A portlet is a server-side component that can be reused in multiple portlet applications. Typically, a portlet presents or provides access to various web resources, data, external applications, and other components. In the Composite Application Framework (CAF) environment, portlets are published to and run on My webMethods Server

Portlets created in CAF are based on the JSR-168 portlet standard. Portlet configuration data is stored as preferences, information that is persisted within a portlet for each user.

CAF adds extensions to standard preferences with simple data types, such as Boolean and integer, as well as additional scopes. These extended scopes are valid only on My webMethods Server. Because of these extensions, you should analyze your portlets carefully if you are considering exporting a portlet to a third-party portal.

When you create a Generic portlet with the New Portlet wizard, the portlet is created with a single default View Declaration Language (VDL) file implemented as a .view file.