OracleAS Portal contains a hierarchy of components that work
together to display your portal content. Within this hierarchy, first is the
portal itself, which--very broadly speaking--is a collection of page groups. The
page groups each consist of collections of pages. Each page contains one or more
regions.
You can visualize regions as simple, discrete, geometrical squares or
rectangles, which divide up the surface area of a page. In these squares or
rectangles, you place the images, links, text, files, portlets, and other
content you wish to appear on your portal page. Regions serve both to provide
the layout structure of a page and to contain your portal content. You can add
one or more tabs to a region, producing a virtual stack of regions. You can
subdivide regions on both pages and tabs into multiple regions.
As simple as the concept of regions is, it is nonetheless possible to
exercise a number of powerful controls over how a region behaves. This technical
note explores the controls you can bring to bear on regions and provides
information on how best to use those controls to get your desired result.
No matter whether you decide to create a portal on multiple pages or on one
page using multiple tabs, you must always use regions. The following image shows
five regions on a page in Edit Page > Layout view. The top region is a
portlet region containing a navigation page. The others are item regions. You
can distinguish between portlet and item regions by the leftmost icons appearing
in each region's banner in this view (portlet region icon , item region icon ; portlet and item
regions are discussed in more detail later in this technical
note).
Pages are essentially blank slates on which you create regions, into which
you add content--either items or portlets. Unlike pages (and tabs), you cannot
secure regions from a user or a group of users. But you can secure items within
a region. To restrict access to regions, create them on a secure page or a
secure tab. If some content is restricted and some is common to all users, one
solution to consider is placing the region containing the common content
outside, for example, a secured tab structure so it is immediately accessible to
all users. This is demonstrated in the following image.
Every time you create a new page or a new tab, it comes with at least one
default region. A new page that is based on a template can come pre-populated
with multiple regions of either or both types. The template determines which
regions can be updated, edited, added to, and so on. You can create new regions
on pages that are not based on a template, or on pages that have been detached
(through the Portal Navigator) from the template they were based on.
To create additional regions, click the Layout link in Edit Page mode,
go to a region on the page, and click one of the Add Region icons, either Add
Region Above (), Add Region Below (), Add Region Left (), or Add Region Right
(). These
icons appear in the Layout view of Edit Page mode and not in
Graphical or List view. Once you click the icon, the current
region splits in two in the selected direction (i.e., up, down, left, or right).
The new region takes on the characteristics of the region from which it was
split. That is, if the original region was a two-column item region with a
banner, the new region will be, too.
Note: If you plan to adjust default values of region properties or
attributes/styles, consider setting region properties, styles, and attributes
before you create additional regions. This is useful if most of your regions
will share the same properties. It is not advisable if each region will have
significantly different properties. Every region you create from another
region (by clicking one of the Add Region icons) will have all the same values
as the original. Setting values before you create additional regions could
save you time and effort.
If you are creating multiple regions on a page, the order in which you click
the Add Region icons will affect the way regions are laid out. For example, in
the following two images, we added two regions to the right and one below. In
the first example, we clicked Add Region Below first, then, in the top region,
Add Region Right (we clicked this twice).
In the second example, we also created four regions, but this time we clicked
Add Region Right (twice) first, then clicked Add Region Below in the rightmost
region.
When you're laying out a page, in many cases it will help to pre-plan region
placement so that regions appear in the order and position you wish. Because
it's a simple matter to remove regions, feel free to experiment to get your
optimal layout.
If, after you've added content, you wish to set up regions differently, it's
easy to enter layout editing mode, temporarily move content you intend to keep
to one region, then delete and add new regions as desired. Once you're done,
it's a simple matter to move your content into the appropriate region.
Regions come in two types: item and portlet. Item regions can contain
different types of files, such as image, HTML, word processing, Zip, and so on;
links; PL/SQL item types; and other types of objects, including custom item
types. Portlets are reusable information components that summarize or provide
access to databases, enterprise applications, internal and external Web sites,
and other information sources. A portal page can also be published as a portlet
and placed in a portlet region.
You'll find the region type control on a region's property page. To get to
this:
Click the Edit link at the top of the page that contains the region
you want to affect.
Click the Layout link at the top of the page to switch to Layout
view.
Click the relevant region's Edit icon ().
Select the Region Properties tab.
The control is at the top of the Region Properties tab.
Click the radio button next to Item or Portlet.
Click Apply.
Click Apply to update the other properties on the Region
Properties tab. (Different properties are exposed on the Region
Properties tab depending on whether the region type is item or
portlet.)
If a region already contains content, the region type is not editable. You
can recover control over region type by removing all content from the region. At
the page level, region type is not editable if the page (or tab) that hosts the
region is based on a template; however, if you have template editing privileges,
you can change the region type in the template, provided none of the pages
(yours or anyone else's) based on that template include content in that region.
