Building the Portal Site
Purpose
This lesson describes how to build an enterprise portal by using Oracle Application Server Portal (OracleAS Portal). In this lesson, you learn to perform the tasks necessary to build a portal that contains navigation and useful content.
Topics
This module discusses the following topics:
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Overview |
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Prerequisites |
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Creating a Page Group |
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Creating a Page Style |
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Creating a Category |
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Creating a Navigation Page |
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Overview
What Is OracleAS Portal?
OracleAS Portal combines a rich, declarative environment for creating a portal Web interface, publishing and managing information, accessing dynamic data, and customizing the portal experience with an extensible framework for J2EE-based application access.
The goal of OracleAS Portal is to provide business users with an environment in which they can access critical information quickly and easily, act on that information in the context of day-to-day business processes, and work together effectively to produce key deliverables.
Key features include:
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An extensible framework that integrates Web-based resources such as Web pages, applications, business intelligence reports, and syndicated content feeds, within standardized, reusable information components called portlets. These resources are personalized and managed within a portlet as a service of OracleAS Portal. Companies can create their own portlets for their existing Web resources and can select additional portlets from the growing catalog of third-party portlet providers. The OracleAS Portal framework provides additional services including Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On, content classification, enterprise search, directory integration, and access control.
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An easy-to-use, personalized interface that provides an organized, consistent view of the business information, Web content, and applications needed by each user. OracleAS Portal administrators use the browser-based control panel to selectively grant access to applications and information by making the portal content available only to specific users or user groups. A portal administrator can instantly deliver new content to thousands of users by simply adding a portlet to the users’ view of the portal.
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Self-service publishing feature that allows end users to post and share any kind of document or Web content with other users anywhere in the world. Knowledge workers use intuitive controls for document/file upload, version control, page formatting/display, and access control to publish and manage their content; no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML is required. Users with minimal development experience can build a variety of application components (Web forms, charts, reports, and so on) that display and interact with data managed in an Oracle database.
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A scalable deployment architecture that is easily configured for departmental, regional, and enterprisewide deployment. The deployment model supports a variety of configurations, including single box, multi-tier, and multi-tier with cache, on a broad set of hardware platforms and operating systems. The deployment architecture can be configured to support over 20 languages.
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A central workspace for information unification to gather and disseminate information effectively. Information unification in OracleAS Portal aggregates and componentizes information for display, thereby reducing navigational issues associated with the Web and making it easier to coherently publish information from disparate sources. OracleAS Portal provides OmniPortlet to unify access to all types of data and content and to present that information in an organized way for easy publishing. Because OmniPortlet relies on abstracted, reusable data sources to access information, it is easy for OracleAS Portal content contributors and content managers to publish information quickly and effectively.
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Process integration features that place information in the context of both the highly structured processes defined in a Business Process Modeling (BPM) tool and the more unstructured processes associated with decision support and/or content management. OracleAS Portal comes into play when a process requires human interaction, when it is critical that the notification for action come within the context of the information needed to act. The contextual mapping capabilities of OracleAS Portal allows multiple portlets and/or pages to be mapped together in a single context on a page, or a series of connected pages, to provide a simple, fast mechanism for making a decision.
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Centralized administration and management capabilities that take full advantage of the management features available within Oracle Application Server including identity management, configuration, system monitoring, alerts, usage analysis, security management, centralized logging and so on. As portals become an integral component of the business IT infrastructure, it is becoming increasingly critical for them to be easily managed and administered. From user and group management to high-end, global deployment architectures, it is critical that management of your portal be centralized and easy.
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Getting Started
Before beginning, you must be familiar with the concept of a portal. A portal is a collection of Web pages, applications, and other content linked to one another, whose organization facilitates managing, accessing, and interacting with information on the Web. The pages provide a single entry point that enables users to view information from a variety of sources. Each time a page is displayed in the Web browser, it is dynamically assembled and formatted with the latest content and layout chosen for that page.
Each page is divided into one or more regions. Many aspects of how page content is displayed are defined at the region level. For example, regions can contain multiple items or one or more portlets. Regions can also be set up to include one or more tabs. Page groups define a user environment that includes pages and their associated supporting objects. When you first create a page group, you specify the language and, optionally, the template with which all pages within that group need to be built. The layout determines the type of content that can be placed in a particular region, either a portlet or item.
Templates are special pages from which other pages can inherit properties that define, among other things, the size, location, and number of regions on a page. Navigation pages provide a way for authorized users to create things, such as navigation bars and banners, which can be reused on multiple pages. Navigation pages do not show up in your regular page hierarchy. You can select them as a banner during page creation, or add them to a page as a portlet at any time.
