portnumber>/wps/config -user <admin_user> -password <admin_password>

    • On Windows:

      xmlaccess.bat -in <path_to_file>\FileToModify.xml -out status.xml -url http://<servername>:<portnumber>/wps/config -user <admin_user> -password <admin_password>

  5. Restart your DX environment.

  6. Create a page with the newly modified Portal 8.5 theme and add a JSF portlet to verify the fix. 

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