Implementing Application Display Templates

Application Display Templates (ADTs) provide–the ability to add custom display templates to your portlets from the portal. The figure below shows what the Display Template option looks like in a portlet Configuration menu.

Figure 1: By using a custom display template, your portlets display can be customized.

Figure 1: By using a custom display template, your portlet's display can be customized.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Application Display Templates API to add an ADT to a portlet.

Using the Application Display Templates API

To leverage the ADT API, there are several steps you need to follow. These steps involve registering your portlet to use ADTs, defining permissions, and exposing the ADT functionality to users. You’ll walk through these steps now:

  1. Create and register a custom *PortletDisplayTemplateHandler component. Liferay provides the BasePortletDisplayTemplateHandler as a base implementation for you to extend. You can check the TemplateHandler interface Javadoc to learn about each template handler method.

    The Component annotation ties your handler to a specific portlet setting the property javax.portlet.name as the portlet name of your portlet. The same property should be found in your portlet class. For example:

     @Component(
         immediate = true,
         property = {
             "javax.portlet.name="+ AssetCategoriesNavigationPortletKeys.ASSET_CATEGORIES_NAVIGATION
         },
         service = TemplateHandler.class
     )
    

    Each of the methods in this class have a significant role in defining and implementing ADTs for your custom portlet. View the list below for a detailed explanation for each method defined specifically for ADTs:

    • getClassName(): Defines the type of entry your portlet is rendering.
    • getName(): Declares the name of your ADT type (typically, the name of the portlet).
    • getResourceName(): Specifies which resource is using the ADT (e.g., a portlet) for permission checking. This method must return the portlet’s Fully Qualified Portlet ID (FQPI).
    • getTemplateVariableGroups(): Defines the variables exposed in the template editor.

    As an example *PortletDisplayTemplateHandler implementation, you can look at WikiPortletDisplayTemplateHandler.java.

  2. Since the ability to add ADTs is new to your portlet, you must configure permissions so that administrative users can grant permissions to the roles that will be allowed to create and manage display templates. Add the action key ADD_PORTLET_DISPLAY_TEMPLATE to your portlet’s /src/main/resources/resource-actions/default.xml file:

     <?xml version="1.0"?>
     <!DOCTYPE resource-action-mapping PUBLIC "-//Liferay//DTD Resource Action Mapping 7.0.0//EN" "http://www.liferay.com/dtd/liferay-resource-action-mapping_7_0_0.dtd">
     <resource-action-mapping>
    
         ...
    
         <portlet-resource>
             <portlet-name>yourportlet</portlet-name>
             <permissions>
                 <supports>
                     <action-key>ADD_PORTLET_DISPLAY_TEMPLATE</action-key>
                     <action-key>ADD_TO_PAGE</action-key>
                     <action-key>CONFIGURATION</action-key>
                     <action-key>VIEW</action-key>
                 </supports>
    
                 ...
    
             </permissions>
         </portlet-resource>
    
         ...
    
     </resource-action-mapping>
    
  3. Next, you need to make sure that Liferay can find the updated default.xml with the new resource action when you deploy the module. Create a file named portlet.prtoperies in the /resources folder and add the following contents providing the path to your default.xml:

     include-and-override=portlet-ext.properties
     resource.actions.configs=resource-actions/default.xml
    
  4. Now that your portlet officially supports ADTs, you’ll want to expose the ADT option to your users. Just include the <liferay-ui:ddm-template-selector> tag in the JSP file you’re using to control your portlet’s configuration.

    For example, it may be helpful for you to insert an <aui:fieldset> in your configuration JSP file, like the following:

     <aui:fieldset>
         <div class="display-template">
             <liferay-ddm:template-selector
                 classNameId="<%= YourEntity.class.getName() %>"
                 displayStyle="<%= displayStyle %>"
                 displayStyleGroupId="<%= displayStyleGroupId %>"
                 refreshURL="<%= PortalUtil.getCurrentURL(request) %>"
                 showEmptyOption="<%= true %>"
             />
         </div>
     </aui:fieldset>
    

    In this JSP, the <liferay-ddm:template-selector> tag specifies the Display Template drop-down menu to be used in the portlet’s Configuration menu. The variables displayStyle and displayStyleGroupId are preferences that your portlet stores when you use this taglib and your portlet uses the BaseJSPSettingsConfigurationAction or DefaultConfigurationAction. Otherwise, you would need to obtain the value of those parameters and store them manually in your configuration class.

    As an example JSP, see the Wiki application’s configuration.jsp.

  5. You must now extend your view code to render your portlet with the selected ADT. This allows you to decide which part of your view will be rendered by the ADT and what will be available in the template context.

