C.2 Durable URLs

A durable URL is formed by using a globally unique identifier (GUID). Because the GUID of an object never changes, the URL will continue to be valid if the object name changes. Durable URLs can be formed for the following types of objects:

  • Pages

  • Tabs

  • Items

  • Portal Templates

  • Navigation pages

  • Category pages

  • Perspective pages

This section parses the format used for durable URLs and provides examples of how they are formed when targeting portal objects. It includes the following subsections:

C.2.1 Forming Durable URLs

The format of an item durable URL is:

http://<host>:<port>/portal/page/<dad>[/lang-<language>][/ver-<version>]/
<guid>

Note:

In URLs, page names, object names, "/portal/page/" and GUIDs are case sensitive. All other parts of the URL are not case sensitive.

Where:

  • host is the machine on which Oracle Portal is installed

  • port is the port number used to access Oracle Portal.

  • portal is a static element of an Oracle Portal URL.

  • page is a static element of an Oracle Portal URL.

  • dad is the Database Access Descriptor (DAD) used for your Oracle Portal installation. The DAD contains information on how to connect to the database.

  • language is the language in which you will display the object. Language is an optional path element. For information about the lang parameter, see Section C.1, "Path-Based URLs" and Section C.3.3, "The Language Parameter in Path-Based and Durable URLs".

  • version is the version of the item. Version is optional and is used only with items. The value is a number or STAGE, DRAFT, or REJECTED. (see Section C.1, "Path-Based URLs" for additional information about the ver parameter).

  • guid is the object's globally unique identifier.

Typically, no matter which type of URL format is used to link to an object, when users click the link, the browser address bar displays the path-based URL. Oracle Portal performs an automatic conversion of durable URLs to path-based for display purposes. When users click links based on durable URLs, they see path-based URLs in their browser address bars.

C.2.2 Examples of Durable URLs

Durable URLs for Pages

Durable URLs for pages, and objects that are based on pages, such as category pages, perspective pages, navigation pages, and Portal Templates, take the following format:

http://<host>:<port>/portal/page/<dad>[/lang-<language>]/<page_guid>

For example:

http://mymachine.mycompany.com:5000/portal/page/mydad/lang-en/
A47D41ECA23648A9E030007F0100118A

Note:

Users can view a page's durable URL from the page's property sheet. Click the Page Properties icon next to the page path, which is displayed at the top of the page in all of the Edit mode views.

For backward compatibility, ID-based URLs are supported in the current release of Oracle Portal. Following this release, ID-based URLs that follow the following syntax will be obsolete. The obsolete format follows the syntax:

http://<host>:<port>/pls/<DAD>/!<Schema>.wwpob_page.show?_pageid=<siteid,pageid>,...

For backward compatibility, direct access URL formats are supported in the current release of Oracle Portal. Following this release, direct access URL formats will be obsolete. The obsolete format follows the syntax:

http://<host>:<port>/pls/<DAD>/<path_alias>/<page_path>

For the current release, direct access URL formats invoke a splash screen that redirects users to the correct target. Avoid using ID-based and direct access URL formats going forward, and consider reformatting legacy uses of these formats.

Durable URLs for Tabs

http://<host>:<port>/portal/page/<dad>[/lang-<language>]/<tab_guid>

For example:

http://mymachine.mycompany.com:5000>/portal/page/mydad/lang-en/
A47D41ECA23648A9E036147F0100118A

For backward compatibility, ID-based URLs are supported in the current release of Oracle Portal. Following this release, ID-based URLs that follow the following syntax will be obsolete:

http://<host>:<port>/pls/<DAD>/!<Schema>.wwpob_page.show?_pageid=<siteid,pageid>,
<tab1_id>:<tab1's_sub-tab_id>,<tabA_id>:<tabA's_sub-tab_id>

For backward compatibility, direct access URL formats are supported in the current release of Oracle Portal. Following this release, direct access URL formats will be obsolete. The obsolete format follows the syntax:

http://<host>:<port>/pls/<DAD>/<path_alias>/PAGE/<page_path>/
<tab1_name>

For the current release, such URL formats invoke a splash screen that redirects users to the correct target. Avoid using ID-based and direct access URL formats going forward, and consider reformatting legacy uses of these formats.

Note:

Only the first tab in direct access URLs are preserved when redirecting to the new URL format. The other tabbed regions on the page default to the first available tab in the region.

Durable URLs for Items

http://<host>:<port>/portal/page/<dad>[/lang-<language>][/ver-<version>]/
<item_guid>

You can determine an item's GUID by editing the displayed attributes on the region where the item is placed. Display the Property Sheet attribute in the region. Once displayed, click the Property Sheet icon next to the item to view the item's durable URL. For information on displaying region attributes, see Section 10.2.9, "Changing the Attributes Displayed in a Region".

If the GUID of an item is A47D41ECA23648A9E030007F0100118A, the durable link URL to the English version 2 of the item is:

http://mymachine.mycompany.com:5000/portal/page/mydad/lang-en/ver-2/A47D41ECA23648A9E030007F0100118A

For backward compatibility, ID-based, direct-access URLs are supported in the current release of Oracle Portal. Following this release, ID-based, direct-access URLs that follow the following syntax will be obsolete:

http://<host>:<port>/pls/<DAD>/<path_alias>/<item_guid>

When users click a link in this format, a splash screen displays that redirects users to the path-based URL format.

Additionally, for backward compatibility, path-based URLs for documents are supported in the current release of Oracle Portal. Following this release, path-based URLs that follow the following syntax will be obsolete:

http://<host>:<port>/pls/<DAD>/docs/<page_path>/<document_name>.<extension>

When users click a link in this format, a splash screen displays that redirects users to the durable URL format. Because there could be a number of documents associated with an item, such as icons or custom attributes, users cannot be redirected to a path-based item URL.

We strongly recommend that users change all legacy bookmarks to point to the new URL format to avoid broken links in the event the legacy format is de-supported.