This document provides instructions on how to build a web application using the Portofino web framework. Portofino allows for the creation of web applications from existing databases and includes features like CMS functionality, page customization using Groovy, and native support for database schema management with Liquibase. It utilizes common technologies like Hibernate, Stripes, and EhCache. The document outlines how to start a new project, create pages, manage authorization and permissions with Apache Shiro, and provides notes on customization options. It also lists some organizations that currently use Portofino in their applications.

1. How to build an application with
the Portofino web framework
Giampiero Granatella
giampiero.granatella@manydesigns.com

2. Portofino in a glance
creation of a web application starting from existing databases
powerful, multi-level CRUD pages
CMS features (menu, wysiwyg html editor, portlet)
page customization using Groovy, which allows on-the-fly changes
native support for incremental management of the database schema
using Liquibase
use of well-known and well-tested technologies such as Hibernate,
Stripes, EhCache, Quartz, etc.
native permission handling with Apache Shiro and user management
that can be easily integrated with any SQL, LDAP/Active Directory,
OpenID, ...
and much more!

3. Who is using Portofino
1,001 Downloads in 2013 (as of 28/2/2013) from
84 countries around the world
Used in
Public Administration: Regione Emilia Romagna,
Regione Liguria, Datasiel, Prefettura di Savona
IIT, Università degli studi di Genova
Companies: Selex-Elsag, QSA, Celeweb, NIS,
Nacon, Softeco, Iso Sistemi

4. Architecture

5. How to start a project
Download it!
http://sourceforge.net/projects/portofino
unzip
launch tomcat
use your browser (http://localhost:8080) and a text
editor to write your apps
...or use an IDE (NetBeans, Eclipse, IntelliJ) to write or
debug apps

6. DataBase Driven
applications
Do you have an existing DB?
use the wizard and let Portofino create pages for you
Are you building your DB from scratch?
use liquibase for DB versioning
...or use your favorite DB client and sync Portofino with
the DB

7. Create Pages
We’ll develop a Blog http://www.manydesigns.com/en/
blog/how-to-create-a-blog-1
Your app is under /apps/default (or your appname)
blobs - your blobs
dbs - liquibase files
groovy - script available to all your actions
pages - all your pages organized as you designed
web - custom html, jsp, css, img, javascript

8. Authorization and
Permissions
We use Apache Shiro to manage authorizations and
permissions,
customize you authorization policy in the
security.groovy file (authorize a user, associate him to
a group),
set the access level for each page to groups,
set what operations a user can do,
the rules you set for a page can be applied to all the
pages underneath.

9. Notes on
customizations
Each page has an associated groovy script,
Portofino gives some hooks (e.g. to customize
validation, to redirect to different pages, ...)
Write your code in app/groovy and you can use
it in all your actions

10. Community
Ask questions and join the discussion:
http://groups.google.com/group/manydesigns-
portofino
Regional groups:
http://groups.google.com/group/manydesigns-
portofino-italian

11. Questions ?