15.3 Editing and Personalizing Portlets

There are several ways to alter the values that determine to some degree what a portlet contains and how it behaves. This section lists and describes these and explains how to perform editing or personalizing tasks on portlet values. It contains the following subsections.

15.3.1 Comparing Edit Defaults, Edit Instance, and Personalize Portlet

When you edit a portlet, you have the opportunity to change values common to all portlets, values specific to the portlet, and values specific to your personal view of the portlet. lists and describes the different methods available for changing portlet values.

Table 15-1 Comparing Edit Defaults, Edit Instance, and Personalize Portlet

Action How to Invoke Description

Edit Defaults

  • In Edit page mode Graphical view, click the Edit Defaults icon next to the portlet

  • In Edit page mode Layout view, click the Edit Defaults link next to the portlet.

Edit values relevant to the particular type of portlet. For example, add or delete favorites from the Favorites portlet, or set the number of objects to display in the Recent Objects portlet.

Changes made while editing a portlet display to all users who access the portlet on the page where the changes were made.

For information on editing a portlet's default values, see Section 15.3.2, "Editing a Portlet's Defaults"

Edit Instance

In Edit page mode Graphical view, click the Actions icon next the portlet. On the Actions page, click the Edit Portlet Instance link.

Edit values common to all portlets, such as a portlet's name, display option, and cache setting.

Changes made while editing a portlet instance display to all users who access the portlet on the page where the changes were made. Additionally, you can share the portlet instance and thereby make changes available to all users who place this particular instance of the portlet on a page.

For information about editing a portlet instance, see Section 15.3.3, "Editing a Portlet Instance". For information on sharing a portlet instance, see Section 15.7, "Sharing a Portlet Across Multiple Pages". For information about portlet caching options, see Section 21.3, "Portlet Caching".

Personalize

In View page mode, click the Personalize link in the portlet header. The portlet header must be displayed for the Personalize link to display.

For information on displaying portlet headers, see Section 10.2.12, "Displaying or Hiding Portlet Headers and Borders".

Personalize values relevant to the particular type of portlet. For example, add or delete favorites from the Favorites portlet, or set the number of objects to display in the Recent Objects portlet.

Changes made while personalizing a portlet display only to the user who personalized the portlet.

Many options on the personalize screen are common to those on the Edit Defaults screen. Sometimes there are differences. For example, when you personalize a Recent Objects portlet, you can click the link Clear my list of recent objects. This link does not appear when you edit a portlet's defaults.

For information on personalizing a portlet, see Section 15.3.4, "Personalizing a Portlet".


15.3.2 Editing a Portlet's Defaults

Each portlet has its own relevant default settings, which you can use for such tasks as limiting the display capacity of the portlet or changing the portlet's display name. From portlet-to-portlet, the default settings vary, sometimes slightly, and sometimes significantly.

This section describes how to get to any portlet's Edit Defaults screen. For information on editing specific portlet defaults, see Section A.5, "Built-in Portlets".

To edit a portlet's default settings:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. Go to the page that includes the portlet to be edited.

    For information on locating a page, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

  3. Click the Edit link to switch to Edit mode.

  4. Click the Editing Views: Graphical link in the toolbar at the top of the page.

  5. Go to the portlet to be edited, and click the Edit Defaults icon next to it (Figure 15-4).

    Figure 15-4 The Edit Defaults Icon

    Edit Defaults icon
  6. Make your changes to the portlet's default settings.

  7. Click OK to save your changes and return to the page.

15.3.3 Editing a Portlet Instance

A portlet instance is a portlet placed on a portal page. When you edit a portlet instance, you specify how the portlet is cached, displayed, and described. A portlet instance is differentiated from a portlet available in the Portlet Repository by the fact that portal users can personalize and page designers can edit portlet instance default values. You can add multiple instances of the same portlet to a portal page. Every portlet instance can be personalized and edited independently. By sharing a portlet instance, you make the same portlet instance available through the Portlet Repository for page designers to add it to other pages.

When you edit a particular portlet instance, the changes you make apply to everyone's view of this portlet instance on this particular page. The properties associated with editing a portlet instance are common to all portlets. That is, you will see the same properties for an instance of the Favorites portlet as you will for an instance of the WebClipping portlet. The properties do not have anything to do with what the portlet contains, but rather, how the portlet is cached, displayed, and described.

To edit a portlet instance:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the page group where the portlet instance to be edited is located.

