It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the default configuration settings so you can learn what parts of the UI are configurable and how to work with the tags in the task configuration file. Keep in mind that the default task configuration files cover a subset of the configuration options available to you.
As mentioned earlier, the ATG Business Control Center comes with two task configuration files. The file in the AssetUI module provides basic settings; the file in DPS-UI module defines the appearance for additional activities and tasks. Theoretically, the second task configuration file could overwrite settings in the first, but in this case, it doesn’t. You can find the AssetUI taskConfiguration.xml in the <ATG2007.3dir>/AssetUI/config.jar/atg/web/assetmanager/configuration directory.
Open the file so you see it in its entirety. The file is enclosed in a <task-configuration> tag. Inside it, the file is divided roughly into three sections: one enclosed in a <default-activity> tag and two enclosed in <activity> tags.
The <default-activity> tag encloses the default resource bundle that contains the labels you see in the UI. An <activity> tag defines settings for a particular activity, which are combined with those provided by the <default-activity> tag. An activity can involve any operation, such as browsing targeters or modifying users items, as long as it doesn’t produce or affect versioned items. There are two types of activities:
Activities that display items in view-only mode. For example, clicking the Segments and Targeters Operations list link uses the
personalization.browseSegmentsAndTargetersactivity to access targeters, content groups, and user segments in view-only mode.Activities that display nonversionable repository items in edit mode. For example, clicking the Users Operations link uses the
personalization.usersactivity to access users, organizations, and roles in edit mode.
The two activities defined in this task configuration file provide the backbone for the two types of activities used to access the Personalization parts of the ATG Business Control Center. The first <activity> tag defines the structure of the UI, that is, a JSP and configuration component and sets the mode to view-only. Activities like these are called abstract activities in this discussion. The second activity (assetManager.defaultEdit) inherits settings from the first (assetManager.defaultBrowse), but replaces view-only mode with edit.
The purpose of activities like these is to define settings that other activities may inherit. Generic activities exist as a mechanism for holding settings inherited by other resources and aren’t visible in the ATG Business Control Center. The assetManager.defaultBrowse is the baseline for activities that provide view-only access to versionable items, and assetManager.defaultEdit is the baseline for activities that provide editable access to nonversionable items. Using a modular approach, that is, keeping settings in a generalized task or activity, rather than a specific resource makes it easier to maintain a complex inheritance scheme. For example, consider a task similar to DPS-UIeditSegmentsAndTargeters task. It’s a generic task that currently provides settings to the Personalization/editSegmentsAndTargeters workflow, but could provide settings to other resources as well. To make a change to the editSegmentsAndTargeters workflow configuration, keep this task as it is and make your changes in the Personalization/editSegmentsAndTargeters workflow configuration, thereby ensuring that the other tasks or workflows are not affected by your changes.
You may notice that there’s no <default-task> tag specified here. There is no reason to provide separate generalized settings for tasks and workflows.
Some of the many configuration values specified in the default task configuration file are pointers to files used by various parts of the UI. All JSPs are located in the AssetManager.war file that you find in <ATG2007.3dir>/AssetUI/j2ee-apps/AssetUI.ear. All other file locations are specified below.
