Customizing banners and the side menu

As shown earlier in this section, JSPs can use template elements to modify the appearance for different parts of the interface, such as a banner and the side menu. The code in the default JSPs creates a banner or a side menu by defining a table and populates the table with images, text labels, values for labels, and links to action paths for other pages. The default banners and side menu contain graphic elements, including several images. Adjust the contents of the table, change them, or remove them entirely as your company’s look and feel requires.

When developing a page, you use a Jakarta Struts template:put tag to use a template element and specify the file to use for the element. For example, to create a banner for a page using the code in <context root>\iportal\activePortal
\private\common\banner.jsp, use the following code:

<template:put name="banner" content="/iportal/activePortal/private/common/banner.jsp" />

To create a side menu for a page using the code in <context root>\iportal\activePortal\private\common\sidebar.jsp, use the following code:

<template:put name="sidebar" content="/iportal/activePortal/private/common/sidebar.jsp" />

For skins that use a side menu, you can change the side menu in one of the following two ways:

n	Change <context root>\iportal\activePortal\private\common\sidebar.jsp.

n	Make a copy of the file and customize the new file. To instruct pages to use the new file, change the template:put Jakarta Struts tags for the sidebar template element.

Table 2-10 describes the files that create banners in Information Console’s classic skin. These files are located in <context root>\iportal\activePortal\private.

Table 2-10  Information Console JSP files that define a banner 

File	Description
common\banner.jsp or skins\<skin name>\common\banner.jsp	Banner for most reporting web pages
login_banner.jsp or skins\<skin name>\common\login_banner.jsp	Banner for the login page
query\banner.jsp or skins\<skin name>\query\banner.jsp	Banner for all Actuate Query web pages

If a JSP specifies the use of \common\banner.jsp in a template:put Jakarta Struts tag, then typically the page uses the banner in <context root>\iportal\activePortal\private\common\banner.jsp. If a skin’s template specifies the use of a different version of that banner, the page uses the file that the template specifies. The tabbed and treeview skins each have their own version of the banner file in their <context root>\iportal\activePortal\private\skins\<skin name>\common directory. Similarly, the tabbed and treeview skins have their own version of the login banner and query banner. If the browser or the application server has not cached a version of the login page, the login page displays the banner from the classic skin.

If you change a banner, your change affects that skin for all pages that specify that file in a template:put Jakarta Struts tag. To use a different banner on some pages, perform the tasks in the following list:

n	Create a copy of an existing banner file.

n	Customize the new file.

n	In each page that must use the new banner, change the template:put Jakarta Struts tags for their banner template element.

n	Create the corresponding new banners for the other templates and change the code in the appropriate template in each skin to use them.

Table 2-11 lists the files that use each type of banner. These files are located in <context root>\iportal\activePortal\private.

Table 2-11  Banners for JSPs 

Banner	JSPs in iportal\activePortal\private
common\banner.jsp or skins\<skin name>\common\banner.jsp	channels\channellist.jsp channels\channelnoticelist.jsp channels\channeloperationstatus.jsp channels\channelsubscribe.jsp customization\skinedit.jsp customization\skinmanager.jsp filesfolders\createfolder.jsp filesfolders\deletefilestatus.jsp filesfolders\filedetail.jsp filesfolders\filefolderlist.jsp filesfolders\privilege.jsp filesfolders\search\filefolderlist.jsp jobs\getjobdetails.jsp jobs\joboperationstatus.jsp jobs\selectjobs.jsp newrequest\newrequest.jsp newrequest\newrequest2.jsp newrequest\submitjobstatus.jsp options\options.jsp
login_banner.jsp or skins\<skin name>\common\login_banner.jsp	login.jsp
query\banner.jsp or skins\<skin name>\query\banner.jsp	query\create.jsp query\execute.jsp

Table 2-12 lists the Actuate Information Console pages that use the side menu.

Table 2-12  Sidebars for JSPs 

Side menu

JSPs in iportal\activePortal\private

common\sidebar.jsp

channels\channellist.jsp channels\channelnoticelist.jsp channels\channeloperationstatus.jsp channels\channelsubscribe.jsp customization\skinedit.jsp customization\skinmanager.jsp filesfolders\createfolder.jsp filesfolders\deletefilestatus.jsp filesfolders\filedetail.jsp filesfolders\filefolderlist.jsp filesfolders\privilege.jsp filesfolders\search\filefolderlist.jsp jobs\getjobdetails.jsp jobs\joboperationstatus.jsp jobs\selectjobs.jsp newrequest\newrequest.jsp newrequest\submitjobstatus.jsp options\options.jsp

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