    First, initialize the Java variables needed for the ADT:

     <%
     String displayStyle = GetterUtil.getString(portletPreferences.getValue("displayStyle", StringPool.BLANK));
     long displayStyleGroupId = GetterUtil.getLong(portletPreferences.getValue("displayStyleGroupId", null), scopeGroupId);
     %>
    

    Next, you can test if the ADT is configured, grab the entities to be rendered, and render them using the ADT. The tag <liferay-ddm:template-renderer> aids with this process. It will automatically use the selected template or render its body if no template is selected.

    Here’s some example code that demonstrates implementing this:

     <liferay-ddm:template-renderer
         className="<%= YourEntity.class.getName() %>"
         contextObjects="<%= contextObjects %>"
         displayStyle="<%= displayStyle %>"
         displayStyleGroupId="<%= displayStyleGroupId %>"
         entries="<%= yourEntities %>"
     >
    
         <%-- The code that will be rendered by default when there is no
         template available should be inserted here. --%>
    
     </liferay-ddm:template-renderer>
    

    In this step, you initialized variables dealing with the display settings (displayStyle and displayStyleGroupId) and passed them to the tag along with other parameterers listed below:

    • className: your entity’s class name.
    • contextObjects: accepts a Map<String, Object> with any object you want to the template context.
    • entries: accepts a list of your entities (e.g., List<YourEntity>).

    For an example that demonstrates implementing this, see configuration.jsp.

Now that your portlet supports ADTs, you can create your own scripts to change the display of your portlet. You can experiment by adding your own custom ADT.

  1. Navigate to Site Admin* → ConfigurationApplication Display Templates. Then select Add (Add) → Your Template. Give your ADT a name and insert FreeMarker (like the following code) or Velocity code into the template editor, and click Save:

     <#if entries?has_content>
         Quick List:
         <ul>
         <#list entries as curEntry>
             <li>${curEntry.name} - ${curEntry.streetAddress}, ${curEntry.city}, ${curEntry.stateOrProvince}</li>
         </#list>
         </ul>
     </#if>
    
  2. Go back to your portlet and select Options (Options) → Configuration and click the Display Template drop-down. Select the ADT you created, and click Save.

Figure 2: The example Social template for the Wiki application provides extended social functionalities.

Figure 2: The example Social template for the Wiki application provides extended social functionalities.

Once your script is uploaded into the portal and saved, users with the specified roles can select the template when they’re configuring the display settings of your portlet on a page. You can visit the Styling Apps with Application Display Templates section for more details on using ADTs.

Next, we’ll provide some recommendations for using ADTs in Liferay Portal.

Recommendations for Using ADTs

You’ve harnessed a lot of power by learning to leverage the ADT API. Be careful, for with great power, comes great responsibility! To that end, you’ll learn about some practices you can use to optimize your portlet’s performance and security.

First let’s talk about security. You may want to hide some classes or packages from the template context, to limit the operations that ADTs can perform on your portal. Liferay provides some portal system settings, which can be accessed by navigating to Control PanelConfigurationSystem SettingsFoundationFreeMarker/Velocity Engine, to define the restricted classes, packages, and variables. In particular, you may want to add serviceLocator to the list of default values assigned to the FreeMarker and Velocity Engine Restricted variables.

Application Display Templates introduce additional processing tasks when your portlet is rendered. To minimize negative effects on performance, make your templates as minimal as possible by focusing on the presentation, while using the existing API for complex operations. The best way to make Application Display Templates efficient is to know your template context well, and understand what you can use from it. Fortunately, you don’t need to memorize the context information, thanks to Liferay’s advanced template editor!

To navigate to the template editor for ADTs, go to the Site Admin menu and select ConfigurationApplication Display Templates and then click Add and select the specific portlet on which you decide to create an ADT.

The template editor provides fields, general variables, and util variables customized for the portlet you chose. These variable references can be found on the left-side panel of the template editor. You can use them by simply placing your cursor where you’d like the variable placed, and clicking the desired variable to place it there. You can learn more about the template editor in the Styling Apps with Application Display Templates section.

Finally, don’t forget to run performance tests and tune the template cache options by modifying the Resource modification check field in System SettingsFoundationFreeMarker/Velocity Engine.

The cool thing about ADTs is the power they provide to your Liferay portlets, providing infinite ways of editing your portlet to provide new interfaces for your portal users. You stepped through how to configure ADTs for a custom portlet, tried out a sample template, and ran through important recommendations for using ADTs, which included security and performance.

Styling Apps with Application Display Templates

Liferay JavaScript APIs

Internationalization

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