Table of Contents
Note
If you find this EDG documentation helpful please consider DONATING! to keep the doc alive and current.
| Maintainer:Marc Schipperheyn |
This document describes how to install a "component application" into your Expresso environment and get it running on your system. This "component application" is an application written to use Expresso, such as eForum, ePoll, eSearch, among many others. This procedure assumes you already have Expresso operational and have verified that it is running properly. If you're not sure that this is so, please check the Expresso installation instructions first.
You should have a single .jar file that contains your application, such as eforumXXXX.jar, where XXXX is the version number of the application to be installed. You need to determine the directory into which Expresso was installed: this is the web application directory where the Expresso .war file was un-jar-ed during Expresso's installation. You should be able to see the files error.jsp, frame.jsp, toc.jsp, etc in this directory, and it should contain sub-directories such as doc, jsp, WEB-INF, and so forth.
Install the Files
Copy the .jar file referred to above to the web application directory where Expresso was installed.
Un-jar the jar file by issuing the following command: jar xvf eforum1-20.jar Replacing of course the eforum1-20.jar name with the name of the appropriate jar file. As the .jar expands, you should see a number of files extracted. These files go into the following directories within the Expresso installation:
components: The installation should create a new sub-directory within the "components" subdirectory of the expresso installation. For example, if you have Expresso installed at /usr/expresso, then the eForum application discussed above should create /usr/expresso/components/eforum.
WEB-INF/classes: The .class files (and, optionally, the .java files if you are installing with source code) for the application will be installed in the appropriate sub-directories within the WEB-INF/classes directory in the Expresso web application. For example, eForum will install it's files in WEB-INF/classes/com/jcorporate/eforum, creating several sub-directories.
config/XXXLogging.xml: The new application will also probably install a file in the "config" sub-directory to define it's logging setup for Expresso to use with Log4j (the logging sub-system integrated with Expresso). If "config" is not the configuration directory your installation is using (which is should *not* be for a production system), you should move or copy this file to the configuration directory (this is the same directory in which is found expressoLogging.xml, default.properties, and other setup files).
If you have a separate database for your application, you need to set it up in the expresso-config.xml file. Refer to the database specific Installation Notes for more information.
Usually, you will want to register your Schema in your own database, as opposed to the default Expresso database (Hypersonic). In order to do this you must (in the following order):
Set up your database in the expresso-config.xml file.
Create the Expresso tables in your database:
Open the Expresso Administrator.
Go to Setup and click on Create/Verify Database Structure & Perform Initial Setup.
Select your newly created context/database in the dropdown box.
Click Run.
Make sure that the value for hasSetupTables in the expresso-config.xml file for your database is set to 'y'.
If it was set to 'n', you'll have to restart Expresso before continuing.
Click Login and select your your application from the dropdown box.
Next you must "register" the application's Schema object with Expresso. This allows Expresso to manage and set up the application for you, as the Schema object lists all of the other components contained in the application.
Start your web or application server if required.
Start your web browser, and go to the appropriate URL for your Expresso installation.
Log in as the "Admin" user. If you have not set a password, the password can be left blank.
Select the "Applications" page, and at the bottom of this page select the "add" icon for Application Schema Objects
Enter the following information for the newly installed application:
Schema Class: Enter the class name (not the file pathname) of the Schema class for the new application. For example, for eForum the name would be com.jcorporate.eforum.ForumSchema. Make sure this name is on the first line of the field, and do not follow it with a return or spaces.
Schema Description: Enter a short descriptive title for this application. This title is used in the list of applications provided by Expresso at the left of all Expresso pages.
Component Code: This code gives the name of the directory within the /components sub-directory of Expresso that contains the HTML and JSP pages for the new application component. For example, "eforum" is the component code for eForum. Note that the component code is usually all lowercase, even though the name of the application may not be. Expresso uses this code to create a link to the "frame.jsp" file of the newly installed application for the menu at the left side of Expresso pages.
Once the application is registered correctly, you should run the DBCreate servlet (or the DBTool standalone application) to initialize the new application. This will do several things:
Create the database tables required by the application's DB objects.
Create default entries for those tables, if any are specified by the application.
Create default security (allowing the group "Admin" permission) to all of the applications Jobs, Controller and DB Objects.
Perform any custom setup defined by the application.
Once these steps are completed successfully, you are ready to use the new application. If you refresh the left-hand frame from Expresso, you should see a link to the new application in the list of installed applications.
The following persons have contributed their time to this chapter:
Marc Schipperheyn
Sandra Cann
Note
Was this EDG documentation helpful? Do you wish to express your appreciation for the time expended over years developing the EDG doc? We now accept and appreciate monetary donations. Your support will keep the EDG doc alive and current. Please click the Donate button and enter ANY amount you think the EDG doc is worth. In appreciation of a $35+ donation, we'll give you a subscription service by emailing you notifications of doc updates; and donations $75+ will also receive an Expresso T-shirt. All online donation forms are SSL secured and payment can be made via Credit Card or your Paypal account. Thank you in advance.
Copyright © 1999-2004 Jcorporate Ltd. All rights reserved.