A provider is an entity that is used as a container of portlets.
The provider serves as the communication link between Oracle9iAS Portal and the provider's portlets. Portal communicates with the provider and in turn the provider communicates with its portlets. Portal never talks to a portlet directly, this communication is always done through the provider in which it is contained. Providers abstract the actual implementation of portlets from the portal, allowing for a simpler portal architecture.
There are two main types of provider interfaces—database and Web.
A database provider is one that is written as a PL/SQL package. Use database providers for creating PL/SQL portlets that reside in the database. PL/SQL portlets are implemented as stored procedures and executed in the database. They can be written in PL/SQL or Java Stored Procedures wrapped in PL/SQL. Use PL/SQL portlets whenever your portlets require significant database interaction or when the development team has Oracle experience.
To learn how to expose your portlets as a database provider, see the Oracle9iAS Portal Developer Kit (PDK) on Portal Studio.
If you want to access database providers on remote servers, you can use the Federated Portal Adapter, which allows database providers to be accessed as though they were Web providers.
Note: If you are registering a provider that uses the Federated Portal Adapter, you must register that provider as a Web provider.
In addition to database providers created using the PDK, there are two special kinds of database providers:
Internal providers are those created when a page group's pages, navigation pages, categories, or perspectives are exposed as portlets.
Portal DB providers are containers for forms, reports, charts, etc.
A Web provider is one that is written as a Web application. It is installed and hosted on a Web server and is remote from the portal. A portlet exposed as a Web provider can be developed in any Web language. The portal communicates to the Web provider using the HTTP protocol. There are several benefits when developing portlets and exposing them as Web providers:
Leverage existing Web application code to create portlets.
Manage outside of Oracle9iAS Portal.
Provide hosted servers for Oracle9iAS Portal users.
Create portlets using any existing Web language.
To expose your portlets as a Web provider, you must create a provider that manages your portlets and also can communicate with Oracle9iAS Portal using SOAP(XML). To learn how to expose your portlets as a Web provider, see the Oracle9iAS Portal Developer Kit (PDK) on Portal Studio.
Registering a provider
Creating a Web provider
What is a provider group?
Refreshing the Portlet Repository