iView with dynamic parameters in URL for NetWeaver Portal 7.3

After a lot of questions without answer in portal forum areas, I decided to publish this “how to” which describes one of the existing solutions.

This blog will provide an answer to the question “How to create an iView with dynamic parameters in the URL” and provide a step by step example.

Prerequisites – a portal content administrator role is assigned to a user.

1. Create an iView based on “com.sap.portal.appintegrator.sap.Generic” application component:

1. Browse: Content Administration -> Portal Content Management -> Portal  Applications -> com.sap.portal.appintegrator.sap
2. Copy “Generic”

     c. “Paste as PCD Object” and complete the creation wizard.

2. Configure the iView

1. a. Open the properties of the created iView

          b. Choose “All” -> “Content – Generic Launcher” -> “Modify  Properties”

          c. Enter the URL in “URL Template” – the URL consists of the following parts: base part of URL and  

             ?<DynamicParameter> exactly as it appears in the screen.

3.Save and preview the created iView

a. Copy the URL of the opened preview window

b. Use this URL to concatenate with the required parameters according to the next syntax:

<Copied URL>?DynamicParameter=<encoded parameters>

Example:

http://server:port/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/pcd!3aportal_content!2fsdn!2fURL_with_dynamic_parameters?DynamicParameter=q%3DSAP%20success

Where “q” is parameter name expected by Bing search. Here we pass the value “SAP success”, the equal sign “=” is encoded to %3D and ‘space’ is encoded to  %20

See URL encoding rules in http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp

4. The result is that “Bing” search receives parameters in a dynamic way

This example can be used to point to an internal portal and external applications.