1   Introduction

The integration between CPSSkins and CPS3 is done through CPSPortlets. CPSPortlets is a product for CPS3 that uses schemas, widgets, vocabularies and layouts to represent portlets. CPSPortlets depends on CPSSchemas and on CPSDocument so it should be possible to use CPS Portlets inside CMF/Plone with CPS4CMFPlone.

2   Definitions

A portlet is an aggregation of widgets placed on a canvas (portlet layout). The markup language used to represent the portlet is restricted to semantic tags (i.e. <em> instead of <i>, <strong> instead of <b>, etc.) and no inline style tags are used. CSS classes are allowed (e.g. class="menuselected").

Portlets are divided into two categories:

• Global portlets are displayed on every page of the portal. They are equivalent to notion of Templet in CPSSkins but without the containing box and its decoration (open, close button, etc.) They are managed by the Portlets Manager (role defined in CPSPortlets) that comprises the portal manager and the Theme Manager (role defined in CPSSkins). Global portlets are displayed inside Portlet Box Templets (CPSSkins). A Portlet Box has a style, a position on a theme layout, decorations, etc. Its content (the portlet) can be cached in RAM as with any other Templet.

• Local portlets are displayed in local folders (workspaces, sections, etc.) and in sub-folders. They are equivalent to CPS3 local boxes but without the box decoration and style. They are managed by users who may add Portlets to folders (to be defined).

  Local portlets are only visible inside a slot on a theme canvas. Slots correspond to CPS3 macro slots in CPSDefault. They are called Portal Box Group Templets in CPSSkins. They are identified by a slot name ('left', 'right', ...). The contents of a slot are not known a priori and may therefor vary depending on the context.

  The Theme Manager may create slots and users may insert portlets inside slots. The slot acts as a sort of proxy by referring to all portlets that are associated to the slot's name.

  When a slot gets removed or is being renamed, the associated portlets are not removed. They become invisible portlets as long as they are not associated to a visible slot again.

  Local portlets may be visible in a given theme and invisible in another theme.

3   Import/Export of Portlets

• Exporting/importing Portlet Boxes.

  CPSSkins themes are exported as usual. Only references to portlets (portlet id for global portlets) or references to slot names for local portlets are exported. References are preserved when themes is imported.

• Exporting/importing CPS portlets:

  Portlets may be exported just like CPS documents. It is important that the portlet IDs are preserved when importing global portlets and that the slot name is preserved when importing local portlets.

4   RAM Cache

• Portlets can use the internal RAM cache of CPSSkins to improve performance. If the content of a portlet changes depending on the context (e.g. navigation, actions, etc.) the portlet should inform CPSSkins about the minimal set of parameters needed to build the RAM cache index (e.g. the current URL, the username, the current language, etc.)

  The rendering time of cached portlets is the same independently of the type and the complexity of the portlet (typically 0.01s) which highly increases CPU availability.

5   Management Screens

• Global portlets are managed directly in CPSSkins like any other Templet using the WYSIWYG editor (drag-and-drop, contextual menus, style management, etc.). An extra tab called 'Portlet' is displayed in the Templet's edit form.
• Local portlets are managed in a portlet management screen similar to CPS3's box management form with support for drag-and-drop, contextual menus, etc. This screen is available outside the theme editor to users who may manage portlets in their home folder or inside group folders, etc. It is kept separate from the box management screen of CPS3 and existing boxes will coexist with portlets by sharing the same slots if necessary to allow for a smooth transition from CPS3 boxes to CPS portlets.

6   Slot Names

• Slot names are no longer predetermined. New names can be added arbitrarily but existing CPS3 boxes can only be displayed inside the standard slots ('left', 'right', 'top', ...)