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Background documentation Portal Architecture  Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

The SAP NetWeaver Portal is a Java EE application (irj) that is designed to handle HTTP requests for portal components. A portal component is a Java class written and packaged specifically to run in the portal.

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The following are the key parts of the portal:

●      Portal Runtime Engine: The engine that is able to run portal components and send back to the response the HTML produced by the component.

The Portal Runtime includes a dispatcher servlet, which receives HTTP requests for portal components and starts the request cycle.

●      Portal Applications: A collection of components and services written specifically to be run in the portal. The portal comes with out-of-the-box applications – for example, for displaying navigation hierarchies or for creating iViews – and developers can create and deploy their own applications.

A portal application is a compressed file with a .par extension that contains Java class files, an application descriptor and other resource files, as needed. Applications define the following:

¡        Portal Components: A Java class that produces HTML. A component is called as a result of an HTTP request.

¡        Portal Services: A Java class that provides services to components and other services.

Components and services are only deployed as part of a portal application.

For more information about portal applications, see Portal Applications.

·        Portal Content Directory (PCD): A repository for portal semantic objects (such as iViews, pages, systems, and transport packages). The data about portal objects is stored in the AS Java database.

In order to access the PCD, there is a JNDI provider called PCD GL, which also enables the following additional features:

○       Locking of objects

○       Delta Links

○       Personalization

○       Caching

PCD GL exposes an API for working with the PCD, such as creating and searching for objects.

For more information on the PCD, see Accessing the PCD.

·        AS Java: The Portal Runtime engine runs within AS Java, which also hosts other applications and services required by the portal, such as the Connector Framework and User Management Engine.

For more information on AS Java, see Application Server Java.

The Connector Framework enables portal applications to access backend systems. For more information, see Connecting to Backend Systems.

 

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