OracleAS Portal provides static components, such as images and text, and dynamic components, such as portlets that display or link to forms, reports, charts, news feeds, Web pages, or other components that may interact with one or more underlying data sources. In OracleAS Portal, content takes one of two forms: a portlet or an item. A portlet is a reusable building block for easily publishing information and applications to your community. An item is a lower-level building block used to provide navigation or display content, such as documents, URLs, text, and images.
The instructions that accompany this Oracle By Example enable a single user to build the entire example. In a typical OracleAS Portal development environment, however, several types of users may be involved in producing a single Web page:
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A Content Manager creates the initial page group that owns the page, and decides who is allowed to contribute to the page, and who can view the finished product. Content managers are responsible for organizing the content by using a taxonomy, creating custom item and page types, creating categories and perspectives, establishing workflow processes, managing the content contribution effort, and feeding requirements to page designers. Content managers also control the extent to which users have access to their content. |
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A Page Designer typically chooses the structure, layout, interface, and look and feel of pages and any tabs on them. Page designers create pages, build portlets by using the declarative tools of OracleAS Portal, and provide access to pages to appropriate users and user groups. |
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A Portlet Developer creates reusable, pluggable Web components that display portions of Web content and makes them available to other users through the Portal Repository. |
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A Content Contributor adds, manages, and publishes content to a portal page. Content contributors can also control the extent to which users have access to their content. |
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A
Portal Administrator has the highest level of privileges in OracleAS Portal and is responsible for managing users and groups, setting up security and search features, monitoring and tuning the OracleAS Portal environment, configuring caching and wireless features, and performing migration of OracleAS Portal objects by using export and import utilities.
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Each of these user types must have the appropriate privileges to perform the assigned tasks. By default, OracleAS Portal provides a set of groups that correspond to user types. The Page Group Administrators group, for example, has privileges to create and manage page group, pages, and page styles.
Remember that you fulfill all these user roles as you perform the steps to complete this lesson. As shown in the table below, you need different OracleAS Portal privileges depending on the type of work you are performing. Therefore, before you begin the steps, ensure that you have the privileges required to complete them.
If you are a member of one of the groups shown in the table, you automatically have all the privileges needed for the step.
The steps and privileges required for creating this lesson are listed in the table below.
Step |
Privileges Required |
| Building a Page Group |
Member of
Page Group Administrators group, or
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| Creating a Page Style |
Member of
Page Designers group,
or
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| Creating a Navigation Page |
Member of
Page Designers group, or
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Prerequisites
To complete the tasks in this lesson, you need to have performed the following:
| 1. |
Complete the Installing the Oracle Application Server 10g Infrastructure lesson. |
| 2. |
Complete the Installing the Oracle Application Server 10g Portal and Wireless lesson. |
| 3. |
Download portalOBE.zip and unzip into your working directory. |
Creating a Page Group
A page group is simply a structure that OracleAS Portal uses to group related objects such as pages, templates, styles, navigation pages, categories, perspectives, and so on. The page group typically contains a collection of pages for organizing content. Settings at the page group level control the templates, page and item types, content properties and classifications, and language translations that may be used by the pages contained within that page group.
For this lesson, you must create a page group in which you can build the Web pages in the Oracle By Example (OBE) site.
and
icons next to the
Grantee field.
Creating a Page Style
Before you add any pages to your group, you must create a style to set the look and feel of the pages. A page style controls the colors and fonts used by pages and tabs, as well as any portlets and items displayed within them. By applying the style to each page and tab in your group, you ensure a consistent look across the entire OBE site.
Remember that a style only controls a page’s fonts and colors, not its physical layout. To ensure a consistent layout, you must create and apply a page template. Templates enforce page properties such as the number of regions and columns on the page and the type of content that can be added to each page region. Because each page in this lesson has its own individual layout, you will not use a template, but will specify these properties on a page-by-page basis. To create a page style, perform the following steps:
| 1. | Click the
Navigator link in the top right of the page.
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| 2. |
In the Navigator page, ensure that you are at the root level of the Page Groups tab. Ensure that the Page Groups tab is the active tab. (You should see Path: Page Groups on the upper left corner of the tab). Find your page group, < YourName> Oracle By Example , and click the name of your page group. |
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| 3. | Click
Styles.
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| 4. | In the top left, click the
Create New.. Style link.
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| 5. | In the
Name
field, enter
<
YourName>_page_style
.
In the Display Name field, enter < YourName> Page Style . The Copy From list displays all styles you have privileges to access. To create a new style, you typically choose a style from this list that most closely matches the colors and fonts that you use in your new style. Choose < YourName> Oracle By Example style in the Copy From list. Select Make available for use in this page group check box to make this style available for other users to apply to their own pages, or to use as a starting point for their own styles. Click Create. |
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| 6. | In the
Style Element Type
list, choose
Common. The
Preview
section to the right refreshes to display the tab properties you can update.
