A system and method for providing a request to a portlet wherein the portlet can render itself in a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising mapping the request to a control tree wherein the control tree is a logical representation of the GUI and wherein the control tree includes a set of controls which are related hierarchically to one another, advancing the control tree through at least one life cycle stage based on the request, wherein the control tree includes a portlet control that represents the portlet, and providing the request to a portlet container, wherein the providing can be performed by the portlet control.