IBM Content Templates Catalog

Following up from my earlier  blog post about the CTC, there's a useful article on the Wiki here:  -

The goal of the IBM Content Templates Catalog (CTC) is to demonstrate the range of modern site designs that can be accomplished on the basis of the IBM portal and content management technologies, and to show how it can be done. To support this goal, the CTC provides three main areas that you can apply directly to your web designs:

1. A catalog area that offers ready to use web building blocks for customer sites. These building blocks realize modern patterns featuring commonly required content types and assets.

2. A jump-start area for rapidly integrating the selected CTC assets into a pre-existing site, or the development of new sites from scratch based on CTC assets; and

3. A sandbox area, which provides a 'playground' for first steps, and experimentation, as well as for easy comparison and selection of alternatives.

The CTC also provides the core technology and the quality assured implementation on which all Toolbox Industry Templates that are available on the market today build their WCM modules. The context of the Industry Templates demonstrates that the CTC core technology can be well integrated into larger web landscapes. But even as a stand-alone offering, the CTC provides unique support for straight forward web site creation.

IBM WebSphere Portal Content Templates Catalog - The Fun Continues, this time on Windows

Following two earlier posts about the rather excellent Portal Templates Catalog, I was helping a colleague, Stuart, with an implementation of the same on WebSphere Portal Express 6.1.5 on a VMware image running Windows XP SP3.

Previously, I'd only ever deployed the Catalog onto Linux, as per my previous postings here: -

http://portal2portal.blogspot.com/2010/05/ibm-websphere-portal-content-templates_13.html

and here: -

http://portal2portal.blogspot.com/2010/05/ibm-websphere-portal-content-templates.html

whereas it was somewhat more tricksy on Windows.

In the first instance, I was seeing the following exception: -

BUILD FAILED
D:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog\components\sample.ctc.content\config\includes\sample.wcm.content.common_cfg.xml:12: The following error occurred while executing this line:
D:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog\components\sample.ctc.content\config\includes\wcm_cfg.xml:18: Warning: Could not find file D:\IBMWebSpherewp_profile\PortalServer\wcm\config\wcm60_conf.xml to copy.

even though I'd modified install.bat as follows: -

set installPath      =    d:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer
set assemblyRoot     =    %installPath%\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog
set profilePath      =    d:\IBM\WebSphere\wp_profile
set portalServerPath =    d:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer
set wasUserName      =    wpsadmin
set wasUserPassword  =    passw0rd
set pwdUserName      =    wpsadmin
set pwdUserPassword  =    passw0rd
set hostName         =    localhost
set portalConfigUrl  =    http://localhost:10040/wps/config
set soapPort         =    10033

and also modified d:/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog/wcm.properties as follows: -

profile_dir          =    d:\IBM\WebSphere\wp_profile

to match my environment.

Reading the error message more fully ( ...D:\IBMWebSpherewp_profile... ), I wondered whether script was ignoring the back slash (\) characters in the paths set in the .bat and .properties file, as I've seen similar issues before. To prove this, I replaced them with forward slash (/) characters, doubled up in case one character was being treated as an escape character.

Therefore, the path-related statements in the .bat and .properties files changed to look like this: -

set installPath      =    d://IBM//WebSphere//PortalServer
set assemblyRoot     =    %installPath%//IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog
set profilePath      =    d://IBM//WebSphere//wp_profile
set portalServerPath =    d://IBM//WebSphere//PortalServer

and: -

profile_dir          =    d://IBM//WebSphere//wp_profile

respectively.

This helped in that the script ran for slightly longer, but still failed, this time with: -

[6/11/10 13:44:31:609 BST] 00000049 SysViewConten E com.ibm.icm.jcr.serialization.handler.SysViewContentHandler endElement javax.jcr.RepositoryException: d:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog\components\sample.ctc.content\content\wcm\shared\rootworkspace\jcr_root\423dc4e4\8632bc4e\%57orkflow\%41ctions\18bdfa32\e910e1b8.value (The system cannot find the path specified.)
                                 javax.jcr.RepositoryException: d:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog\components\sample.ctc.content\content\wcm\shared\rootworkspace\jcr_root\423dc4e4\8632bc4e\%57orkflow\%41ctions\18bdfa32\e910e1b8.value (The system cannot find the path specified.)

