Using the Liferay Marketplace

Liferay Marketplace is a hub for sharing, browsing, and downloading apps. Marketplace leverages the entire Liferay ecosystem to release and share apps in a user-friendly, one-stop shop.

There are two ways to access the Marketplace.

1. Via the website: Using your favorite browser, navigate to the Marketplace at web.liferay.com/marketplace. If you’re new to Marketplace, this is the easiest way to access it. You can browse Marketplace without signing in with your liferay.com account.

2. Via the Control Panel: In the Control Panel, navigate to Apps → Store. To view Marketplace, you must sign in with your liferay.com account.

No matter how you access Marketplace, you’ll see the same content. Note that to download apps, you must have a liferay.com account and agree to the Marketplace Terms of Use.

Here you’ll learn how to,

• Find and purchase apps

• Manage purchased apps

• Renew purchased apps

Start with finding and purchasing the apps you want.

Finding and Purchasing Apps

If you’ve used an app store before, Marketplace should be familiar. You’ll see apps in the center of the page, in the following sections:

• Featured Apps: Liferay features a different set of apps each month.

• New and Interesting: The latest apps added to Marketplace.

• Most Viewed in the Past Month: The top 5 most viewed apps in the last month.

• Themes and Site Templates: Apps that change your Liferay instance’s look and feel.

• App categories: Communication, productivity, security, etc.

The See All button shows more info in all these sections. At the top of the page, you can search Marketplace by category, Liferay version, and price. To browse by category, click the Categories menu at the top-right of the page.

Figure 1: The Liferay Marketplace home page lets you browse and search for apps.

Click an app to view its details. This includes its description, screenshots, price, latest version, number of downloads, a link to the developer’s website, a link to the app’s license agreement, and a purchase button (labeled Free or Buy, depending on the price). You can also view the app’s version history, read reviews left by other users, or write your own review.

The purchase button prompts you to choose a purchase type. You can purchase an app for your personal account, or for a Liferay project associated with your company. If you have the necessary permissions, you can also create a new project for your company. Once you select a purchase type, accept the EULA and Terms of Service, and click Purchase.

Figure 2: Click an app to view its details.

Once you purchase an app, you can download and install it.

Warning: Not all apps are designed to be “hot deployed”—deployed while the server is running. Deploying that way can cause instabilities, such as class loading leaks and memory leaks. On production systems, avoid “hot deploying” apps whenever possible. See the best practices for managing apps in production.

An app downloads and installs immediately if you purchase it from the Control Panel. If you purchase the app on the Marketplace website, however, your receipt is displayed immediately after purchase. To download the app, click the See Purchased button on the bottom of the receipt, and then click the App button to start the download. You must then install the app manually. Alternatively, you can use Marketplace from the Control Panel to download and install the app after purchase on the Marketplace website. The next section shows you how to do this.

Note that sometimes administrators disable automatic app installations so they can manage installations manually. In this case, Marketplace apps downloaded from the Control Panel are placed in the deploy folder in Liferay Home. Administrators must then manually install the app from this folder. Manual install is also required if the server is behind a corporate firewall or otherwise lacks direct Marketplace access. Regardless of how the app is downloaded, the manual install process is the same. For details, see the article Installing Apps Manually.

Managing Purchased Apps

Important: When uninstalling an app or module, make sure to use the same agent you used to install the app. For example, if you installed it with Marketplace, uninstall it with Marketplace. If you installed it with the file system, use the file system to uninstall it. If you installed it with the App Manager, however, use Blacklisting to uninstall it.

There are two places to manage your purchased apps:

1. Your liferay.com account’s home page. After signing in, click the user menu at the top-right and select Account Home. Note that your home page is distinct from your profile page. Your home page is private, while your profile page is public. On your home page, select Apps from the menu on the left to view your projects. Select a project to view its registered apps. Clicking an app lets you view its versions. You can download the version of the app that you need. This is especially useful if you need a previous version of the app, or can’t download the app from the Control Panel.

   

   Figure 3: You can manage your purchased apps from your liferay.com account's home page.

2. From the Control Panel. Navigate to Apps → Purchased to see your purchased apps. A button next to each app lets you install or uninstall the app. If the app isn’t compatible with your Liferay DXP version, Not Compatible is displayed in place of the button. Additional compatibility notes are also shown, such as whether a newer version of the app is available. You can also search for an app here by project, category, and title. Clicking the app takes you to its Marketplace entry.

   

   Figure 4: You can also manage your purchased apps from within a running Liferay instance.

Renewing a Purchased App

To continue using a purchased app whose license terms are non-perpetual, you must renew your app subscription, register your server to use the app, and generate a new activation key to use on your server. Here are the steps:

1. Go to https://web.liferay.com/marketplace.

2. Click your profile picture in the upper right corner and select Purchased Apps. The Purchased Apps page appears and shows your app icons organized by project.

3. Click your app’s icon. Your app’s details page appears.

4. Click Manage Licenses.

5. Select Register New Server.

6. Select the most recent Order ID (typically the order that has no registered servers).

7. Fill in your server’s details.

8. Click Register.

9. Click Download. The new app activation key to use on your server downloads.

10. Copy the activation key file to your [Liferay Home]/deploy folder.

You can continue using the application on your server.