During the mid to late 1990s, portals emerged with the promise to help bring together applications seamlessly via a unified user interface. As a result, many software developers today still maintain that preconception of the word portal.

Although that definition of a portal still holds true, I believe the meaning has shifted to something more encompassing. My colleagues describe it as a “convergence” in which traditionally horizontally separated web applications are now beginning to converge within the portal as components of the portal. Portals like Liferay are now comprehensive, ready-to-deploy solutions that include adjacent capabilities, such as social collaboration, content management, and business process management. And in parallel with that shift, portals are taking on the critical infrastructural role of a platform on which a broad range of sophisticated enterprise web applications can be developed.

That’s where this book comes in. If you’re new to portal technology, you’ll find Rich Sezov’s writing style easy to follow as he guides you through the fundamentals of portlets. Rich not only teaches you how to integrate into the portal existing applications you may already have, but also helps you develop new ones using the tools and components provided by Liferay. Most important, because this book helps you learn to develop the right way with Liferay Portal, it may very well save you weeks of development time. Part 2 of this book provides an in-depth look at portlet development, and Rich’s excellent coverage of hooks and extensions in Part 3 includes conventions and techniques that are vital to advanced developers who want to customize Liferay Portal. You’ll find this to be the flat-out best guide both for Liferay 6.0 and the upcoming 6.1 release.

Liferay in Action represents the culmination of many people’s dreams at Liferay. We always knew that we wanted to write a comprehensive book on Liferay Portal development, and Rich’s dual background in technology and writing combined with his extensive knowledge of Liferay made him the perfect candidate to be its author. Rich has invested years collecting the intricate details of Liferay Portal, many of which have never been documented before, and put them on paper—no easy task.

On behalf of Liferay, for all the hard work and sweat that Rich has poured into this book, I want to say to Rich, thank you. Who knew we could find an engineer with an English degree? And to you, the reader, enjoy this book; we hope it means as much to you as it means to us.

Brian Kim
Chief Operating Officer
Liferay, Inc