This baffled me completely, until I compared the message with the content / path of the contents of the extracted IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog directory, which needs to be copied into D:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer.

The error message referred to: -

d:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog\components\sample.ctc.content\content\wcm\shared\rootworkspace\jcr_root\423dc4e4\8632bc4e\%57orkflow\%41ctions\18bdfa32\e910e1b8.value

whereas when I explored the file system via Windows Explorer, I was seeing: -

d:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog\components\sample.ctc.content\content\wcm\c-content\rootworkspace\jcr_root\423dc4e4\8509a2db\%002557orkflow\%002541ctions.node

I don't claim to understand WHY this is the case, but I'm assuming that it's something to do with Windows Explorer and, perhaps, 255 character path lengths ?

Interestingly, the Windows DIR command shows the same weirdness e.g.

%002557orkflow.node

rather than: -

%57orkflow.node

In the end, I was able to resolve the problem by avoiding the use Windows Explorer etc. and manually extracting the content of the ZIP file ( 1WP1002G6_615.zip  ) from the Windows command prompt using the PKZip utility, unzip.exe, and then copying the IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog directory structure into place using the XCopy /S command.

By this time, however, the repeatedly failing import had left my JCR repository in a bit of a muddle; I had to manually delete the content libraries that had already been imported e.g. TB_Catalog, TB_Core etc. using the Web Content Libraries portlet whilst logged in as wpsadmin. I then restarted WebSphere Portal for good measure.

Having done all of the above, I was able to successfully run the install.bat script and, after 19 minutes and 28 seconds, the CTC installed, and I now have lots of content loveliness at which to look.

The moral of the story ? Stick to the command line :-)

I'll feed this back to the Dublin lab. in case there's anything that I'm doing wrong ...

PS I'm running the VM on a Thinkpad W500 with 4 GB total, and 2 GB allocated to Windows.

IBM Content Template Catalog V3.0 (CTC) and WebSphere Portal 7.0.02

This IBM Technote plopped into my In-Box earlier today, and I immediately shared it via Sametime with a number of my colleagues, most of whom are working with the IBM Content Template Catalog (CTC) right now.

IBM Content Template Catalog V3.0 (CTC) is broken after upgrade to WP/WCM V7.0.0.1 CF009 (or later) or 7.0.0.2 fix pack

Abstract

The IBM Content Template Catalog V3.0 (CTC3) can be installed on IBM Web Content Manager (WCM) V7.0.0.1 or 7.0.0.2. Installing the Combined Cumulative Fix 009 or 010, or upgrading to fix pack level 7.0.0.2 renders CTC3 unusable.

Content

A fix will be made available in the near future and this page will be updated when more information is available.

The IBM Content Template Catalog V3.0 (CTC3) is documented here: -

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/IBM_Content_Templates_Catalog_V3.0

One of the files necessary for its successful operation is overwritten when installing either Combined CF009, CF010, or fix pack 7.0.0.2. The .jar file, "wp.wcm.templating.jar", is installed into the WCM shared apps directory during a CTC3 install.

To correct the issue, copy the original .jar file from CTC3 back into the shared apps directory (replacing the file present) and restart the server. 

The .jar file is located in "/wp.ctc/components/wp.ctc/enablment/" in the CTC PAA. The non-CTC3 file will be 31KB after installing the CF or fix pack but the CTC3 version is 80KB.

After the restart, the templating functions should be working again.

IBM Content Template Catalog V3.0 doc
Download CTC3
CTC3 Forum Thread

Using the updated IBM Content Templates Catalog application and the newly released IBM WebSphere Portal Solution Installer ...

Following on from earlier blog posts here and here and here, I have spent some time today looking at the updated IBM Content Templates Catalog asset in the Catalog as the asset has been updated to support WebSphere Portal v7.

