There are two ways to access the Marketplace.
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Via the website: Using your favorite browser, you can navigate to the marketplace at http://liferay.com/marketplace.
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Via Liferay: If you have a Liferay portal up and running, you can use the Apps section of the Control Panel to access Marketplace content.
The Basics
No matter which method you choose, you will see the same content and apps.
If you are new to the Marketplace, the easiest way to access it is by using your browser. Navigate to http://liferay.com/marketplace to access the Marketplace home page.
Figure 15.1: You can access and browse the Marketplace home page without a `liferay.com` account but you need an account in order to purchase and download apps.
In the center of the page, you will see a number of icons. Each icon represents an individual app, and apps are organized by category:
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New and Interesting: The latest apps added to the marketplace
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Featured apps: Liferay features a different set of apps each month
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Most Viewed: The top 10 most viewed apps
If you click on the title of an app, you can access details about the app, including a description, the author’s name, screenshots, price, latest version, number of downloads, a link to the developer’s website, a link to the license agreement for the app, a link to report abuse, and a Purchase button. You’ll also be able to view version history, read reviews left by other users, or write your own review.
Figure 15.2: Click on a Marketplace app to view details, ratings, and reviews of the app.
If you click on the Purchase button, you’ll be prompted to choose a purchase type. You can purchase an app for your personal account or for your company. If your company has already been registered, select it in the drop-down list. If your company hasn’t been registered, click the Register Your Company link to register your company with Liferay Marketplace. Please see the Creating a Company section below for details.
The left side of each page in the http://liferay.com/marketplace site contains a Marketplace navigation menu. This menu contains links to various categories of apps available from Marketplace. Clicking on the individual categories allows you to browse the apps in that category. To view all the apps on Marketplace at once, click the Apps link and then the See All link in the Apps portlet.
Figure 15.3: Click on the *Apps* link in the menu on the left side of the Liferay Marketplace homepage and then on the *See All* link in the Apps portlet to browse all the Marketplace apps at once.
Below the navigation menu is the search bar. This search checks the titles and descriptions of apps against your search terms.
Logging In
You do not need a liferay.com account in order to browse the Marketplace.
However, if you wish to purchase and download an app, you need to establish a
liferay.com account and agree to the Marketplace Terms of Use. To get a new
liferay.com account, visit http://www.liferay.com,
click Sign In, then Create Account, and sign up! Once you are signed in,
you can fully utilize the Marketplace to find and use Marketplace apps.
If you are a developer and wish to create and upload new apps, you must also register as a developer in Marketplace. Just go to http://liferay.com/marketplace and click Become a Developer from the Marketplace menu.
Figure 15.4: Click on the *Become a Developer* link in the menu on the left side of the Liferay Marketplace homepage to register a developer's account, either as an individual or a company.
Once you register as a developer, your liferay.com homepage will have links for adding your apps to Marketplace, and managing them after they’re uploaded.
Marketplace Profile
Once you register a developer account with your liferay.com account, your
existing liferay.com Home page will contain a new section in the left
navigation menu entitled Development. You now have two Apps links: one under
the main navigation menu and one in the Development section. The Apps link
under your name is where you go when you want to vies and download yuor
purchased apps from the Marketplace. The Apps link under the Development
menu will let you manage existing apps and add new apps to the Marketplace. To
see information on your app’s performance, use the Metrics link in the
Development menu. If you submit an app, it will be reviewed before appearing on
the liferay.com Marketplace.
Managing Apps
The Develoment menu in your liferay.com home page is where you’ll go to
manage and monitor your own marketplace apps, and the Apps link in your main
navigation menu lets you view and download apps you purchased from the
Marketplace.
The Apps link in the menu under your name lists your purchased apps. From this
screen, you can find information about the authors of the apps you have
purchased and download or re-download the app (for example, if you lost your
copy or have re-installed Liferay and wish to re-deploy the app). This option
is also useful for downloading apps and deploying them to offline instances of
Liferay that do not have direct access to liferay.com.
Figure 15.5: On your `liferay.com` home page, the *Apps* link in the left navigation menu lets you view and download your purchased apps.
If possible, it’s best to log into your portal instance and install purchased applications through the Store link in the Control Panel’s Apps section. This will provide your portal instance with automatic update notices should they become available. If you download applications this way, they can be hot-deployed.
The Development menu is where developers go to manage their Marketplace apps. The Apps link lists apps you have authored and uploaded, and gives you an Add New App link that let’s you submit an app to be added to the Marketplace. The Metrics link will show you details such as the number of downloads, the current price and other relevant information. Please see the Marketplace chapter of the Developer Guide for details on this topic.
Figure 15.6: This is part of the form you need to submit when submitting an app to Liferay Marketplace.
Clicking on Add an App allows you to upload a new app and make it available in the marketplace. Please see the Marketplace chapter of the Developer Guide for more detail on authoring your own app.
Creating a Company
To create and register a company with Liferay Marketplace, click the Become a Developer link in the left-hand navigation menu of the Marketplace home page. You can create an individual or a company developer account. If you’d like to create an account on behalf of your company, your first step is to see if your company already exists on Liferay Marketplace. Enter your company name into the search box and check if it’s already been registered. If someone else from your company has already created a company account on Liferay Marketplace, you can click the Request to Join this Company button. This will send an email notification to your company’s Marketplace admin (the one who created your company’s Marketplace account). Your company’s Marketplace admin will then be able to add you to the company. If the company name you’d like to use is available, click the Register Your Company button to move on to the next step.
Figure 15.7: You can upload apps as an individual or on behalf of your company.
Your second step is to fill out your company’s information. The public information you must provide includes a company logo, the company name, a company description, a company email address and a homepage URL. The private information you must provide includes a company address, your company’s country, region, city, postal code and phone number. Additional private information required for validation includes a company email address and a legal tax document. Once your company’s Marketplace registration has been approved, you will be your company’s Marketplace admin! This means you’ll be responsible for handling Marketplace users’ requests to join your company. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be stuck with this responsibility. Once you’ve added other users to your company, you can promote some of them to be company Marketplace admins too.