INSTALLING

Configuring component update for composite applications
You can use composite applications to install or update custom or third-party features in Notes®.

When a user opens a composite application or when a composite application update operation occurs, if the application definition has changed, an update operation is run to provision both newly specified features as well as existing features that have newer available versions. A composite application definition can reference one or more Eclipse features as application requirements. Each requirement can specify a particular update site from which it will be provisioned.

The feature requirement update site setting can specify a Domino® server (or local NSF replica) or a Portal server (or any HTTP server). Update site URL examples for each server are as follows:


Domino NSF-based update sites

Domino provides the capability to put an Eclipse update site inside an NSF database. An NSF-based update site is typically a separate database that doesn't contain composite applications. However, since any Notes application NSF can contain a composite application, an update site NSF may contain a composite application. For example, a third-party could deliver a composite application and an update site, with the former pointing to the latter. Or an administrator could put the composite application in an NSF-based update site and make it available to users that way.

For more information about NSF-based update sites, see Creating and using an NSF-based update site in the related links.

Creating and preparing the NSF-based update site

You can import Eclipse update sites into an NSF-based update site application.

1. Create an NSF-based update site, for example updatesite.nsf, using the File -> Application -> New menu sequence and the Eclipse Update Site template (updatesite.ntf) installed with Domino or Notes.


2. Open the NSF-based update site.

3. Click Import Local Update Site.

4. From the resultant explanatory panel, use the Browse button to navigate to the Eclipse update site.

5. Select the site.xml file.

6. Click Open.


Editing a Composite Application's feature requirements update site URL

There are two methods you can use to edit a composite application's feature requirements update site URL:


Recommended method: Using the Composite Applications Editor to specify an update site for feature requirements

The preferred method to edit the update site URL for a feature requirement using the Composite Application Editor (CAE) is as follows:

1. In Notes, open the composite application.

2. Click Actions -> Edit Application.


3. From the resultant component list, right-click the desired component and select Edit Component Properties.

4. Click Advanced.


5. Select the property for the desired feature, for example url.Feature_NN, and click Edit.
6. Click OK to exit the Advanced pane.

7. Click OK to exit the Properties pane.

8. Click Done to close and save the changes.

9. The modified CA XML is re-read and processed.

Alternate method: Configuring a composite application to specify an update site

Use this alternate method to define update sites for the contents of a particular composite application NSF.

1. The administrator obtains a composite application NSF, for example MyCompAppabx.nsf.

2. Accompanying the composite application NSF, the administrator obtains an update site folder, which contains a \features and \plugins subdirectory, as well as a site.xml file. The site.xml file lists features contained within the update site folder.

3. The administrator modifies the composite application's XML to point to a specific Domino update site.

4. Save and close the XML file.

5. In Domino Designer and within the open composite application, click the composite application name in the list, click the Refresh tab, and select the modified composite application XML file.

6. Open the NSF-based update site application, for example updatesite.nsf, and import the site.xml file from the local update site folder that accompanies this composite application.


For information about deploying and provisioning features to an existing client runtime, see Deploying and managing client plug-ins with widgets and the widget catalog.

Retrieving composite application definitions (CA XML) from Domino

Use the following NRPC URL format to retrieve composite application updates.

NRPC://Server-hint-or-host/replica-id/composite.xml?param=value

Where:

Server-hint-or-host = DNS host name, IP address, or server name

replica-id of the database on the target server

param -- name|unid

Name -- String to be used to lookup CA design element in view -- Look up first as a name and if not found, then as an alias.

UNID -- UNID of the composite application design note

For example:

NRPC://abx_tc.upcdev.ibm.com/__8525634000734621/composite.xml?name=Hannover

WebSphere Portal and Composite Applications

WebSphere® Portal composite application update is made available to the Notes user through the Home Portal Account setting in Notes, as determined by the Domino administrator. In addition, the administrator must also have installed the WebSphere Portal composite application support for Notes on the same WebSphere Portal server to which the user's Home Portal Account points. WebSphere Portal composite application update pertains typically to the Notes user who is working with composite applications that contain Web projections.

For information about configuring users for composite applications that contain portlets, see the following topics in this guide:


Related concepts
Client feature deployment
Specifying the home portal account

Related tasks
Creating and using an NSF-based update site
Deploying client plug-ins with widgets and the widget catalog

Related information
NSF Based Eclipse Update Sites and Composite Applications
Notes and Domino Wiki
IBM Support
WebSphere Portal Support
NSF based Update Sites on My developerWorks Blog