Developing Custom Modules for Workspaces 
You can integrate your regular portal applications as modules in the workspaces without using the API. However, you can take advantage of the API to enhance your modules by additional capabilities, such as changing their runtime settings, implementing role-dependent behavior, or handling lifecycle events.
In this section, you can find the implementation guidelines and code samples for the following tasks:
As a first step in using the Enterprise Workspaces API, you need to obtain access to the module context and workspace services
How to access and change the runtime settings of a module
Defining Default Values for the Module Template Properties
How to define default values for the certain module properties in the portalapp.xml
How to implement different behavior depending on the current user’s role and permissions in a workspace
How to use the module storage mechanism to store and retrieve the runtime data of a module instance
How to extend module functionality by responding to the various module lifecycle events that occur in a workspace