B Building a Website

This appendix describes the Web Layout Editor and how it is used to build a website.

The following topics are covered:

• Planning a Website
• Working with Web Pages
• Managing Web Pages
• Working with Reports
• Writing Queries

B.1 Planning a Website

Administrators are responsible for planning the website. Subadministrators with WebLayout rights can create directory pages for groups and accounts if they have permissions for those groups and accounts.

This section covers these topics:

• The Web Layout

• Defining the Site Structure and Displaying Criteria

• Task Sequence

B.1.1 The Web Layout

From the Home page, the Library (Table of Contents) link displays the top level of your Web Layout. Although a Web Layout is not required and might not be necessary for all applications, it provides an effective means for grouping files and navigating. When a Web Layout is not created, the Search function provides the only access to files in the core Oracle WebCenter Content Server. However, other products, like Site Studio, and extras, like Folders and Categorization Folders, provide other means of navigation.

Active and Historical reports are other features introduced later in this section. Web viewable files always have lowercase names.

Figure B-1 shows an example of a Web Layout using Local Pages, URLs, and Queries as site-building features.

Figure B-1 Web Layout Example

Description of "Figure B-1 Web Layout Example"

On the Library Web pages, these features are displayed as links with a title next to a file-folder icon. When you click a folder that represents a query, the result produces a set of links to files that match the query's criteria.

B.1.2 Defining the Site Structure and Displaying Criteria

Define the website structure in the Web Hierarchy pane of the Web Layout Editor. Then define criteria to display specific files when the user clicks a folder (or link). The criteria for each link is based on the metadata for each file. Besides executing a query, links can jump to another page of links, go to a URL, or display a report. The following examples demonstrate how links are setup to display files.

• Example 1: To enable users to access engineering forms from a link named Forms, create a content type named Forms using the Configuration Manager. Then, create a query with Type equal to Forms using the Web Layout Editor.

  For information about how to create a content type. For details, see "Defining Content Types" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Managing Oracle WebCenter Content.

• Example 2: To enable users to access specific Standard Work Procedures, create a content type called SWP, and create a query of Type equal to SWP and Content Name substring of 7200.

B.1.3 Task Sequence

The following steps demonstrate the typical sequence of tasks for creating a website with the Web Layout Editor:

1. Gather information. The first step is to gather information about how your users would intuitively retrieve information; what do they want and how would they typically search for it? How does this impact security?
2. Customize metadata. If necessary, customize your site's metadata by creating any additional fields that might be useful.

   For more information, see "Customizing Repository Fields and Metadata" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Managing Oracle WebCenter Content.

3. Define content types. Define the content types to support your site.

   For more information, see "Defining Content Types" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Managing Oracle WebCenter Content.

4. Define security groups, users, and roles. Create security groups and users, and assign roles to users to establish their permissions (described in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle WebCenter Content).
5. Design the website. Create the website layout. Although a website provides a structure that allows navigation to locate and display files, it is not required. Some companies prefer users to use only the search engine to find files, others prefer to use both a navigation structure and a search engine. To design the website, it is helpful to first draw a website structure as shown in Figure B-2.

Figure B-2 Example Website Structure

Description of "Figure B-2 Example Website Structure"

B.2 Working with Web Pages

After completing the initial plan, build the website and determine how it functions. Revise it if it does not perform properly or is not manageable. Continue this process until you have a design that is going to work for you and the users.

The links on a page jump to one of these:

• Local page

• URL

• Query

• Report

The links all look similar and can be combined on the same page as shown on the local page in Figure B-3:

Figure B-3 Links in Example Local Page

Description of "Figure B-3 Links in Example Local Page"

A local page is one of two types: a directory or a report. A local page that is a directory can contain links that open another local page, open a URL, or run a query. Only administrators can create a local page that is a report. Administrators or subadministrators with appropriate rights can create a local page that is a directory.

An external URL is a link to a specified URL (Web address). You can link to any URL address or web page on the intranet or Internet.

A search query produces a page containing links to files that meet the criteria of a defined query. The page looks the same as a page resulting from a content search.

Note:

Queries can inherit the security group, the account or both that the page links are on. If the security group or account is inherited, it automatically restricts the query to files in that security group or account.

