Building a custom Information Console context root

Application servers route requests from the user’s browser to the configured Information Console web content in a context root. A JSP engine specifies the path for the Information Console context root in a platform-specific configuration file. For example, the Tomcat engine specifies context roots in the /etc/tomcat/server.xml file on a UNIX or Linux system and C:\Program Files (x86)\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\conf\server.xml file on a Windows system. Other application servers and servlet engines use an analogous file.

You can configure multiple Actuate Information Console context roots on a single server. Each context root can contain a web reporting application that uses a different design. For example, you can create different web reporting applications for particular language groups or departments. The following example is the definition for the default Actuate Information Console context root, iportal, from a Tomcat server.xml file on a Windows system:

The following example is the definition for the default Actuate Information Console context root, iportal, from a Tomcat server.xml file on a UNIX-based system:

Actuate Information Console’s embedded servlet engine uses an automatic mechanism to discover new web applications. This server provides a quick and convenient environment in which to test your custom Information Console application before deploying to your main application server. To test a custom Information Console application on the embedded servlet engine, you create the context root directory structure in <Actuate home>\iPortal2, then restart the Actuate 11 Apache Tomcat for Information Console service and clear your browser cache.

The following example creates a custom web application for MyCorp’s Marketing Communications group. The Marketing Communications users use the following URI prefix to access their custom application:

For example, to access the application’s login page, they choose a web page hyperlink with the following URI:

1 Install Information Console separately. Information Console installed separately is portable but Information Console embedded in BIRT iHub is not.

2 Make a copy of the Actuate Information Console directory structure and give the copy a name related to the context root name.

For example, for the default installation on a Windows machine, copy the directory C:\Program Files\Actuate\iPortal2\iportal, paste it into C:\Program Files\Actuate\iPortal2 and rename it marcom.

For the default installation on a UNIX-based machine, copy the directory $HOME/iPortal2/iportal, paste it into $HOME/iPortal2/ and rename it marcom.

3 If you are using a server other than Information Console’s embedded servlet engine, add your definition to the JSP engine’s configuration file. For example, for Tomcat installed on a Windows machine, add the context root, marcom, to the <Information Console Directory>\conf\server.xml file as follows:

For Tomcat installed on a UNIX-based machine, add the context root, marcom, to the <Information Console Directory>/conf/server.xml file as follows:

4 Restart the application server or JSP engine. For example, to restart Information Console’s embedded servlet engine on a Windows XP system, perform the following steps:

To restart Information Console’s embedded servlet engine on a UNIX-based system, perform the following steps:

After you stop and restart the server, the Marketing Communications users can access the Actuate Information Console web application called marcom. The application looks like the default Actuate Information Console application because you have not customized its appearance.