  3. In the Pages section under Layout & Appearance, click the name of the page where the portlet instance to be edited is located.

    This opens the page in Edit mode.

  4. Click the Actions icon (Figure 15-5) next to the portlet instance to be edited.

    Figure 15-5 The Actions Icon

    Actions icon
  5. On the resulting Actions page, click the Edit Portlet Instance link.

  6. In the Name field, enter a name for this instance of the portlet.

    The name must be unique within the portlet's host page.

    Note:

    An asterisk (*) indicates a field that requires a value.
  7. In the Display Name field, enter a name to display with this portlet instance.

    If no value is entered, this field defaults to the entry in the Name field.

  8. Specify the Display Options for the portlet instance. Choose from:

    • Portlet Displayed Directly In Page Area

      The portlet displays directly on the host page. If you choose this option, you can also choose whether to limit the portlet height:

      Limit Portlet Height to n Pixels

      Select the check box and enter a value (in pixels) in the field to control how much vertical space the portlet will be allowed to occupy. If the value is set lower than the required display height, a scroll bar displays, enabling users to scroll up and down the portlet instance.

    • Link That Displays Portlet In Full Browser Window

      A link to the portlet displays on the host page. Users click the link, and the current browser window is refreshed to display the portlet.

      For this link to display, you must edit the host region's attribute settings to include the display of the Link - Display Name or Link - Display Name (durable) attribute. To edit the host region's attribute settings:

      • While you are still in Edit mode, click the Edit Region icon (Figure 15-6) for the portlet region hosting the portlet instance.

        Figure 15-6 Edit Region Icon

        Edit Region icon
      • On the resulting page, click the Attributes tab to bring it forward.

      • Select Attributes should be selected. If Use HTML Content Layout is selected, then these steps do not apply. For more information on HTML content layouts, see Section 12.3, "Working with HTML Templates".

      • Under Available Attributes, select Link - Display Name or Link - Display Name (durable) and move it to Displayed Attributes.

      • Click OK to save this change and return to the page.

    • Link That Displays Portlet In New Browser Window

      A link to the portlet displays on the host page. Users click the link, and a new browser window opens to display the portlet instance.

      For this link to display, you must edit the host region's displayed attributes to include the display of the Link - Display Name or Link - Display Name (durable) attribute. For more information, see the previous bullet.

  9. In the Portlet Caching section, specify how this portlet is cached.

    For information on portlet caching options, see Section 21.3.2, "Portlet Caching Options".

  10. In the Portlet Caching Level section, specify a caching level for this portlet instance.

    The level that you choose is the effective level of caching for this portlet instance. Under some circumstances, this section is not available. For more information, and for information on portlet caching level options, see Section 21.3.3, "Portlet Caching Level Options".

  11. In the Description field, enter a description of the portlet instance.

  12. From the Category drop-down list, select one category to classify the portlet instance.

  13. Select one or more perspectives in the Available Perspectives list, and move them to the Displayed Perspectives list.

    Click the Move icon to move your selection. To make multiple selections, in Windows, hold down the Ctrl key and click each selection; in UNIX, click one or more perspectives.

  14. Click OK to save your changes and return to the page.

15.3.4 Personalizing a Portlet

When you personalize a portlet, you change only your view of the portlet. Other users do not see your personalizations.

Many options on the personalize screen are common to those on the Edit Defaults screen. Sometimes there are differences. For example, when you personalize a Recent Objects portlet, you can click the link Clear my list of recent objects. This link does not appear when you edit a portlet's defaults.

This section describes how to access the personalization options on a portlet. Because these options vary from portlet to portlet, specifics about these settings are not covered here. You can find information about specific portlet personalization in Appendix A in Section A.5, "Built-in Portlets".

To personalize a portlet:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. Go to the page that contains the portlet to be personalized.

    For information on locating a page, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

  3. In View mode, click the Personalize link in the portlet's header.

    The header is a bar of color that forms the top border of a portlet. If the portlet does not display a header, this means its containing region is not configured to display portlet headers. For more information on displaying portlet headers, see Section 10.2.12, "Displaying or Hiding Portlet Headers and Borders".

  4. Make your changes to the portlet personalization options.

  5. Click OK to save your changes and return to the page.

    Alternatively, click Reset to Defaults to reset the portlet to its default settings. Or click Apply to save your changes but remain on the portlet personalization page.