Reports are either Active or Historical. Active reports appear as a file folder link and perform a database query each time they are run, generating a display of current information. Like Active Reports, Historical Reports appear as a file folder link, but they contain information that was queried at the time they were initially run. They do not perform a database query each time they are opened, and the report is only changed if it is updated.

B.3 Managing Web Pages

Subadministrators do not have access to the Query Result Pages function in the Options menu nor to any applications for which they do not have rights. Additionally, subadministrators have viewing, editing, and deleting restricted rights as described in these sections:

• Adding a New Web Page

• Editing Web Page Properties

• Creating a Local Page Link

• Creating an External URL Link

• Editing a Hierarchical Web Page Structure

B.3.1 Adding a New Web Page

To add a new Web page to the Web layout:

1. In the Web Page Hierarchy Pane, click Add.

   The Add Web Page Screen opens.

2. Enter information about the new page.
3. Click OK.

B.3.2 Editing Web Page Properties

To edit the properties of a Web page:

1. Select the page in the Web Page Hierarchy Pane.
2. Click Edit in the Page Properties Pane.

   The Edit Page Properties Screen opens.

3. Edit the properties.
4. Click OK.

B.3.3 Creating a Local Page Link

To create a local page link:

1. Select the page in the Web Page Hierarchy Pane under which you want to locate the new local page.
2. In the Page Links Pane, click Add.

   The Add Page Link Screen opens.

3. Select Local Page, and click OK.
4. Enter information about the new local page into the Edit Local Page Link Screen.
5. When done, click OK.

B.3.4 Creating an External URL Link

To create an external URL link:

1. Select the page in the Web Page Hierarchy Pane under which you want to locate the new URL.
2. In the Page Links Pane, click Add.

   The Add Page Link Screen opens:

3. Select External URL, and click OK.
4. Enter information about the URL into the Edit External URL Screen.
5. When done, click OK.
6. Refresh the browser to display the new page.

B.3.5 Editing a Hierarchical Web Page Structure

To edit a hierarchical Web page structure, the objective is to insert a page, making it the new parent of the hierarchical page.

For example:

1. Create a structure.
2. Select QSTest directory with the Page Link PCTest also selected.
3. Click Page LinksDelete.
4. Select the Index directory and select Page LinksAdd.
5. Create a new page.

   • Title the page NewEngPage.

   • Type a Description as NewEngPage.

6. Click OK.

   The NewEngPage opens in the Web Page Hierarchy Pane.

7. Select QSTest and click Page LinksAdd.
8. Select Local Page.
9. Click OK.

   The NewEngPage now appears under QSTest.

10. Select NewEngPage and click Page LinksAdd.
11. Select Local PageOK.

    Note that the Page name is PCTest.

The NewEngPage has now been entered with PCTest as its child and the External URL in 2ndTest has been preserved.

The following image shows a hierarchical web page structure created by this example procedure.

Description of the illustration GUID-9AE3E984-191A-4AE8-BEAC-32355BD833D5-default.gif

B.4 Working with Reports

This section covers these topics:

• About Reports

• Defining an Active Report

• Defining a Historical Report

• Editing a Query Expression in an Active Report

B.4.1 About Reports

You can define two types of reports with the Web Layout Editor: Active Reports and Historical Reports.

• Active Reports appear as a file-folder link and perform a database query each time they are run, generating a display of current information. You can define active reports and edit their query expressions.
• Like Active Reports, Historical Reports appear as a file-folder link, but they contain information that was queried at the time they were initially run. They do not perform a database query each time they are opened, and the report is changed only if the database is updated. The procedure for creating a Historical Report is almost the same as creating an Active Report. The only difference is the Create Historical Report screen has an extra field (Rows Per Page) to specify the number of rows each page of the report can contain.

B.4.2 Defining an Active Report

To define an active report:

1. In the Web Layout Editor, add a new Web page, and select Active Report as the Page Type.
2. In the Active Report Specification pane of the Web Layout Editor, click Edit Report Query.
3. Define the query by entering information on the Edit Active Report Query Screen.
4. Click OK.

B.4.3 Defining a Historical Report

To prepare an Archive Historical Report:

1. In the WebLayout Editor, add a new Web page and select Historical Report as the Page Type.
2. In the Historical Report Specification pane of the Web Layout Editor, click Create Report Data.
3. When you create the report data in the Create Historical Report Screen, specify Archive History for the data source.
4. Write a query for the report that returns the data you want to retrieve. For example, specify the content ID.
5. When done specifying information for the report, click OK.

