Linking and embedding

Rationale

"Linking" refers to using URLs or paths to point to Orbeon Forms pages. For more on linking, see Linking to your forms.

"Embedding" refers to a deployment option where Orbeon Forms pages or forms appear embedded or nested within another application's page. This is in contrast to the default standalone deployment setup where Orbeon Forms produces entire web pages, and you link to those page from your application.

Orbeon Forms supports several embedding methods:

• Form Runner server-side Java embedding API

• Form Runner proxy portlet

• Form Runner JavaScript Embedding API

• Form Runner offline embedding API

In all cases, also see Securing Form Runner access when embedding.

Liferay

Supported Liferay versions

The following versions of Liferay have been tested:

Orbeon Forms Version	Tested Liferay Version	Proxy Portlet	Full Portlet
2023.1	Liferay 7.4.3 CE GA106	yes	no
2021.1	Liferay 7.2.1 CE GA2	yes	no
2020.1	Liferay 7.2.1 CE GA2	yes	no
2019.2.2	Liferay 7.2.1 CE GA2	yes	no
	Liferay 7.1.3 CE GA4	yes	no
2019.2	Liferay 7.1.3 CE GA4	yes	no
2019.1	Liferay 7.1.3 CE GA4	yes	no
2018.2	Liferay 7.1.2 CE GA3	yes	no
	Liferay 7.0 CE GA5 / 7.0.4	yes	no
2018.1	Liferay 7.0 CE GA5 / 7.0.4	yes	no
2017.2	Liferay 7.0 CE GA5 / 7.0.4	yes	no
2017.1	Liferay 6.2 CE GA6 / 6.2.5	yes	yes
	Liferay 7.0 CE GA3 / 7.0.2	yes	no
2016.3	Liferay 6.2 CE GA6 / 6.2.5	yes	yes
2016.2	Liferay 6.1.2 CE GA3	yes	yes
	Liferay 6.2 CE GA6 / 6.2.5	yes	yes
4.9	Liferay 6.0	yes	yes
	Liferay 6.1.2 CE GA3	yes	yes

Servlet vs. Liferay portal deployment

In addition to deploying Orbeon Forms into a servlet container such as Tomcat, you can deploy it into the Liferay portal using the Orbeon Forms portlets.

Portals such as Liferay provide features such as:

• Content aggregation: A single web page aggregates the output or user interface of several data sources or applications.

• Personalization: Users or administrators of the portal can customize the user interface. This often means not only customizing the look and feel, but also selecting a certain set of available functionality within the application.

• Single sign-On: The user logs in only once to access several applications in the portal.

Known limitations

The following Form Runner limitations are known within Liferay:

• With Liferay 7/DXP, since Orbeon Forms 2017.1, the full portlet is not supported.

Form Runner proxy portlet or full portlet?

The full portlet is not specifically tied to Form Runner and does not provide Form-Runner-specific features. Using the full portlet usually requires setting a custom landing page and possibly other custom configurations.

The Form Runner proxy portlet is designed to work with Form Runner only and to support a deployment mode where Form Runner can be installed within a separate application container, possibly on a separate server.

You can configure the proxy portlet via UI, making it is easier to create a setup with multiple forms on different portal pages.

Here is a comparison of the two options:

Feature	Proxy Portlet	Full Portlet	Since Version
Runs Form Runner forms	yes	yes
Specifically designed for Form Runner	yes	no
Allows remote Form Runner	yes	no
Options configurable via UI	yes	no
Form selection via UI	yes	no
Form selection via URL parameters	yes	no	4.7
Can use portal user information	yes	no	4.4
Can use portal language preference	yes	no	4.4
Supports Liferay organizations	yes	no	2016.3
Runs custom XForms applications	no	yes
Requires custom landing page	no	yes