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Background documentationWhat Happens During Runtime? Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

The following diagram describes the runtime process that occurs when a user selects a content provider iView, triggering a call to the doContent() method of the iView's portal component:

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

The following describes the major steps shown in the diagram above:

  1. A content provider iView obtains an instance of the content provider service.

    The provider service is specified by the com.sap.portal.cp.CP_SERVICE_KEY property for the iView's portal component in portalapp.xml.

    1. The first time the service is loaded, the service's init() method is called (like all services). This method can be used to initialize authentication, check the HTTP connection or load a license.

  2. The content provider iView calls the content provider service's getProviderEntity() method in order to get the provider entity for this iView.

    The content provider iView sends as a parameter the type of entity, which is equal to the com.sap.portal.cp.CP_ENTITY_KEY property for the iView's portal component in portalapp.xml.

  3. The content provider service obtains an instance of the appropriate content provider entity, calls the entity's setSourcePropertiesHandler() and doInit() methods, and returns the entity to the content provider iView.

    setSourcePropertiesHandler() sets the entity's properties handler (ISourcePropertiesHandler), which determines how to retrieve parameter values for use with the HTTP or SOAP request. Generally, you can create the default implementation of the ISourcePropertiesHandler object with the help of the content provider utility service.

    doInit() performs any necessary initialization for the entity, including setting the entity's request object.

  4. The content provider iView calls the entity's getSource() method, which returns a javax.xml.transform.Source object. This object contains the information needed for making the request to the content provider and getting an XML source.

    This is the key step for retrieving the XML source. The required tasks performed by this method are different for HTTP and SOAP entities, and are explained in more detail in getSource() Method (HTTP) and getSource() Method (SOAP).

  5. The content provider iView calls the entity's getTransformerKeys() and getEntityTransformerParams() methods to get information about the transformation provider and transformer for this entity.

    The transformer for the entity is specified by the com.sap.portal.cp.TRANSFORMER_NAME property for the iView's portal component in portalapp.xml.

  6. The content provider iView transforms the XML and renders the content.