Working with GPAL Repositories

The Generic Portal Application Layer (GPAL) is a framework that exposes content created outside the portal and displays it in repositories in the Portal Catalog. GPAL content is exposed in technology-specific repositories as follows:

Repository	Content
Portal Applications	Application iViews and application layouts based on portal applications.
Web Dynpro Java Applications	Application pages and layouts based on Web Dynpro Java applications. This repository also exposes applications deployed from Visual Composer. For details, see VC Generated Content in this table.
Portlet Applications	Application iViews based on portlets developed using the JSR-186 and JSR-286 standards. For more information, see Developing Portlets.
VC Generated Content	Application iViews and pages based on Visual Composer models created on standard SAP NetWeaver platforms. When Visual Composer models are deployed using the “hot deployment” method, the applications are also exposed automatically in the Web Dynpro Java Applications repository. The VC Generated Content repository is only displayed in the Portal Catalog after Visual Composer models have been deployed.

The GPAL repositories contain development components that – like folders – hold the individual objects for creating portal content, such as application pages and application iViews.

Prerequisites

You have executed one or more of the relevant EPC configuration tasks. For more information see Automated Configuration Tasks.

Procedure

In the Portal Catalog, navigate to the object that you want to edit.
From the context menu of the object, choose the relevant option. The following table lists some of the functions that may be performed on the objects in the GPAL repositories.

Function	Procedure	More Information
Preview an application page or an application iView in a repository	Choose Preview.	A new browser window opens with the preview.
View properties of an object	Choose Open Properties .	The editor opens in read-only mode.
Copy-paste repository objects into the PCD	Choose Copy. In the Portal Catalog, in the context menu of the target folder, choose Paste as PCD Object. The PCD Object wizard appears. Complete the wizard. A new semantic object is created in the PCD.	When you copy an application page into the PCD, you cannot make changes to the contents of the resulting page in the Page editor. To add content to a page that originates from an application page, create a new page, add the copied page to that page, and then add additional content.
Refresh repository contents	Choose Update PCD Objects.	When you redeploy an application, changes are updated automatically in the GPAL repositories. However, due to various portal caching mechanisms, you may need to refresh the items in the repository. Refreshing a development component node refreshes all of the objects in that development component.
Synchronize PCD objects with their source repository objects	No action is needed.	Objects that have been copied into the PCD from the repository maintain an indirect delta link relationship with the repository object. If you make changes to an application and redeploy it, the objects in the GPAL repositories are automatically updated, as are the PCD objects created from the repository objects. PCD objects inherit the changes made to a repository object, unless changes were made to the PCD object after it was created, breaking the delta link. In this case the changes made to the PCD object are not overwritten. Note In cases where a PCD object has not been updated automatically, in the context menu of the source development component, choose Update PCD Objects. End of the note.
View nested iViews in a page in a repository	Choose Open Application Page .	The Page Viewer displays a page's nested iViews and allows you to open the Property editor for each nested iView. The Property editor opens in read-only mode.
View error details	In the Web Dynpro Java Applications repository, in the context menu of the error node, choose See Error Details. To see a detailed exception chain, choose Get Stack Trace.	In some cases, an application that has been deployed to the Web Dynpro Java Applications repository cannot be read by the Web Dynpro runtime layer. Such an application node is displayed with a error icon in the repository. Note You can view the application level properties of the error node, but you cannot create content from the effected application. End of the note.