In most cases, when you create an object within a page group, you can use that object only within that page group. If you want to share an object across page groups, you must either create it in the Shared Objects page group or move it from its page group to the Shared Objects page group.
This section describes the Shared Objects page group and explains how to move content to it from other page groups. It contains the following subsections:
Section 4.6.1, "Understanding the Shared Objects Page Group"
Section 4.6.2, "Moving Objects to the Shared Objects Page Group"
The Shared Objects page group is a page group that contains objects that can be shared across a portal's page groups.
The types of objects you can share include attributes, item types, page types, categories, perspectives, templates, navigation pages, and styles. You can move most of these objects from their page groups to the Shared Objects page group. You cannot move templates and navigation pages. To share templates and navigation pages across page groups, you must create them in the Shared Objects page group.
Pages also cannot be moved to the Shared Objects page group. However, you can publish pages as portlets and share them in that way. For more information, see Section 8.5, "Placing One Page Onto Another".
The default language of the Shared Objects page group is English. If you create a page group in a language other than English, then try to add an untranslated object from the Shared Objects page group to a page in this non-English page group, an error is displayed. You must provide translations in other languages for shared objects; or, at least, provide a translation for the default language of the page group. For more information, see Chapter 19, "Translating Portal Content".
This can have implications particularly when you want to share a template over page groups whose base language is not English. For example, consider the objects that belong to a template owned by the Shared Objects page group. Imagine that these objects do not have any translations. You apply the template to a page in page group whose base language is not English. The objects on the template that have no equivalent translation do not display. If you want those objects to display, first you must add translated versions of those objects to the template. For more information, see Section 19.3.1, "Adding a Translated Item".
The same holds true for navigation pages. That is, a navigation page in the Shared Objects page group must be translated to the default language of a non-English page group in order to use it in that non-English page group.
To create or manage objects in the Shared Objects page group, you must have the appropriate page group privileges on the Shared Objects page group. For example, to create or edit a shared category, you must have the page group privilege Manage Classifications on the Shared Objects page group. For more information about privileges, see Appendix B, "Page Group Object Privileges" and Chapter 17, "Protecting Your Content".
Note:
To move an attribute, page type, item type, category, or perspective from its page group to the Shared Objects page group, you must have the source page group privilege Manage Classifications on both the page group and the Shared Objects page group. To move a style you must have the page group privilege Manage Style on the source page group and the Shared Objects page group.When you want to share an existing object across page groups, you can move it to the Shared Objects page group. When you move different types of objects, different additional actions may result from the move. For example, when you move a category, all of its associated sub-categories are also moved. Its associated category pages are regenerated, and any content on the original category pages is lost.
If the Shared Objects page group contains an object that uses the same name as an object that you move to the Shared Objects page group, Oracle Portal appends a value to the Name (internal name) of the moved object. This is to maintain name uniqueness within the page group.
For example, imagine that the Shared Objects page group contains a category named sample_category. Another page group, Division, contains a category that is also named sample_category. You move sample_category from the Division page group to the Shared Objects page group. Oracle Portal appends a value to the moved category, such as sample_category_AABkUWAAJAABpiAAC. You can revise the internal name, but you cannot give it the same Name as any other object in the Shared Objects page group.
Objects can be moved to the Shared Objects page group (whose default language is English) from a non-English page group only if the object already has an English translation. This applies to all promotable objects: item types, page types, categories, perspectives, attributes, and styles.
To move an object from its page group to the Shared Objects page group:
Log in to Oracle Portal.
Click the Build tab to bring it forward.
From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the page group from which to move an object.
By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.
Click the Browse link next to the selected page group.
This opens the Portal Navigator.
In the Navigator, click the type of object you will move.
For example, click the Categories link.
Click the Move to Shared link next to the object you will move.
Remember that you cannot move pages, templates, or navigation pages to the Shared Objects page group. You must create these within the Shared Objects page group in order to share them across page groups.
When you move an object to the Shared Objects page group, if an object of the same type with the same name exists in another page group, a value is added to the end of the object's name (in the Shared Objects page group) to ensure that it remains unique across all page groups. For example, if the category sales appears in more than one page group, and you move one of these to the Shared Objects page group, it will be renamed automatically in the Shared Objects page group to something like sales_AAAYq2AAJAAAeqAAAC to maintain its name uniqueness across page groups.
For more information about object naming rules in Oracle Portal, see Appendix D, "Object Naming Rules in Oracle Portal".
On the confirmation page, click Yes.
The moved object is no longer listed under its original parent page. Look in the Shared Objects page group to locate the moved object.