Installing the Export/Import Utility

You only need to perform the following procedure if you intend to run the Export/Import Utility as a stand-alone application. If you only want to run the WorkSpace Studio propagation tools, then the following procedure is unnecessary.

1. Before installing the Export/Import Utility, be sure you have Ant 1.6.5 in your PATH environment variable. Ant is part of the normal WebLogic Server installation. It is located in:

<BEA_HOME>/modules/org.apache.ant_1.6.5/bin

2. Stop WebLogic Server if it is running.
3. Open the file <WLP_HOME>/bin/xip/build.xml, and edit the following properties in the Installer section to point to the appropriate locations:

Property	Description
bea.dir	Points to <BEA_HOME>/wlserver_10.0.
wlp.lib.dir	Points to ${bea.dir}/portal/lib.

4. Using a utility such as WinZip, open the following WAR file:

<WLP_HOME>/lib/modules/wlp-propagation-web-lib.war

5. Extract the file propagation.jar from the WAR file and save it in <WLP_HOME>/lib.

Tip:	If you place the propagation.jar file in <WLP_HOME>/lib, you do not need to add it to the wlp.classpath in the build.xml file. If it is not in this directory, you must add it to the wlp.classpath in build.xml.

6. Create a directory called ejb under ${wlp.lib.dir}/netuix, and extract netuix.jar from the following EAR and place it in that directory:

<WLP_HOME>/lib/modules/wlp-framework-full-app-lib.ear

Note:

The file ${wlp.lib.dir}/netuix/ejb/netuix.jar is referenced in the wlp.classpath in build.xml.

7. Build the Export/Import Utility. To do this, run the following command from within the <WLP_HOME>/bin/xip directory:
   export JAVA_HOME=$BEA_HOME/jdk150_11


ant


Note: If you get the error “taskdef class weblogic.ant.taskdefs.build.LibClasspathTask cannot be found”, please provide additional lib reference to ant as -

ant -lib $BEA_HOME/wlserver_10.0/server/lib/weblogic.jar


Note: You may also get some error like “java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/apache/tools/ant/loader/AntClassLoader2″, please also set variable JAVA_HOME to your jdk1.50_11 as -

export JAVA_HOME=$BEA_HOME/jdk150_11

Note:It is recomended to make a shell script with all the tasks required to run as:


#!/bin/bash
export BEA_HOME=/usr/bea/bea102
export JAVA_HOME=$BEA_HOME/jdk150_11
export WEBLOGIC_HOME=$BEA_HOME/wlserver_10.0
export PATH=$PATH:$BEA_HOME/modules/org.apache.ant_1.6.5/bin
export WL_HOME=$WEBLOGIC_HOME
ant  -lib $BEA_HOME/wlserver_10.0/server/lib/weblogic.jar

You may safely ignore the error <BEA-160144>

Overview of the Export/Import Utility

The XIP Utility allows a full round-trip development life cycle, where you can easily move portals and desktops between a WorkSpace Studio environment and a staging or production environment, as shown in figure:



Round Trip Development

This utility lets you import .portal, .pinc, and other portal framework files into the database, and lets you export these files from the database. The exported files can be loaded back into WorkSpace Studio, or imported into another WebLogic Portal database.

The utility performs its work in a single database transaction. If the utility fails for some reason, the database is not affected.

What the Utility Moves

The Export/Import Utility moves desktops, portlet references, books, pages, and localization definitions. In other words, the utility exports .portal, .pinc, and other portal framework files from a database, and imports the contents of those files back into a database.

Note: The actual definitions for portlets, look and feels, shells, menus, layouts, themes, JSPs, and other code are contained in the EAR file. These files are stored in directories in portal web applications, such as the framework/markup directory. If any of these file-based elements change, you must rebuild and redeploy the EAR. The .portal and other portal framework files simply refer to the definition files.

What the Utility Does Not Move

The Export/Import Utility does not handle the following items: campaigns, behavior tracking events, content management assets, entitlements, WSRP producer registration, portlet categories, localization resources, user profiles, and commerce data.

Refining Rules for Exporting and Importing

The Export/Import Utility allows you to select an object (desktop, book or page) at any level (library, admin, visitor) and import it or export it, according to specified rules.

To refine and customize the export and import of .portal, .pinc, and other portal framework files to and from the database, you can:

* Specify rules to determine how portal elements are merged. For instance, in a manner similar to that of a source code control mechanism, changes in a .portal file can be merged with changes in the database.
* Specify scoping rules. Scoping rules determine how new books and pages will be merged into the new environment. Note that user and administrator customizations are preserved when assets are merged.

As shown in Figure below, the Export/Import Utility offers flexibility with respect to importing, exporting, and scoping. You can scope changes to the library, admin (desktop), or visitor (individual user) level. For instance, if you import a desktop at the admin scope, the imported changes will be applied only to the specified desktop. If a user has customized that particular desktop, then the changes will also be inherited by the user desktop. Note, however, that changes are never inherited up the hierarchy. Elements in the library will not inherit changes made to a desktop.
Tip: For a more in depth discussion of the relationship between the library, desktops, and user views, see Scope and Library Inheritance.



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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Portal, Technical by kantila. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.