Linwood and Minter describe the new Java portlet API, including security, portlet life cycles, and portlet interaction with servlets and JSP. The examples will work on any portal that complies with the JSR-168 portlet API. Several example portlets are developed to give you hands-on portlet experience. You'll even learn how to port existing servlet and JSP applications into a new portal environment.

The authors also discuss Single Sign On (SSO) using Kerberos and the GSS-API, syndicating content with RSS, and integrating a charting solution with JFreeChart. Other topics covered are the open-source Lucene search engine, personalization, portlet configuration, portlet preferences, and Web Services for Remote Portals (WSRP).

Author Information

Jeff Linwood - Jeff Linwood has been in software programming since he had a 286 in high school. He got caught up with the Internet when he got access to a UNIX shell account, and it has been downhill ever since. Jeff has published articles on several Jakarta Apache open source projects in Dr. Dobb's Journal, CNET's Builder.com, and JavaWorld. Jeff has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He currently works for the Gossamer Group in Austin, Texas, on content management and web application syndication systems. He gets to play with all the latest open source projects there. Jeff also coauthored Professional Struts Applications and was a technical reviewer for Enterprise Java Development on a Budget and Extreme Programming with Ant.

David Minter - David Minter has adored computers since he was small enough to play in the boxes they came in. He built his first PC from discarded, faulty, and obsolete components, and considers that to be the foundation of his career as an integration consultant. David is based in London, where he helps large and small companies build systems that "just work."