Independently refreshing portlet content in a portal view

• US 20070006075A1
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Salahshoor, Mohamad, Masselle, Eric, Lection, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to portlet content refreshing and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and apparatus for independently refreshing portlet content in a portal view. In an embodiment of the invention, a system for refreshing portlet content in a portal view can include a portal server configured to render a portal page, a portlet aggregator configured to provide portlet markup for different portlets in different refresh controllers having independently refreshable portions, and a refresh servlet coupled to the portlet aggregator that includes programming to configure the portal page with the different refresh controllers.

Claims

1. A system for refreshing portlet content in a portal view comprising:

a portal server configured to render a portal page;

a portlet aggregator configured to provide portlet markup for different portlets in different refresh controllers having independently refreshable portions; and

,

a refresh servlet coupled to said portlet aggregator and comprising programming to configure said portal page with said different refresh controllers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said different refresh controllers are linked to said portal page through corresponding hidden frames disposed in said portal page.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said hidden frames comprise inline frames.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each of said different refresh controllers comprises a script programmed to write contained portlet markup to an element in said portal page responsive to a triggering event.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said triggering event is an on load event.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said portlet markup for said different portlets each comprises at least one refresh tag, said refresh tag comprising an element type, an element identifier, an address for refreshable content for an element in said portlet markup associated with said element identifier, and a refresh rate.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said portlet markup for said different portlets each comprises a plurality of refresh tags for different portions of said portlet markup, each of said refresh tags comprising an element type, an element identifier, an address for refreshable content for an element in said portlet markup associated with said element identifier, and a refresh rate.

8. A method for refreshing portlet content in a portal view, the method comprising:

receiving a call from a refresh tag in portlet markup for a portlet among portlets in the portal view;

responsive to said receipt, generating a refresh controller for said portlet markup;

embedding a script in said refresh controller, said script comprising code enabled to provide content in said refresh controller to said portal page;

linking said refresh controller to a hidden frame in the portal page; and

,

providing said hidden frame to an aggregator for assembly into the portal page.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising extracting a refresh rate from said call from said refresh tag.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said embedding a script in said refresh controller further comprises enabling said code to periodically refresh said content in said refresh controller at a rate consistent with said refresh rate.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said extracting a refresh rate from said call from said refresh tag further comprises extracting a push type and a push identifier for a portion of said portlet markup from said call from said refresh tag.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said embedding a script in said refresh controller further comprises selecting said script for embedding in said refresh controller according to a template corresponding to said push type.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said embedding a script in said refresh controller further comprises enabling said code to periodically refresh content for said portion in said refresh controller indicated by said push identifier at a rate consistent with said refresh rate.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for refreshing portlet content in a portal view, said computer program product including:

computer usable program code for receiving a call from a refresh tag in portlet markup for a portlet among portlets in the portal view;

computer usable program code for responsive to said receipt, generating a refresh controller for said portlet markup;

computer usable program code for embedding a script in said refresh controller, said script comprising code enabled to provide content in said refresh controller to said portal page;

computer usable program code for linking said refresh controller to a hidden frame in the portal page; and

,

computer usable program code for providing said hidden frame to an aggregator for assembly into the portal page.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising computer usable program code for extracting a refresh rate from said call from said refresh tag.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said computer usable program code for embedding a script in said refresh controller further comprises computer usable program code for enabling said code to periodically refresh said content in said refresh controller at a rate consistent with said refresh rate.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said computer usable program code for extracting a refresh rate from said call from said refresh tag further comprises computer usable program code for extracting a push type and a push identifier for a portion of said portlet markup from said call from said refresh tag.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said computer usable program code for embedding a script in said refresh controller further comprises computer usable program code for selecting said script for embedding in said refresh controller according to a template corresponding to said push type.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said computer usable program code for embedding a script in said refresh controller further comprises computer usable program code for enabling said code to periodically refresh content for said portion in said refresh controller indicated by said push identifier at a rate consistent with said refresh rate.