In the Style Element Properties list, select the Region Banner item and enter #CFB29F in the Background Color field. Note: #CFB29F is the hexadecimal code for the color brown/tan. You can use the color palette to select colors if you do not know the hexadecimal codes for the colors you apply. Click Apply to save the changes. |
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| 7. | If your changes do not show in the
Preview section, you can use your browser’s
Refresh button to see the changes.
Continue setting properties by repeating the previous step. The table below lists the properties you must set for each style element. Be sure to click the Apply button every time before changing the Style Element Type and Style Element Property lists. Otherwise, your changes are not saved.
When you are satisfied with your choices, click Close. |
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| 8. | Create a second style that is similar, but with an orange background. In the top left, click the
Create New... Style link.
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| 9. | In the
Name
field, enter
<
YourName>_orange_style
.
In the Display Name field, enter < YourName> Orange Style . In the Copy From list, select < YourName> Page Style . Select the Make available for use in this page group check box. Click Create. |
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| 10. | In the
Style Element Type
list, choose
Common.
In the Style Element Properties list, ensure Background is selected and enter #E5876E in the Background Color field. Click Apply. |
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| 11. | In the
Style Element Type
list, choose
Items.
In the Style Element Properties list, select Display Name Link and enter #FFFFFF in the Color field and 7 pts in the Font Size field. Click Apply. If your changes were not refreshed, when Apply was clicked, click your browser’s Refresh button. |
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| 12. | Click
Close.
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Creating a Category
A category is a predefined attribute used to group or classify pages, items, and portlets within a page group. A category helps users answer the question, What is this item?. Later in the Publishing and Searching Content lesson, you search for content belonging to a specific category. Now, you create a category that later enables you to classify the content within your portal.
| 1. | Click the
<
YourName> Oracle By Example
link in the path on the top left of the page.
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| 2. | Click
Categories.
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| 3. | In the top left, click the
Create New... Category link.
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| 4. |
In the Name field, enter WebDAVCategory . In the Display Name field, enter WebDAV Category . Click Create. |
| 5. | You know the category creation was successful by the appearance of the link to edit the category at the top of the page.
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| 6. | In the top right, click the
Navigator link.
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| 7. | In the
Path, click the
Page Groups link.
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| 8. | Click the
Properties link to the right of
<
YourName> Oracle By Example
.
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| 9. | Click the
Configure tab.
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| 10. | In the
Content Type and Classification
section, click the
Edit link for the current selection.
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| 11. |
In the Categories section, add WebDAV Category to the Visible Categories section. Click OK. |
| 12. | Click
Close.
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Creating a Navigation Page
A navigation page is simply a special type of portal page that you add to other pages to provide a consistent set of navigational elements. A typical navigation page may contain a logo, a login link, and a link to the home page. Every page that uses this navigation page will display the same logo and links.
Two special types of navigation items are Portal Smart Links and Portal Smart Text. Portal Smart Links enable users to access specific pages of the portal quickly, such as the Home page, Help pages, and pages displaying account information, the advanced search feature, and contact information. Portal Smart Text enables you to add smart text, such as the current date, current user, or current page to the page. The smart text is automatically updated each time when the page is displayed.
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Creating a Navigation Page | |
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Creating the Navigation Page Layout | |
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Adding Content to the Navigation Page | |
Creating a Navigation Page
In this lesson, you create a navigation page that contains your company logo. In addition, the navigation page enables you to log in, edit, and customize the pages in your portal. Because it is desirable to have this logo and functionality on every page, you create it as a navigation page so that it can be reused.
To create a navigation page, perform the following:
| 1. | Click the
<
YourName> Oracle By Example
link to see the list of things that you can create as a member of your page group.
|
| 2. | Click the
Navigation Pages link.
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| 3. | In the top left corner, click
Create New... Navigation Page.
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| 4. | In the
Name
field, enter
<
YourName>_OBE_Banner
.
In the Display Name field, enter < YourName> OBE Banner . Make sure that the Publish As Portlet check box is selected to convert your finished page to a portlet and add it to the Portlet repository. Click Create. |
| 5. | After OracleAS Portal creates the navigation page, a confirmation message is displayed at the top of the page.
Click the < YourName> OBE Banner link to edit your navigation page. |
| 6. | The Edit Navigation Page Properties tabbed dialog box appears. It contains the options to control the layout, style, content, and access to the navigation page you just created.
Click the Style tab. |
| 7. |
In the Choose Style list, choose < YourName> Page Style . Click the Access tab. |
| 8. | In the Grantee
field, enter
AUTHENTICATED_USERS
, select
View from the list box, and click
Add.
All users who can log in to Portal can view your navigation page. |
| 9. | Click the
Optional tab.
|
| 10. | Ensure that the
Publish As Portlet check box is selected. This allows you to reuse and publish this navigation page on other portal pages.
