Ever tried sticking some page design to GX WebManager? Seems easy enough, doesn't it?

And that's where things go tits up. While creating page sections and assigning them to pages is a piece of cake, getting the @#%^@&^!@ things to actually appear on your homebrew JSP design is hell!

Programmers and page sections are clearly lacking chemistry.

Unless you know The Secret!

And what do you know... I just happen to know this Secret. And since I don't feel like writing a book about it I will just dedicate this blog entry to it.

First things first: create page sections and labels

To get a firm grasp on things we need a good base population. The WM Community Edition ships with a nice set of page sections, as can be seen in the screenshot. There are blocks meant for use in the header, the left and the right side of the page and they are grouped together in the page section hierarchy. Oh, yeah! Be sure to check that the page sections are published! You won't be the first one to fall for that trap.

Three labels have been created: "header", "left" and "right". The labels have been assigned to the respective page sections.

Second: create page parts in WM for use in JSP

For this, you need to go to "Format > Presentation > Page parts". If the option is not available in the menu, try going to "Configure > Web Initiative configuration... > Functionalities" and make sure the "Design" checkbox is selected.

From the select pulldown menu, pick the option "< Create new page part >". Give the new page part the description "myHeaderPageSections" and the same identifier. Assign the presentation "WM Page sections". Under "Additional block settings" select the label "header".

Repeat the process to create page parts "myLeftPageSections" and "myRightPageSections", make sure you assign the correct presentation and select the corresponding label.

Third: make JSP refer to the new page parts

Scan your myPerfectPage.jsp to look for the correct spots to insert page section HTML. For example, put the following line where you want the header blocks to appear:

<wm:pagePart label="myHeaderPageSections" />

Do the same for the left and right bits.

Oh, and make sure the myPerfectPage.jsp is used on your testpage ("File > Properties > Design...")!

Fourth: assign page sections to pages

Our journey has almost come to an end. Everything has been prepared:

• There are published page sections with labels assigned
• There are page parts that make use of one of the labels
• The JSP design refers to the page parts.

Now all that remains is to assign page sections to the page! Go to "File > Properties > Assign page sections to page..." and assign a page section.

Preview the page, and presto...

Congratulations! You have mastered The Secret!

Looks like you're back with another one of those block rockin' beats!

Later,

Patrick