4
Adding Items to a Content Area

Estimated completion time: 30 minutes

This chapter shows you how to add items to a content area. Items are the basic unit in an Oracle Portal content area. Oracle Portal can display any browser-renderable content. Supported item types include file, folder link, image/imagemap, PL/SQL, text, URL, Java application, Zip file (for adding a set of files), and Oracle Portal application components (reports, forms, charts, menus, frame drivers, etc.).

For basic information about content areas, see Section 1.1.2, "What are content areas?".

To familiarize you with Oracle Portal's item creation capabilities, this chapter leads you though the steps of adding several items to the content area of a fictitious company named Healthy Living Wholesalers. You should complete the exercises in this chapter if you contribute content to one or more folders in a content area.

This chapter includes the following sections:

• Section 4.1, "Before You Begin"

• Section 4.2, "Adding Items to a Folder"

• Section 4.3, "Editing an Item"

• Section 4.4, "Lesson Summary"

4.1 Before You Begin

To complete the exercises in this chapter you must have Manage Items privileges on the For Our Employees folder in the Healthy Living Tutorial content area. Instructions for granting Manage Items privileges on this folder are provided in Section A.5, "Granting a User Manage Items Privileges on the For Our Employees Folder of the Tutorial Content Area".

You must start and log on to Oracle Portal. For instructions on how to do this, see "Starting and Logging on to Oracle Portal".

4.2 Adding Items to a Folder

A content area is made up of folders which divide the content area into areas of interest. You can organize your files (Word documents, Excel files, etc.), URLs for external Web sites, Oracle Portal application components, etc., into these folders. Such files, URLs, components, etc. are called items.

The following table shows you all the content and functionality you would typically want to provide through a content area, and how to provide that content and functionality using Oracle Portal:

To:	Add an item of the following type:
Upload a file (for example, a document or spreadsheet).	File
Link to another folder.	Folder Link
Display an image that can also contain links to different URLs.	Image
Upload a Java Server Page (JSP) application as a JAR file.	Java Application
Execute a PL/SQL procedure.	PL/SQL
Display plain text.	Text
Link to another Web page or site.	URL
Display a Oracle Portal component (for example, a form or report).	Oracle Portal Component
Upload a ZIP file. You can then unzip the item to upload all of items in the ZIP file. This offers an easy way to add multiple files to a content area.	Zip File

4.2.1 Adding a link to another Web page or site

Often, you will want to include links to other Web sites or pages in your content area to point users to other sources of information.

Suppose Healthy Living employees need to regularly access an online news source, such as CNN.com. As the folder owner, you can add this URL as an item to the For Our Employees folder.

1. In the shortcut bar, click .

2. If you are not already on the Content Areas tab of the Navigator, click the Content Areas tab.

3. If you are not already at the root level, click Content Areas in the Path.

4. Click Healthy Living Tutorial.

5. In the navigation bar on the left, click For Our Employees.

6. In the main banner, click Edit Folder to switch to Edit mode.

   
   

   Note: The Edit Folder link displays for this folder because you have editing privileges on it. You did not have editing privileges on the previous folder, which is why the Edit Folder link did not display there.

7. In the Folder Dashboard, click Add Item.

   
   

8. In the Item Type list, choose URL.

   
   

9. Click Next.

10. In the Folder Region section, select the Quickpicks radio button.

    Selecting the Quickpicks region determines that the URL will display at the top of the folder. These regions and their layout are specified in the folder's style. Whenever you add a an item, you choose the region where that item will display within the folder.

    The For Our Employees folder is divided into the following regions: Quickpicks, Announcements, Sub-folders, News, Regular Items.

11. In the URL field, enter http://www.cnn.com/.

12. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName> News from CNN, where YourName is your own user name.

    Note: Throughout this tutorial you add your user name to the beginning of names and display names to make sure that the object you are creating is unique, and is easy to find later.

13. In the Category list, make sure General is chosen.

    Assigning your item to a category lets users know what the item is and helps them quickly and easily decide whether a particular item is what they are looking for. For example, the Healthy Living content area includes the categories About Us, How To, and The Product Line.

    Note: For more information about categories, visit the online help system. In the Search field, enter category, and click Go.

