Getting started with the web application bridge

The portal administrator collects information about the content provider and its applications and then follows basic configuration steps to enable the web application bridge.

1. Set the context root for the wp.vwat.servlet.ear application:
   1. Log on to the WebSphere® Integrated Solutions Console.
   2. Go to Applications > Application Types > WebSphere enterprise applications.
   3. Find and click the wp.vwat.servlet.ear application link.
   4. Under the Web Module Properties heading, click Context Root For Web Modules.
   5. Change the context root to /. This step can create name conflicts. Add a rewrite rule to avoid these conflicts. For more information read Apache Module mod_rewrite and Providing short vanity URLs.
   6. Click OK.
   7. Click Save to save your changes to the master configuration.
   8. Stop and restart the wp.vwat.servlet.ear application.
2. Complete the following steps if you configured a web server:
   1. Log in to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
   2. Go to Applications > Application Types > WebSphere enterprise applications > wp.vwat.servlet.ear > Manage Modules.
   3. Complete the following steps to map the wp.vwat.servlet.ear application to the web server: For more information, go to the More information about this page link in the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console.
      1. Check the Select check box for the Virtual Web Application Servlet application.
      2. Select the web server in the Clusters and servers box.
      3. Click Apply.
   4. Choose one of the following options to update the plug-in configuration:
      • Complete the following steps to update the plug-in configuration for all applications in WebSphere Application Server:
        1. Go to Servers > Server Types > Web servers > webserver1 > Plug-in properties.
        2. Ensure that the following two check boxes are checked:
           • Automatically generate the plug-in configuration file
           • Automatically propagate plug-in configuration file
        3. Click Apply to save your changes.
      • Complete the following steps to update the plug-in configuration just for the wp.vwat.servlet.ear application:
        1. Go to wp_profile_root/config/cells/cell_name /nodes/node_name/servers/web_server_name directory in the deployment manager profile.
        2. Make a back up copy of the plugin-cfg.xml file.
        3. Open the plugin-cfg.xml file.
        4. Add a line that is similar to the following example to the UriGroup for the cluster:

           <Uri AffinityCookie="JSESSIONID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/*"/>

        5. Copy the updated plugin-cfg.xml file to the web server in the web server home directory.
   5. Restart all the servers.
3. The system administrator logs in to IBM® WebSphere Portal.
4. The system administrator clicks the Administration menu icon from the toolbar. Then, clicks Portlet Management > Virtual Web Application Manager.
   Warning: Do not enter < or > into any of the text boxes.
5. The system administrator clicks Content Provider Profiles and then selects Create Content Provider Profiles.
6. The system administrator creates the content provider profiles.
7. The system administrator goes to the profile that was created and clicks Add policy to create a policy.
   Tip: The system administrator must create at least one policy for the content provider profile.
8. The system administrator clicks Web Dock Applications and then selects Create Web Dock Applications.
9. The system administrator creates the web dock applications.
10. The system administrator goes to the application that was created.
11. The system administrator selects one of the following tabs and then click Edit to configure the web dock settings:
    Note: If the system administrator changes the host or port information in the content provider profile, you must edit the web dock application and reselect the profile. Otherwise, the web dock application does not pick up the changes.
    • Web Dock Display Settings
    • Client Side IPC for Web Dock
    • Server Side IPC for Web Dock
    • Plugins
12. The content author logs in to WebSphere Portal.
13. The content author accesses the site toolbar and takes one of the following actions:
    • Creates a page and adds the web dock application portlet to the page.
    • Edits an existing page and adds the web dock application portlet to the page.
    Tip: To get the web dock application to render on a page, the page must either have the Web Dock profile or a profile that includes the wp_webdock module. Edit the page properties and change the profile or add the wp_webdock module to the profile applied to the page:

    1. Connect to the theme repository with the fs-type1 connection.
    2. Go to your theme.
    3. Open the profile file in the /profiles directory.
    4. Make a copy of the profile file and give it a unique name.
    5. Edit the .json file and add the wp_webdock module ID.
    6. Copy the profile that you created to the /profiles directory.
    7. Invalidate the resource aggregator cache to integrate your changes. Click the Administration menu icon in the toolbar. Then click Theme Analyzer > Utilities > Control Center > Invalidate cache. Auto invalidation recognizes your changes automatically for WebDAV based themes. No further action is required. For more information, see Utilities.
14. If a content author experiences issues with viewing the web dock applications, complete the following steps to update the user role:
    1. Log on to WebSphere Portal as the administrator.
    2. Click the Administration menu icon in the toolbar. Then, click Access > Resource Permissions.
    3. Search for the page that contains the web dock application.
    4. Give the content author the correct permissions to the page.
    5. If the content provider policy is set to use basic or form-based authentication, complete the following steps:
       • Go to the web dock application and give the content user the correct permissions.
       • Go to the credential vault used for the authentication. Give the content user the correct permissions to the credential vault.