Java EE 5 SDK Update is out. The thing that interested me was the inclusion of a beta version of the JSR168 portlet container. Interestingly, IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.1 also includes a JSR168 portlet container.
So what does a Portal give me and what does a Portlet container ?
A portlet container runs portlets and provides them with a runtime environment. The runtime environment manages the portlets lifecycle and persistent data for the portlets preferences. JSR168 is the portlet specification, if you write portlets to this specification you can use them on any portal server that supports the JSR168 specification.
A portal is a web application and provides a presentation layer, security, personalisation and aggregation from different sources. The way in which this functionality is implemented varies from vendor to vendor.
If JSR168 can shake off the stigma of being complicated an expensive it is a great technology to link and merge components on the UI level and finally make componentized development (can u speak SOA) Java mainstream. Of course JSR168 is just the beginning. Inter-portlet communication needs to be standardized too
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