The portlet specification allows to define custom modes. Engines like websphere offer an extension to the edit mode called "config mode", which is not accessible by common users but only to administrators/ people with special roles.
Options in edit mode and config mode work together this way:
# User may change options in the edit mode and overwrite settings of the config mode
# the config mode may define additional settings which are unmodifiable in edit mode
# Settings of the config mode overwrite the default values defined in the portlet.xml
That way an administrator can create n instances of a portlet (for example a search portlet) and set some base data in the config mode. (data sources to use for example) Users may modify these portlets in the edit mode to change result specific data like pagination data, sort order and the like.
JBoss does not seem to support this, although it is an extremly usefull feature.
Example:
QueryPortlet
Settings seen in config mode per portlet instance:
-search enignes to include
-result set size
-sort order
Settings in edit mode per portlet instance:
-result set size
-sort order
A user may change per instance the settings for result set and sort order, thus overwriting the standard settings of the administrators config mode. The changes made by the user apply ONLY to that user, while the settings of the config mode are the default values for all users.
Yours
Mark