B.4.4 Editing a Query Expression in an Active Report

To edit the query expression in an active report:

1. In the Web Page Hierarchy Pane, select the report you want to edit.
2. In the Active Report Specification pane, click Edit Report Query.
3. In the Query Expression window on the Edit Active Report Query Screen, select the query line to edit.
4. Make changes to the query as necessary, and click Update.

   Caution:

   If you clear the Custom Query Expression check box, the expression reverts to its original definition; all modifications are lost.

5. Click OK. If a query is not specified, all values are returned.

B.5 Writing Queries

This section covers these topics:

• Custom Query Expressions

  Creating a Query Link

• Editing the Query Expression in a Query Link

• Adding a Query Results Page

• Editing a Query Results Page

• Deleting a Query Results Page

B.5.1 Custom Query Expressions

You can write custom query expressions when you define query links. The method you use to write custom queries varies depending on the kind of query you write.

To write directory custom queries, use Idoc Script, a proprietary scripting language. To write report queries, you can use SQL script and Idoc Script. Idoc Script is described in detail in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Reference for Oracle WebCenter Content. Basic SQL script is briefly described below.

Note:

Your SQL syntax is dependent on your database. Different databases expect different syntax for items like wildcards, and so forth. See your database documentation for specific syntax information.

SQL script involves operators, which are words that show logical relationships between the words in your query. The following table contains some basic operators and their use.

Operator	Use
AND	Returns files that contain the specified words.
OR	Returns files that contain at least one specified word.
=	Equal
<> or !	Not equal
<	Less than
>	Greater than
<+	Less than or equal to
>+	Greater than or equal to
IN	Finds a position in a table.
BETWEEN	Finds a value in a range.
NOT	Excludes the files that contain the specified condition.

The following are examples of SQL script:

• Finds all files that have an internal revision ID less than 50000:

  dID < '50000'
  

• Finds all files that have a content ID between 10000 and 50000:

  dDocName BETWEEN '10000' AND '50000'
  

B.5.2 Creating a Query Link

To create a query link:

1. In the Web Page Hierarchy Pane, select the page where you want to locate the new query link.
2. In the Page Links pane, click Add.

   The Add Page Link Screen opens.

3. Select Query, and click OK.

   The Query Link Definition Screen opens.

4. Enter information into the screen.
5. When done, click OK.

When adding Idoc Script variables and HTML tags to the Text 1 and Text 2 fields, keep in mind that any resulting HTML tags can affect the display of the search results page. For more information, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Reference for Oracle WebCenter Content.

B.5.3 Editing the Query Expression in a Query Link

To edit the query expression in a query link:

1. In the Page Links Pane of the Web Layout Editor, select the query you want to edit.
2. Click Edit.

   The Query Link Definition Screen opens.

3. In the Query Expression area, select the query line to edit.
4. Make changes to the metadata, Operator, metadata Value fields as necessary, then click Update.
5. Click OK.

   Note:

   If you clear the Custom Query Expression check box, the expression reverts to its original definition; all modifications are lost.

B.5.4 Adding a Query Results Page

Follow these instructions to add a query results page. This task is available for administrators, not for subadministrators with WebLayout rights:

1. From the Web Layout Editor menu, select Options, then select Query Results Pages.

   The Query Result Pages screen opens.

2. Click Add to display the Add Result Page.
3. Enter information for the new page. Observe the field descriptions for Add/Edit Query Results Page.
4. Click OK.

B.5.5 Editing a Query Results Page

Follow these instructions to edit a query results page. This task is available for administrators, not for subadministrators with WebLayout rights:

1. From the Web Layout Editor menu, select Options, then Query Results Pages, then select the name of the page.
2. Click Edit.

   The Add/Edit Query Results Page opens.

3. Make the necessary changes, and click OK.

B.5.6 Deleting a Query Results Page

Follow these instructions to delete a query results page. This task is available for administrators, not for subadministrators with WebLayout rights:

1. From the Web Layout Editor menu, select Options, then Query Results Pages, then select the name of the page.
2. Click Delete.
3. When prompted, click OK to verify the deletion.