This change will be reflected on your page (and all other pages that use this
template).
Note: If you should detach the page from the template (through the
Portal Navigator), and the region is empty, you can change the region
type.
The Region Properties tab hosts a number of display options you can
set for a region and for region content. The Region Properties tab is
available when you click the region's Edit icon () in the Edit Page > Layout or
Graphical view. On this tab, you'll find the following options, depending
on whether the region is an item or portlet type region:
In addition to setting region type, the Region Properties tab contains
other useful controls for designing the behavior of a region. These include:
Display Name--Enter the name you want to display in the region
banner. Beneath this control is a Display Region Banner check box.
Check this if you want the region to display a banner (and consequently the
display name).
Width--Enter the width of the region in pixels or as a percentage
of the total width of the page (or tab). To express this value as a
percentage, enter a number and include the percent symbol (%). To express the
value in pixels, simply enter a number. Regardless of how narrow you set
region width, the region will always automatically expand to accommodate the
width of its content.
Note: A value for the width of a region is required. If the
Width field is empty and you click OK, Portal will supply a
value for you. If the width field is empty and you click Apply, Portal
returns the following error message (above the Region Properties tab):
Specify a numeric value for the region
width (WWC-44091). If you'd like portal to assign a width
automatically, you can ignore this message, finish entering other values, and
click OK. Portal will automatically supply a value for you.
Height--Enter the height of a region in pixels. Currently, there is
no limit on the height of a region. Experiment with this value to get best
results.
Number of Columns--If you like, divide a region into columns.
Columns can be an economical way of displaying items that have short display
names or placing related portlets side-by-side.
Item display options are available at the bottom of the Region
Properties tab when you specify an item-type region. Use item display
options to control the layout of items in a region:
Set space (measured in pixels) between and around items. Space Between
Items sets the amount of space between two given items (side-to-side in
multi-column regions and from one item to the next in single-column regions).
Space Around Items sets the space between the outermost items and the
region boundary. Space Around Items also influences the thickness of
the region banner.
To test how these values will affect the region's appearance, try a couple
of quick experiments:
Create a one-column item region with a banner, and add two dummy text
items to it.
Create a two-column item region with a banner and a tab, and add four
dummy text items to it.
In both cases, adjust space values in the region's item display options,
and check the page to see the results of different values. Once you get a
look you like, use these as standard values for a uniform appearance to all
regions.
Group items according to their classification (category), author, creation
(upload) date, or item type. If you like, you can specify that each group
should have its own banner. A Group By banner displays the name of the group;
that is, it displays either the selected category, the author's name, the
upload date, or the item type. The group name is linked to a simple search.
Clicking the group name in the Group By banner runs a search for all other
content in the portal that belongs to the same group (i.e., shares the same
category, author, creation date, or item type).
Note: In a given item region, use Group By banners or use columns,
but do not use both.
Sort your items by their title (display name) or size. Or choose not to
sort (default). Choose an ascending (a to z, 1 to 9, or smallest to largest)
or descending (z to a, 9 to 1, or largest to smallest) sort order.
Note: It's fairly easy to become confused when trying to understand
the difference between Group By, Sort By, and Sort
Order.
Group By is a way of clustering items with specified
similarities. Grouped items have either the same category, author, upload
date, or item type.
Sort By is a way to arrange grouped items into a particular
order, either by title (the item's Display Name) or by the size of the item.
Use Sort By to enforce a particular display order. If a region is sorted by
title or size using Sort By, even users with customization privileges
on the region will not be able to rearrange items within that region. In
other words, using the arrange function to rearrange the item order will
have no effect on regions that use Sort By.
Sort Order specifies the direction of the arrangement, either
ascending or descending (e.g., for titles A to Z or Z to A and 1 to 9 or 9
to 1, or for size smallest to largest or largest to smallest).
When a user chooses to sort items but not to group them, all items in the
region are sorted according to the user's specification for the Sort
By and Sort Order properties. When a user chooses to group items,
but not to sort them, all like items (with the same category, or author,
etc.) are clustered together into groups and sorted first by the order of
creation, then by how the user has specifically chosen to order them using
the Arrange icon. This applies as well to regions that are neither grouped
nor sorted.
Standardize the appearance of any icons associated with an item. For
example, your page design may require that certain items each have a relevant
associated icon, such as a currency symbol next to items related to company
financial information, or a smiling face next to human resources information.
In item display options, you can specify, in pixels, how high and wide these
icons should appear and what their alignment should be, either left, center,
or right. These controls allow you to standardize the appearance of all item
icons that display in a particular region.
If you specify icon size, and a user uploads an item icon image that is not
this size, the uploaded image will be stretched or squashed to ensure that it
displays in the specified size.
