{{Short description |Pluggable user-interface software component}}
A '''portlet''' is a pluggable user-interface software component that is displayed in a web portal (such as an enterprise portal or a web content management system).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/portlet|title=PORTLET | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://support.esri.com/en-us/gis-dictionary/portlet|title=Portlet Definition | GIS Dictionary|website=support.esri.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/portlet|title=Definition of portlet|website=PCMAG}}</ref> A collection of portlets produce fragments of markup<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Guo |first1=Yuanbo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=md_zBwAAQBAJ&dq=Portlet+standard+-java&pg=PA32 |title=Web Information Systems Engineering – WISE 2005 Workshops: WISE 2005 International Workshops, New York, NY, USA, November 20-22, 2005, Proceedings |last2=Jun |first2=Woochun |last3=Kaschek |first3=Roland |last4=Krishnaswamy |first4=Shonati |last5=Pan |first5=Zhengxiang |last6=Sheng |first6=Quan Z. |date=2005-10-24 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-32287-0 |page=22 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-04 |title=Markup languages |url=https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/radfws/9.6.1?topic=portlet-markup-languages |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=www.ibm.com |language=en-us}}</ref> (such as HTML, XHTML, or WML) that are presented as an integrated portal user experience.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Sarin |first=Ashish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTozEAAAQBAJ&dq=Portlet+standard+-java&pg=PT246 |title=Portlets in Action |date=2011-09-15 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-63835-236-5 |at=1.3 What is a portlet? |language=en}}</ref>
A portlet container owns a collection of portlets.<ref name=":1" /> A container manages the life cycle of its portlets and provides a runtime environment with services such as persistent storage for user preferences.<ref name=":0" /> A container supports aggregating (integrating) information from different sources. Via user customization, a container supports a personalized portal user experience. A container with its portlets can form a web application.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-01 |title=Portlets |url=https://gateway.maine.gov/cognos/documentation/en/ug_cra_c_portlets.html |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=gateway.maine.gov |language=en-us}}</ref> Portlet-based applications are often used for portals focused on news, weather,<ref name=":2" /> and Internet forums.
A portlet receives user agent requests as dispatched by the portal server and then the container. A portlet responds with dynamically generated content.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sarin |first=Ashish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTozEAAAQBAJ&dq=Portlet+standard+-java&pg=PT246 |title=Portlets in Action |date=2011-09-15 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-63835-236-5 |at=1.5.1 The portlet container |language=en}}</ref> Its container sends data to the portal for aggregation, but is not responsible for aggregating the content produced by the portlets. The portal itself handles aggregation.<ref name=":0" /> A portal and a portlet container can be built together as a single component of an application suite or as two separate components of a portal application.
Typically, a portlet technology is defined by a standard which enables software developers to create portlets that can be plugged into a portal conforming to the standard. An example is the Java Portlet Specification.<ref>{{cite web |title=JSR 362: Portlet Specification 3.0 |url=https://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=362}}</ref>
==See also== * {{Annotated link|Applet}} * {{Annotated link|Software widget}}
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Wiktionary|portlet|position=left}}
Category:Web portals