A portal application is a set of files, such as Java classes, HTML or JSP, that are bundled and zipped into a standard archive file, which can be deployed to the server. The following section provides information about the internal structure of a portal application and the role of the files of which it is comprised:
Portal Application Project explains how the files in the application are organized
Portal Components and Services introduces the main functional parts of an application
Deployment Descriptor (portalapp.xml) describes an XML file that defines the components and services contained in the application, as well as their configuration parameters
Object Names, Aliases and References explains different ways of referring to portal objects from within your component or service
Developing Portal Applications provides detailed instructions on how to build and deploy portal applications.