One other major change is that the CTC asset is now installable using the new Portal Solution Installer solution: -

The IBM WebSphere Portal Solution Installer is a utility for installing, uninstalling and updating solutions or applications to an instance of WebSphere Portal Server. The basis of the Solution Installer is a standard format for application distribution, the Portal Application Archive (PAA) format. This will make it more straightforward to install Portal Applications without the need for custom installation scripts.

The Solution Installer should be used to install applications which are in the PAA format and  can be used by application developers to prepare their applications to be distributed in the PAA format.

The asset can be downloaded from the Greenhouse here.

Having downloaded the Solution Installer package ( as SolutionInstaller.zip ), you can expand it: -

cd /tmp
unzip /home/hayd/Downloads/SolutionInstaller.zip

and then customise it to support WebSphere Portal 7 - it defaults to version 6: -

cd /tmp/SolutionInstaller/components/SolutionInstaller/
cp SolutionInstaller.properties SolutionInstaller.properties.original
fromdos SolutionInstaller.properties                            - I needed to perform this step as the file had been formatted with CR/LF characters from Windows Notepad or similar
vi SolutionInstaller.properties

by changing: -

portal_version=6

to: -

portal_version=7

Once done, copy it to the Portal Server directory: -

cp -Rf /tmp/SolutionInstaller/ /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/

and install it using ConfigEngine: -

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/
./ConfigEngine.sh -install -assemblyRoot /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/SolutionInstaller -installPath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer -user wpsadmin -pwd passw0rd -hostname dmhw500.uk.ibm.com -port 10025 -offeringName PortalServer -assemblyName SolutionInstaller -expandBinaries false

On completion, you should validate the installation: -

cat /opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/registry.xml | grep SolutionInstaller

and check for the following lines: -

<snip>
...
    <assembly xmi:id="Assembly_1286957656418" assemblyName="SolutionInstaller" installLocation="/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/SolutionInstaller" lastModified="10/13/2010" version="6.1.0.0">
      <component xmi:id="Component_1286957656506" compName="components/SolutionInstaller" installLocation="/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/SolutionInstaller/components/SolutionInstaller" version="6.1.0.0"/>
...
</snip>

Add passwords ( WasPassword and PortalAdminPwd )  to the ConfigEngine properties file: -

vi /opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/properties/wkplc.properties

Setup the Solution Installer

./ConfigEngine.sh si-setup

and look for the "BUILD SUCCESSFUL" message.

Download the CTC from here and unpack it: -

cd /tmp
unzip /home/hayd/Desktop/1WP1002G6.zip
unzip 1WP1002G6_7.zip
cd 1WP1002G6

and then install it using the newly installed Solution Installer: -

ConfigEngine.bat install-paa -DPAALocation=/tmp/1WP1002G6/wp.ctc.paa

and check for the "BUILD SUCCESSFUL" message.

Once this has completed, run the following command to complete the registration of the CTC asset: -

./ConfigEngine.sh deploy-paa -DappName=wp.ctc

Again, this should completed with a "BUILD SUCCESSFUL" message - for me, this took 23 minutes on a Thinkpad W500 dual core with 8 GB RAM. WARNING, YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY !!

Post installation, I accessed my portal server via the normal URL, and see the purty loveliness that is the CTC content.

Enjoy !

PS For me, on my Ubuntu box, I hit the "Too many open files" exception when I initially ran this command, so I needed to: -

(a) Stop WebSphere Portal
(b) Increase the hard/soft files handle limit using the command ulimit -n 10240
(c) Start WebSphere Portal
(d) Re-run the deploy-paa command again

I'll fix the ulimits permanently at a later date ...

IBM WebSphere Portal Content Templates Catalog

Following my previous posting regarding the IBM WebSphere Portal Content Templates Catalog, I had been trying, and failing, to deploy the Catalog into my clustered WP/WCM 6.1.5 environment.

I had, as far as I could tell, modified the install.sh and wkplc.properties appropriately, but the installation script still completed within 10 seconds, and nothing got deployed.

After some excellent help from Ronan and Esmond in the IBM Dublin labs, I realised where I was going wrong.

