On Feb 24, 3:08 pm, Athar Shiraz wrote:
> Beyond the fact that portletdata is editable and accessible in edit mode, I am wondering what the point of portletdata is?
>
> In the config mode you can access portletSettings and I understand the point of that. It allows you to view and change the parameters you defined in portlet.xml (for the concrete portlet). Your administrator may go in and use this to configure these parameters.
>
> But what is the use of this portletdata? who gets to usually access it? end user? and why would you want someone accessing portletdata over portletsettings? what can the end user edit? their portlet related information I suppose.


The point of PortletData, or PortletPreferences in JSR168, is to make
it possible to provide simple and easy customizations for a user. Very
simple stuff.

PortletData is difficult to manage in the database, and even more
difficult to datamine. You have very little control over storage and
searching of PortletData. For these reasons, you should not put
valuable information in PortletData. It's good for what it's good for.

-Cameron McKenzie

Author of What is WebSphere? and the SCJA Certification Guides
Free Mock SCJA Exams: http://www.scja.com
Free WebSphere Tutorials: http://studyguides.scja.com/j2ee/index.jsp
Free Portlet Development Tutorials: http://studyguides.scja.com/jsr168/index.jsp