Customizing an Information Console web application

To perform most cosmetic customization tasks, use the Actuate Information Console skin manager. The skin manager supports using skins to change typically customized images, colors, and fonts in Actuate Information Console web pages. You also can customize aspects of Information Console that are not supported by the skin manager by modifying the Information Console files manually.

Actuate Information Console supports customization of the landing page, <context root>\landing.jsp, and the appearance of the pages in My Documents, BIRT Studio, and the interactive viewer for BIRT reports.

You use knowledge of the following standard languages and frameworks to customize an Information Console web application manually:

n	Cascading style sheet (.css) files

CSS files define fonts, colors, and other visual design attributes of an Information Console web application. For information about modifying style sheets, see Modifying global style elements, later in this section.

n	Hypertext markup language (HTML)

HTML handles links and the presentation of text and graphics in web pages. Information Console incorporates HTML code in its JavaServer pages.

n	Jakarta Struts Framework

Jakarta Struts Framework is an open source framework for building web applications. Based on standard technologies, Struts enables the Information Console Model-View-Controller design. For more information about Struts, access the following URL:

http://jakarta.apache.org/struts

Java

Information Console uses Java classes to provide functionality. You can create your own Java classes for your custom web application. For more information on the Information Console Java classes, see Actuate Information Console JavaBeans.

n	JavaScript

JavaScript is an interpreted, object-oriented language that facilitates embedding executable content in web pages. It provides strong tools for interacting with web browsers.

n	JavaServer Pages

The JavaServer Pages (JSP) extension of the Java Servlet API facilitates the separation of page design from business logic. JSPs are a platform-independent solution. Information Console web pages are defined primarily by JSPs. For more information about the Actuate JavaServer Pages, see Actuate Information Console URIs.

Actuate recommends that you use the skin manager to customize as much as possible and then handle any remaining customization tasks manually.