Patent ID: 8612852

Claim:
A method for generating a portal page having a plurality of portlets, at least one of the plurality of portlets is declaratively defined by an end-user of the portal page to display data from a data source, the method comprising: receiving, from the end-use via a user interface, a selection of a data source type from a plurality of data source types supported by a portlet; receiving, from the end-use via the user interface, access information required to access a data source based upon the selected data source type; receiving, from the end-use via the user interface, layout information including at least a layout style supported by the portlet; determining, with a computer system, a data source specification for the portlet based on the selected data source type and the access information associated with the data source; determining, with the computer system, a layout specification for the portlet based on the layout information; retrieving data from the data source using the determined data source specification; determining, with the computer system, a layout within the portlet for the data retrieved from the data source using the determined layout specification; generating the portlet to display the retrieved data using the determined layout within the portlet; and generating, with the computer system, the portal page using the generated portlet.