Portlet display options are available at the bottom of the Region
Properties tab when you specify a portlet-type region. Portlet display
options enable you to specify the layout of portlets within a given region:
Note: The look and feel of a portlet is largely determined by the
developer who created it. Use Portal's portlet display options to determine
the spacing between and around portlets and how the portlet will be framed
within its region (i.e., Will it have visible borders? Will it have a header?
What links should display in the header--provided the developer allowed for
them?).
Set space (measured in pixels) between and around portlets. Space
Between Portlets sets the amount of space between two given portlets
(side-to-side in multi-column regions, and from one portlet to the next in
single-column regions). Space Around Portlets sets the space between
the outermost portlets and the region boundary, as well as the space between
the top of the region and any associated tabs.
The following images show different values for space around portlets that
are placed within a tabbed region:
The first example shows a space around portlets of 2 pixels. Region
banner is turned on, as are portlet headers and borders.
The second example shows a space around portlets of 20 pixels. Notice
how the region banner follows the portlet, rather than stays near the tabs,
and that the space is placed between the tab and the banner. This behavior
is specific to tabbed portlet regions. With regions that are not tabbed, the
space appears between the top of the portlet and the bottom of the region
banner.
The third example shows a space around portlets of 20 with portlet
headers turned on and the region banner turned off.
In a tabbed portlet region, the region banner stays close to the top of
the topmost portlet. When you increase space around a portlet on your region
properties page, the space falls above the region banner, between the top of
the banner and the bottom of the tab. When you choose to display portlet
banners, monitor the effect of adding space around portlets to be sure your
value creates the effect you desire. Additionally, when you choose to
display portlet headers, consider turning region banners
off.
To test how these values will affect the region's appearance, try
experimenting:
Create a one-column region with a banner, and add two portlets to it
(these could all be, e.g., basic search portlets).
Create a two-column region with a banner, and add four portlets to it.
Create a tabbed portlet region with a banner, and add two portlets to
it.
Adjust space values in the region's portlet display options, and check
the page to see the results of different values. Once you get a look you
like, use these as standard values for a uniform appearance to all regions.
Select Show Portlet Headers and Borders to draw a line around the
sides and bottom of the portlet and put a banner at the top (the header),
which displays the portlet's name.
The following image shows the same portlet in two views: one with portlet
headers and borders on, the other with them off.
Base your choice of display mode on whether you want to hide (no header) or
expose (header), i.e., the Customize link; whether you want the portlet to
blend with (no header) or be distinct from (header) the other content on the
page. Your decision should take into consideration the functionality you're
trying to provide, the amount of real estate needed, and the overall look and
feel of the page. Whatever you set for the region affects all portlets placed
within that region.
The other options enable you to add various functional links to the
headers of all portlets in the region. To display these links, be sure the
Show Portlet Headers check box is checked (on the Region Properties tab
under Portlet Display Options). Available links include:
Show Customize Link on Portlet Headers. Checking this places a
customize link on the portlet header. The Customize link enables users to
change some display options, for example, the portlet's display name, and
alter other options, unique to each portlet.
Show Help Link on Portlet Headers. If you plan to link your own,
custom help topics to a particular portlet, check this check box. This will
create a help link in the portlet header, which you can tie to your own help
files. How to do this is beyond the scope of this technical note. For more
information, go to the PDK
section of Portal Studio on Portal Center.
Show About Link on Portlet Headers. This link enables you to
provide a description of a particular portlet to your users. Setting this up
is beyond the scope of this technical note. For more information, go to the
PDK
section of Portal Studio on Portal Center.
Show Details Link on Portlet Headers. This
link provides users with access to a more detailed view of the portlet when
they click the portlet title. Turning this link off prevents users from
being able to click on the portlet title to navigate to a page published as
a portlet.
These links display if the person who created the portlet included them.
For automatically created portlets, such as portlets based on pages, these
links display if they were implemented by the portlet. In other words, if the
the capacity for customizations to a portlet is not inherent in the portlet,
that portlet will not display a Customize link in its header, even if you
check the check box next to Show Customize Link on Portlet
Headers.
Use tab display options to control the behavior of all tabs in a given tab
group. Access tab display options by entering Edit Page > Layout mode,
and clicking the Edit icon () that appears to the right of all tabs in the group.
Edit tab display options to suit your requirements for a particular set of
tabs. On the Main tab, tab display options include:
Width--Specify the width of the tab in pixels or as a percentage of
the width of the page (in this case, use the % sign with your value).
Tab Alignment--Specify whether tabs will align to the left or right
side of the tab region.
User Rollover Effect For Tab Images--Select to add a rollover
effect to the tabs in the region–-that is, change the appearance of a tab when
users move their cursors over the tab.
Note: For the rollover effect to work, you must also provide images
for the tabs in the region. If you do not provide tab images, this check box
has no effect.
