Patent ID: 8745642

Claim:
A method for sharing data between portlets within a portal infrastructure comprising at least one portal and a plurality of portlets deployed to the at least one portal, wherein the portal comprises a portal integration component which provides data sharing functionality, comprising: registering, using a computer device, portlet registration data for each portlet comprising a set of consumed properties, wherein each consumed property is associated with a portlet action, and wherein the integration component stores the portlet registration data; storing, using the computer device, for each portlet an integration mode parameter indicating if the portlet shares data with a second portlet; during processing of a first action request, using the computer device; the portal invoking a first portlet targeted by the first action request; the first portlet invoking the portal integration component to publish a property, wherein the property comprises a value and a data type identifier; the portal integration component storing the published property; the portal invoking the portal integration component including the stored published property of the first portlet; the portal integration component retrieving the property published by the first portlet in response to the integration mode parameter indicating that the first portlet shares data; the portal integration component determining a second set of portlets registered to consume the published property by the first portlet, wherein the determining comprises matching the data type identifier of at least one consumed property with the published property; issuing, using the portal integration component, a second action request to each portlet of the second set of portlets determined to be sharing data in response to determining at least one portlet of the second set of portlets shares data, including the registered portlet registration data and the value into the second action request; and during processing of a render request; the portal generating a visual representation, indicating for the first portlet the integration mode parameter telling whether or not the first portlet shares data with the second portlet; and displaying the visual representation at a web page rendering the first portlet and indicating in a first portlet title bar whether the first portlet shares data with the second portlet.