Deselect the Use Style Of Page On Which Portlet Is Placed check box. This ensures that the banner uses the styles that you defined for the page banner. Click OK. |
Creating the Navigation Page Layout
In OracleAS Portal, pages are divided into discrete areas called regions. Regions define the layout of a page and contain your portal content. You can visualize regions as rectangles that divide the surface area of a page. In these rectangles, you place the images, links, text, files, portlets, and other content on your portal page. This concept is very similar to using tables in HTML to achieve a desired layout. Regions allow you to specify that content shown within them must be of a certain type, be spaced a certain way, show in columns, show with a particular style, and so on.
To create the navigation page layout, perform the following:
| 1. |
Click the Edit link to the right of < YourName> OBE Banner . Your page is displayed in Edit mode. Currently, the page is empty and contains a default region. Click the
Edit
|
| 2. |
Select Items as the region type. Click Apply. |
| 3. |
Valid options for items appear. Scroll down to the Item Display Options section and set both the Space Between Items and Space Around Items to zero (0) pixels. Click OK. |
| 4. |
Click the
Add Region Above
|
| 5. |
On the top region, click the
Add Region Right
|
| 6. | On the top left region, click the
Edit
 icon.
|
| 7. | Select
Items as the region type. Click
Apply.
|
| 8. | In the
Region Display Options section, set the Width to
75%.
Scroll down to the Item Display Options section and ensure that both the Space Between Items and Space Around Items are set to zero (0) pixels. Click the Attribute/Style tab. |
| 9. |
In the Attributes section, ensure that only Item Content is shown in the Displayed Attributes section. Click Apply. Note: When content is published to a page, it may have many attributes describing the content stored in that page. |
| 10. |
Select the Current Style to be < YourName> Orange Style from the Choose Style list. Click Close. |
| 11. | On the top right region, click the
Edit
icon.
|
| 12. |
Select Items as the region type. Click Apply. |
| 13. | In the
Region Display Options section, set the Width to
25% and the
Number of Columns field to
4.
Scroll down to the Item Display Options section. Set both the Space Between Items and Space Around Items to zero (0). Click the Attribute/Style tab. |
| 14. |
In the Attributes section, ensure that only Item Content is shown in the Displayed Attributes section. Click Apply. |
| 15. |
Select the Current Style to be < YourName> Orange Style from the Choose Style list. Click Close. |
icon.
icon.
You have created the layout for a reusable Navigation page. Now, you add a few items to your navigation page.
Adding Content to the Navigation Page
After creating the layout of the banner, you must add content to be displayed on the banner.
In the top right region, you add Portal Smart Text and Portal Smart Link items. Perform the following:
| 1. |
In the top right region, click the
Add Item
|
| 2. |
The Add Item wizard opens. Click the Built-In Navigation Item Types option button and ensure that Portal Smart Link is selected. Click Next. |
| 3. | Select
Help from the
Portal Smart Link list. Click
Finish.
|
| 4. | Now, add the
Edit smart link. In the top right region, click the
Add Item
 icon.
|
| 5. |
The Add Item wizard opens. Click the Built-In Navigation Item Types option button and ensure that Portal Smart Link is selected. Click Next. |
| 6. | Select
Edit from the
Portal Smart Link list. Click
Finish.
|
| 7. |
Now, add the Login/Logout link. In the top right region, click the
Add Item
|
| 8. |
The Add Item wizard opens. Click the Built-In Navigation Item Types option button and ensure that Login/Logout Link is selected. Click Next. |
| 9. | Click
Finish.
|
| 10. | Now, add the
Customize smart link. In the top right region, click the
Add Item
icon.
|
| 11. |
The Add Item wizard opens. Click the Built-In Navigation Item Types option button and ensure that Portal Smart Link is selected. Click Next. |
| 12. |
Select Customize from the Portal Smart Link list. Click Finish. |
| 13. | Now, add an image of your company logo. In the bottom region, click the
Add Item
icon.
|
| 14. | The Add Item wizard opens. Select
Simple Image from the
Content Item Types list. Click
Next.
|
| 15. |
In the Image field, browse for the < portal_unzip >\portalOBE\images\obe_banner.gif . Click Finish. |
| 16. | You can preview the page by clicking the
View Page link at the top right of the page.
|
| 17. |
To get back to Edit mode, click the Edit link in the banner or click your browser’s Back button. |
In this lesson, you learned to perform the tasks necessary for building a basic portal. You created a page group to organize pages, navigation pages, and page styles. Next, you created a style to ensure consistent fonts and colors for the portal pages. You created a navigation page that you can reuse on any page in the page group. Then, you added useful navigation items that will enable your users to display the various pages of your portal. You also created categories to make it easier for your users to find the information stored in the portal.
For more information about OracleAS Portal, please visit Oracle Portal Center Home.
If you have questions or comments, please post them in the Oracle by Example discussion forum on the Oracle Technology Network.
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