Esmond suggested that I check the ConfigEngine registry - /opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/ConfigEngine/registry.xml - to see whether the Templates had been registered.

Looking at this file, I couldn't see any reference to: -

assemblyName="IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog"

which suggested that the first step in install.sh was failing, albeit without an error message.

Therefore, I looked again at install.sh and, quelle surprise, I was being a complete and utter muppet - the install script is written assuming that the user is running against localhost on 10033: -

hostName=localhost

soapPort=10033

whereas I am running against a cluster, with an external deployment manager.

Therefore, I ran the two commands, from install.sh, manually: -

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/wp_profile/ConfigEngine

./ConfigEngine.sh -install -assemblyRoot /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog/ -installPath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/ -user wasadmin -<PASSWORD> -hostname dm.uk.ibm.com -port 8879 -offeringName PortalServer -assemblyName IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog -expandBinaries false

( so replacing localhost/10033 with the hostname of the Deployment Manager - dm.uk.ibm.com - on port 8879 )

which updated the registry.xml as follows: -

<assembly assemblyName="IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog" installLocation="/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer//IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog" lastModified="05/13/2010" version="6.1.0.0">

      <component compName="components/sample.ctc.content" installLocation="/opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer//IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog/components/sample.ctc.content" version="6.1.0.0">

        <task taskName="deploy-portlets" failOnError="true" status="FAIL"/>

        <task taskName="remove-portlets" failOnError="true" status="FAIL"/>

      </component>

    </assembly>

I then ran the deploy-portlets script: -

./ConfigEngine.sh deploy-portlets -DComponentList=components/sample.ctc.content -propertyfile /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/IBM.WebSphere.Portal.Content.Templates.Catalog/wcm.properties 

and, quelle surprise, it worked. The deploy-portlets task took 15 minutes, and I now have lots of lovely content to look at :-)

Simple :-)

IBM Content Templates Catalog and the Admin. installation

Following my previous posts, including this one,  I'm rather keen on the IBM Content Templates Catalog (CTC) , but was getting an exception: -

[xmlaccess]     <status element="[web-app 1_CGAH47L000T950I4B4R9CD00U0 uid=FeedReaderPortlet.webmod]" result="failed">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0025E">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0025E: The resource was not found in the portal, either because it does not exist or because you have not specified an identifying attribute in the XML input. [web-app 1_CGAH47L000T950I4B4R9CD00U0 uid=FeedReaderPortlet.webmod]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>
[xmlaccess] </request>

[xmlaccess] EJPXB0015E: Server response indicates an error.
[xmlaccess] EJPXB0015E: Server response indicates an error.
Target finished: create-wcm-template-pages

when trying to install it into a newly minted installation of WebSphere Portal / Lotus Web Content Management 6.1.0.4.

Again, I'd performed a slimmed-down administration installation, which proved to be the problem.

The CTC installer was looking for the IBM Feed Reader Portlet, which wasn't installed.

I installed wp.bp.feedreader.war from /opt/IBM/WebSphere/PortalServer/installableApps/ and was able to successfully install the CTC.

I'm now seeing: -

[xmlaccess]     <status element="[portletinstance 5_LH0ANTS30O0V70I4JD9BIR3KF6]" result="warning">
[xmlaccess]         <message id="EJPXA0202W">com.ibm.wps.command.xml.XmlCommandException: EJPXA0202W: The user with the userid uid=wp1admin,o=defaultWIMFileBasedRealm could not be found. The resource [portletinstance 5_LH0ANTS30O0V70I4JD9BIR3KF6] will be not created. [portletinstance 5_LH0ANTS30O0V70I4JD9BIR3KF6]</message>
[xmlaccess]     </status>

but that may be a herring rouge ...

Demo of the IBM Content Templates Catalog

Cody Burleson posted this on Twitter earlier today, and I thought it was definitely worth a look - especially as I'd been talking about the Content Templates Catalog ( aka CTC ) to a colleague earlier this week.

Demo of the IBM Content Templates Catalog: youtube.com/IBMXWebX