Usage scenario of Resource Serving through resourceURL in 28

[souravm]

Hi,

I'm bit confused to understand what are the real usage scenarios of Resource Serving through resourceURL.

I can achieve everything what resourceURL (or serverResource method) provides if I create actionURL.

Only difference I see that serverResource method gives me the flexibility of writing my own markup (as such I can create a complete HTML document) without loosing the Portal context. However, I'm not sure in which scenario I may need to use the same.

There are many examples which show how to make Ajax calls through resourceURL. However, I can achieve that even by creating an actionURL and sending the output to my target div.

Any explanations would be really appreciated.

Regards,
Sourav

[apemberton]

In short, a call to ActionURL will return an entire portal page (with theme, renderers, and all), whereas a ResourceURL serves your markup raw but still provides access to the portal context.

Pre-JSR286, this was accomplished with backing servlets, which did not have implicit access to the PortletContext.

[souravm]

Andy,

Thanks for your response.

My question is what could be the real usage scenario where I would like to serve a raw markup without the portal's theme, renders etc.

For the end user, if all of a sudden I show him a page without the Portal look and feel - he will feel that he has been logged out of the portal (though may be technically I'm within the Portal context).

Regards,
Sourav