conversationId and IPC Portlets

[frankr]

I have two portlets (PortletA and B) communicating using IPC where B is listening for events coming from A. Both portlets are using the same controller component and this component is set to conversation scope. PortletA contains a bunch of commandLinks that invoke action methods on the controller component and the view outcome is displayed in PortletB.

If I click any commandLink in PortletB, the conversation is correctly maintained, however if I click in PortletA the conversation is lost and a new one is created. The problem with this is that the number of conversations grows with every click which is not the most scalable solution ;-)


The commandLink URL in portletB contains the conversationId=8. When I click this link, the portlet renders correctly back to conversationId=8.

Debug out put confirms this:

...
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 INFO [test.TestPortlet] conversationId on renderRequest: 8
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.portal.portlet.container.info.PortletResourceBundleManager] Want to load bundle null for locale en_US
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.util.Naming] JNDI InitialContext properties:{java.naming.factory.initial=org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory, java.naming.factory.url.pkgs=org.jboss.naming:org.jnp.interfaces}
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamExtendedManagedPersistencePortletPhaseListener] beginning transaction prior to phase: RENDER_RESPONSE(6)
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.util.Naming] JNDI InitialContext properties:{java.naming.factory.initial=org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory, java.naming.factory.url.pkgs=org.jboss.naming:org.jnp.interfaces}
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.contexts.Lifecycle] >>> Begin web request
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.Component] instantiating Seam component: org.jboss.seam.core.manager
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Found conversation id in request parameter: 8
2006-11-20 23:52:57,396 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Restoring conversation with id: 8
...

After this the commandLink still contain conversationId=8, however when I click in the command link in PortletA:

...
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 INFO [test.TestPortlet] conversationId on renderRequest: 19
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.portal.portlet.container.info.PortletResourceBundleManager] Want to load bundle null for locale en_US
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.util.Naming] JNDI InitialContext properties:{java.naming.factory.initial=org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory, java.naming.factory.url.pkgs=org.jboss.naming:org.jnp.interfaces}
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamExtendedManagedPersistencePortletPhaseListener] beginning transaction prior to phase: RENDER_RESPONSE(6)
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.util.Naming] JNDI InitialContext properties:{java.naming.factory.initial=org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory, java.naming.factory.url.pkgs=org.jboss.naming:org.jnp.interfaces}
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.contexts.Lifecycle] >>> Begin web request
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.Component] instantiating Seam component: org.jboss.seam.core.manager
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Found conversation id in request parameter: 19
2006-11-20 23:54:50,528 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Restoring conversation with id: 19
...
2006-11-20 23:54:50,549 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Storing conversation state: 19
2006-11-20 23:54:50,549 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.contexts.Lifecycle] flushing page context
2006-11-20 23:54:50,549 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Storing conversation state: 19
2006-11-20 23:54:50,549 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.contexts.Lifecycle] flushing page context
...
2006-11-20 23:54:50,669 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Discarding conversation state: 20
2006-11-20 23:54:50,669 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.contexts.Lifecycle] flushing page context
2006-11-20 23:54:50,669 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.core.Manager] Discarding conversation state: 20
2006-11-20 23:54:50,669 DEBUG [org.jboss.seam.contexts.Lifecycle] flushing page context
...

If I click the commandLink in PortletA for the second time it jumps two numbers to 21. I'm guessing this is because Seam assigns a temporary conversation by default for each portlet and I have two portlets.

How can I ensure that conversation propagation works properly using IPC? Is there someway I can restore the previous (correct) state in the portlet? Feedback appreciated.

[gavin.king]

Seam conversations are local to the portlet. There are no page-global conversations.

[frankr]

In principle I do not need page global conversations. PortletA contains a couple of links that are invoked on PortletB which runs in a long running conversation. The side-effect of this is that PortletA creates a new long running conversation for each click. If I could only cancel or discard these conversations for PortletA, that would be sufficient.

[gavin.king]

I guess I don't really understand what you are saying here. What code are you using to render the link? Exactly how does PortletB start conversations?

Merely passing a conversationId to JSF is *not* enough to start a long-running conversation.

[frankr]

Both PortletA and B render a page that contain command links:

<h:commandLink action="#{controller.showContent}">
 #{portal_messages['clickme']}
</h:commandLink>

Because of IPC all actions of PortletA and B are invoked on PortletB (the listening portlet). IPC is implemented using the standard example included in JBoss Portal.

The action method in the controller begins or joins the conversation:

@Begin(join = true)
public String showContent() {
 ...
 return "show_content";
}

If I click the command link on PortletB, the behavior is as expected: the conversation starts and it stays in the same conversation on subsequent clicks, nothing wrong here.

When I click on the command link in PortletA, the content renders correctly in PortletB but with a new conversation ID which is again long running. After this also PortletB uses the new conversation ID. So this means every time I click a link in PortletA I get one extra long running conversation.

I either need a way to invoke the action in the controller from A without starting the new conversation or, as a work around, a way to cancel the new conversation and switch back to the old conversation again.

[dcshonda]

Hi everyone!

Please, help me. I have a problem with IPC Portlets. I have similar case.
But my problem is that I cannot rerender portlet B. I have a listener in portlet B, and it works fine.

My problem is that I have a <h:commandLink ...> in Portlet A, and I want to recibe a data in portlet B, when I push link in portlet A.

I am really new in JBoss Seam and portlets and I am not very sure, what is wrong...

Portlet A: (BuscadorOperacionesWindow)

<h:dataTable id="tablaOperaciones" value="#{expedientes}" rows="10" class="blue-table" border="1" var="op">
 <h:column>
 <f:facet name="header">#{messages.expediente}</f:facet>
 <h:commandLink value="#{op.operacionId}" action="#gestorexpediente.enviaDatos(op.operacionId)}" >
 <f:param name="datoOp" value="#{op.operacionId}" />
 </h:commandLink>
 </h:column>
 ...

Portlet B: (VisorOperacionWindow)

<h:panelGrid columns="2">
 <h:outputLabel value="#{messages.operacion}"/>
 <h:outputLabel id="datoOp"/>
 ...

Listener - Portlet B

public class PortletB extends GenericPortlet
{
 public static class Listener implements PortalNodeEventListener
 {
 public PortalNodeEvent onEvent(PortalNodeEventContext context, PortalNodeEvent event)
 {
 PortalNode node = event.getNode();
 String nodeName = node.getName();

 WindowActionEvent newEvent = null;

 if (nodeName.equals("BuscadorOperacionesWindow") && event instanceof WindowActionEvent)
 {

 WindowActionEvent wae = (WindowActionEvent) event;
 PortalNode windowB = node.resolve("../VisorOperacionWindow");
 if (windowB != null)
 {
 newEvent = new WindowActionEvent(windowB);
 newEvent.setMode(wae.getMode());
 newEvent.setWindowState(wae.getWindowState());

 Map parametros = (Map)wae.getParameters();
 for (Iterator keyValuePairs = parametros.entrySet().iterator(); keyValuePairs.hasNext();)
 {
 Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry) keyValuePairs.next();
 Object key = entry.getKey();
 Object value = entry.getValue();
 if(key.equals("datoOp"))
 {
 HashMap param = new HashMap();
 param.put(key, value);
 newEvent.setParameters(param);
 return newEvent;
 }
 }
 return context.dispatch();
 }
 }
 return context.dispatch();
 }
 }
}

Anyone, can give me an example of JSF portlet + IPC + Seam

Thanks very much