On the Style tab, you can choose a style for your tab set that is the
same as the one used on the host page (the default), or one that is different
from the host page style. Changes affect the appearance of the tabs themselves
and not the appearance of content on the tabs. To change the default style,
select a style from the Choose Style list.
Changing a region's look-and-feel
When you create or edit a page, you can apply a pre-built style that will
define color and images for the page background; colors for different types of
text, banners, and borders; and font face and size selections for various text
elements. Pre-built styles are stored in the Shared Objects folder on the
Page Groups tab in the Portal Navigator.
If you want an item region to use a style other than the one its host page is
using, you can choose a different style for the region on the item region's
Attributes/Styles tab on the Edit Region page (Edit Page > Layout
or Graphical view > Edit Region []). Additionally you can edit a style
via the Attributes/Styles tab. Both of these features are available for
item type regions only.
You cannot change or edit a style applied to a portlet type region from the
Attributes/Styles tab. To do this, you must edit the host page's
properties through the Portal Navigator. (In the Navigator, click the
Properties link next to the page you want to affect. On the Properties
page, click the Style tab. Select a new style). A change to the style at
the page level affects all portlet regions on the page, and any item regions
that use that page style.
Should you decide to alter a style for a particular item region, keep in mind
that any alterations you make to a style through Edit Region are an actual
change to the style, rather than a single instance of customization. This means
that all pages that use that style will be altered according to whatever changes
you make. If you want to keep the style as is, you can copy it and make
alterations to the copy.
You can make good use of the Attributes/Styles tab if you want to set
or revise which item or portlet attributes should display for the items or
portlets in a given region. This is discussed in more detail in the next
section.
Every bit of content you add to your portal can carry with it a set of
informational attributes that identify useful facts about the content. These
attributes can be reused by other functions to sort, locate, or manipulate the
content in useful ways. Portal comes with a seeded set of portlet and item
attributes, which you can hide or show along with the the item or portlet within
a given region. In addition to the seeded attributes, you can create custom
attributes to capture information not otherwise accounted for in Portal.
Seeded attributes include things like an object's display name, author,
upload date, classification (category and perspective), associated icon, and the
like. Custom attributes could be anything, for example, sponsoring department,
genre, or RSVP requested.
At the region level, you can specify which of the item or portlet's
attributes will display along with the item or portlet. To do this:
In Edit Page > Layout or Graphical view, click the Edit
icon () above the
relevant region.
Click the Attributes/Styles tab to bring it forward.
On the Attributes/Styles tab, select the attributes you want to
display from the Available Attributes list.
Use the positioning entries <Blank Line> and <Space> to create
a layout for the item or portlet attributes. Use <Blank Line> to add one
or more line breaks between entries. Use <Space> to add one or more
spaces between entries on the same line.
Click the right arrow () to move your selection(s) to the Displayed
Attributes list.
Click Apply.
You must click Apply to save your changes.
Select an attribute (or <Blank Line> or <Space>) and click the
vertical arrows to the right of the Displayed Attributes list to reposition
the selection within the list.
This will determine the display order of the attributes.
Here are a few examples of attribute display:
We selected these attributes for a portlet region:
Our Basic Search portlet displayed like this:
Portlet Content is the portlet itself. Create Date is the date the user
uploaded the portlet to the page. Attributes will or won't display based on
whether the information is available to be displayed. For example, if you
indicate that the Description attribute should be displayed, but do not include
a description with the portlet, no description will display with the portlet.
Some attributes are set by the person placing the portlet. These are specified
by editing the portlet instance in Edit Page > Layout mode. Some
attributes are derived and can't be changed. These include Create Date, Date
Updated, Provider Id, Provider Name, Portlet Id, and Portlet Name.
We selected these attributes for an item region:
All selected attributes displayed, because the user who uploaded the item
entered the information in the attribute fields during the upload.
Users can customize their view of page portlets (portlets that are based on
pages) to show or hide regions on those pages. If you don't want users to have
this level of control, you can disable it by turning off the Customize link in
the region properties for each region on the page before you publish it as a
portlet.
When you publish pages as portlets, you may run into some display problems
with certain configurations of tab regions. For example, if you create a couple
of tabs, then place two sub-tabs on one of them, then publish the page as a
portlet, you may find you cannot switch from one sub-tab to the other. This is
mitigated by hiding one or more regions on one or more tabs. You can side-step
such problems by avoiding the creation of sub-tabs on main-level tabs on pages
you intend to publish as portlets.
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Bookmark
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), Add Region Below (
), Add Region Left (
), or Add Region Right
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). These
icons appear in the Layout view of Edit Page mode and not in
Graphical or List view. Once you click the icon, the current
region splits in two in the selected direction (i.e., up, down, left, or right).
The new region takes on the characteristics of the region from which it was
split. That is, if the original region was a two-column item region with a
banner, the new region will be, too.
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Attributes list.