    
    
14. Click Finish.

    
    

15. Click <YourName> News from CNN to view the item.

16. Click your browser's Back button.

4.2.2 Adding text

Sometimes, you might want to quickly add a bit of information to your content area. The best way to do this is to add a text item.

Suppose you want to announce that this week Healthy Living employees can sign up for the annual corporate picnic in the office lobby.

1. In the Folder Dashboard, click Add Item.

2. In the Item Type list, choose Text.

   
   

3. Click Next.

4. In the Folder Region section, select the News radio button.

5. In the Text field, enter the following text:

   This week, sign up for the annual corporate picnic in the lobby. This year's 
   picnic promises to offer a great day out, with many fun activities planned 
   and as much barbequed food as you can eat! You won't want to miss it!
   
   

6. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName> Sign up for the Corporate Picnic!.

7. In the Category list, make sure General is chosen.

   
   

8. Select the Expires In radio button, and enter 7 in the field.

   The information in this item is applicable only until the end of the sign-up period. Assigning an expiration period means that you don't have to remember to remove this item from the folder; it will be automatically removed.

   Note: Even though the item no longer displays, it is not deleted from the database until the content area administrator purges expired items.

   
   
9. Click Next.

10. This is an important piece of information, and you want users to see it immediately when they display the folder, rather than requiring them to click a link to display the item.

    In the Display Options section, select the Item Displayed Directly In Folder Area radio button.

    
    
11. Click Finish.

    The new item displays in a different region of the folder than the previous item because you selected the News region, rather than the Quickpicks region.

    
    

4.2.3 Adding access to data

You can also use Oracle Portal to create applications that enable users to access corporate data. Once you've created such applications, you can add the components within them to your content area to make them available to your users.

Note: Only application developers can create components. If you are not an application developer, you can add components that others have created for you. For information about how to create components, see Chapter 5, "Building Application Components".

Your IT department has created a report that lists Healthy Living employees by department, and you'd like to make it available to Healthy Living employees.

1. In the Folder Dashboard, click Add Item.

2. In the Item Type list, make sure Application Component is chosen.

   
   

3. Click Next.

4. In the Folder Region section, make sure the Regular Items radio button is selected.

5. In the Application Component list, choose TUTORIAL30_APPLICATION: View Employees by Department.

6. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName> View Employees by Department.

7. In the Category list, make sure General is chosen.

   
   

8. Click Next.

9. In the Perspectives list, select Employee.

10. Click .

    Assigning your item to a perspective gives users more information to enable them to decide whether the item is likely to be of interest to them. For example, the Healthy Living content area includes the perspectives Supplier, Employee, and HTML.

    Note: For more information about perspectives, visit the online help system. In the Search field, enter perspective, and click Go.

    
    
11. Click Finish.

    
    

4.3 Editing an Item

When you are in Edit mode, a toolbar displays to the left of each item.

Here, you have access to tools that enable you to perform different operations on the item, including editing ( ), moving ( ), and deleting ( ).

Currently, when users click the News from CNN link, the CNN Web site overwrites the Healthy Living content area. Suppose you want the CNN Web site to display in a separate browser window, so that it is easier for users to get back to the Healthy Living content area.

1. Click next to your CNN item.

2. Click the Secondary tab.

3. In the Display Options section, select the Link That Displays Item In New Browser Window radio button.

   
   

4. Click OK.

5. Suppose you also want to make sure that users can quickly and easily find the Corporate Picnic item. You can increase the likelihood of users finding an item during a search by adding keywords to the item.

   Click next to your corporate picnic item.

6. Click the Secondary tab.

7. In the Basic Search Keywords field, enter event.

   Adding this keyword to the item means that if users perform a search on the word event to find out what events are taking place, they will find your item, even though the word event doesn't appear in the item's display name, description, or content.

   
   
8. Click OK.

9. Let's test this keyword.

   In the navigation bar Search field, enter event.

   
   
10. Click Go.

    The search returns the Corporate Picnic item because you added the event keyword to it.

11. Click your browser's Back button.

4.4 Lesson Summary

Congratulations! You have added items to a content area. You now know how to:

• Add links to other Web pages and sites to a content area

• Add text to a content area

• Add Oracle Portal application components to a content area

• Edit an item and:
  • Change how it is displayed in a folder

  • Add keywords

For more information about adding items, see the online help system.