Portal Express, Version 6.0
Operating systems: i5/OS, Linux, Windows
Unique names
The portal uses object IDs to identify portal resources unambiguously even between different portals. They consist of an extended alphanumeric string which may be difficult to remember. Administrators can use the Custom Unique Names portlet to assign unique names, or human readable names, to portal resources. They can select names which are easy to remember.
These custom unique names are easier to handle than the object IDs assigned by the portal, for example when porting resources from one portal to another. They make identification of portal resources easier in the following contexts:
- When administrators export or import a portal configuration using the XML configuration interface
- When portlet developers link from their portlets to other portal resources, for example to pages or portlets
- When the security of a portal is managed by an external access control system.
A custom unique name must be unique within the portal. If you have virtual portals, a custom unique name must be unique within the scope of its corresponding resource. Depending on the scope, this can mean uniqueness within a single virtual portal or within the complete portal installation. For more information about resource scopes refer to Planning for virtual portals under section Special case: Scoping unique names. The Custom Unique Names portlet allows you to do the following:
- List portal resources by type
- Determine custom unique names as desired and assign them to portal resources
- Modify or delete a custom unique name, or modify a mapping
- Display the mapping between the resources and the assigned unique names in the resource list
- Search for a resource
- Look up the custom unique name for a resource.
See the Help of the Custom Unique Names portlet for more information on how to perform these tasks.
To get to the Custom Unique Names portlet, click Administration, then Portal Settings, then Custom Unique Names.
Using unique names can also be of benefit when you use the XML configuration interface to port a portal configuration.
If you change the unique name of a portal administration page using the Manage Unique Names portlet, you also need to update that name in the properties file. This is required so that the theme and administration portlets still function. Restart the portal to make the changes in the properties file become effective.