How to create a Liferay 7 structure programmatically?

Question

In Liferay 7, how to create a structure from a Java module?
Here is my attempt:

Map<Locale, String> nameMap = new HashMap<Locale, String>();
nameMap.put(Locale.JAPAN, "The name");
Map<Locale, String> descriptionMap = new HashMap<Locale, String>();
descriptionMap.put(Locale.JAPAN, "The description");

DDMForm ddmForm = DDMUtil.getDDMForm("<here goes my real JSON form>");
DDMFormLayout ddmFormLayout = DDMUtil.getDefaultDDMFormLayout(ddmForm);

DDMStructureLocalServiceUtil.addStructure(
    20156, // userId
    33421, // groupId
    DDMStructureConstants.DEFAULT_PARENT_STRUCTURE_ID, // parentStructureId
    PortalUtil.getPortal().getClassNameId(DDLRecordSet.class), // classNameId
    new Long(CounterLocalServiceUtil.increment()).toString(), // structureKey
    nameMap,
    descriptionMap,
    ddmForm,
    ddmFormLayout,
    StorageType.JSON.toString(),
    0, // type
    new ServiceContext()
);

The structure gets created in the database's DDMStructure table:

Unfortunately, it does not appear in that site's Liferay UI:

How to make it show up?

• No error appear in Liferay's log during creation nor when loading the UI.
• When I create a structure manually, it shows up correctly.
• The solution to this question for Liferay 6, which I tried too, leads to the same problem.
• I noticed that when creating a structure manually, 3 rows get added to the ResourcePermission table... when creating a structure in Java should I also create these 3 objects?

Answer 1

It is a classNameId problem. Replacing DDLRecordSet with JournalArticle solves the problem, making the structure show up correctly in Liferay's Structures UI.

Code that works:

ServiceContext serviceContext = new ServiceContext();
serviceContext.setScopeGroupId(group.getGroupId());
serviceContext.setAddGroupPermissions(true);
serviceContext.setAddGuestPermissions(true);
serviceContext.setWorkflowAction(WorkflowConstants.ACTION_PUBLISH);

Map<Locale, String> nameMap = new HashMap<Locale, String>();
nameMap.put(Locale.JAPAN, "The name");
Map<Locale, String> descriptionMap = new HashMap<Locale, String>();
descriptionMap.put(Locale.JAPAN, "The description");

DDMForm ddmForm = null;
try {
    ddmForm = DDMUtil.getDDMForm(json);
} catch (PortalException e) {
    log.error("Exception when parsing structure JSON", e);
}

DDMFormLayout ddmFormLayout = DDMUtil.getDefaultDDMFormLayout(ddmForm);
long scopeClassNameId = PortalUtil.getPortal().getClassNameId(JournalArticle.class);
long parentStructureId = DDMStructureConstants.DEFAULT_PARENT_STRUCTURE_ID;
String storageType = StorageType.JSON.toString();
String structureKey = "my structure";

try {
    DDMStructure ddmStructure = DDMStructureLocalServiceUtil.addStructure(
        user.getUserId(), group.getGroupId(), parentStructureId,
        scopeClassNameId, structureKey,
        nameMap, descriptionMap, ddmForm, ddmFormLayout, storageType,
        DDMStructureConstants.TYPE_DEFAULT, serviceContext);
} catch (StructureDuplicateStructureKeyException e) {
    log.info("Skipping creation of structure that already exists");
} catch (PortalException e) {
    log.error("Exception when creating structure: " + structureDefinitionFilePath, e);
}

Answer 2

You forgot to initialize ServiceContext before call DDMStructureLocalServiceUtil. In the ServiceContext instance you should add default permission:

    ServiceContext context = new ServiceContext();
    context.setAddGroupPermissions(true);
    context.setAddGuestPermissions(true); 

By doing this before, you make sure that you can view the structure later.

Answer 3

There is a problem with your ServiceContext argument to the DDMStructureLocalServiceUtil.addStructure method. There are 2 ways you can set the context depending on from where you are trying to add the structure:

If you are invoking from the servlet that has access to the portlet request, use the following method:

   ServiceContextFactory.getInstance(className, portletRequest);

This would take care of all the necessary scope and permission.

If you are implementing it from anywhere else, the best way would be instantiate the ServiceContext and set at least the scopeGroupId:

ServiceContext serviceContext = new ServiceContext();
serviceContext.setScopeGroupId(myGroupId);
serviceContext.setAddGroupPermissions(true);