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Oracle Workflow Administrator's Guide
Release 2.6.3.5

Part Number B12160-02
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Setting Up a Directory Service for Standalone Oracle Workflow

If you are using the standalone version of Oracle Workflow, you can choose to implement either one of the two predefined directory services. Oracle Workflow provides scripts that you can run to implement these directory service environments, creating view definitions for the WF_USERS, WF_ROLES, and WF_USER_ROLES views. See: Workflow Directory Service Views.

Note: Additionally, you can create your own directory service by defining custom views based on the database tables that make up your directory repository, provided that you define the required columns and also map to the WF_LOCAL_ROLES and WF_LOCAL_USER_ROLES tables for users and roles that are not stored in your repository. If you choose to do so, you can either create new view definitions, or you can edit and run a copy of one of the provided scripts. However, note that only the predefined directory service views provided by Oracle Workflow are supported by Oracle. See: Oracle Workflow Support Policy, Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.

arrow icon   Integrating an Oracle Workflow Directory Service with Oracle Internet Directory

If you are using the standalone version of Oracle Workflow, you can integrate your Workflow directory service with Oracle Internet Directory (OID) as your directory repository. In this case, Oracle Workflow provides a directory service implementation that maps the directory service views only to the Workflow local tables, because only the users in the WF_LOCAL_ROLES table with their user flag set to Y will be synchronized with OID. (Only users are maintained through OID, not Workflow roles.) After implementing OID integration, you maintain your user information only through OID. See: Synchronizing Workflow Directory Services with Oracle Internet Directory.

You can also use this directory service implementation if your users and roles are not stored in any existing directory repository, and you want to enter all your user and role information directly in the Workflow local tables. In this case the WF_LOCAL_ROLES, WF_LOCAL_ROLES_TL, and WF_LOCAL_USER_ROLES tables become your primary directory repository tables.

Oracle Workflow provides a script named wfdircsv.sql which you can run to set up the views mapped only to the Workflow local tables. The wfdircsv.sql script is located in the Oracle Workflow sql subdirectory on your server. This script creates three views, WF_USERS, WF_ROLES, and WF_USER_ROLES. See: Workflow Directory Service Views.

The originating system in the WF_USERS view is called WF_LOCAL_USERS, and the originating system ID is 0.

The WF_ROLES view includes all users and roles defined in WF_LOCAL_ROLES, regardless of the user flag. The originating system is WF_LOCAL_ROLES and the originating system ID is 0.

The WF_USER_ROLES view consists of the names and originating system information of both users and roles in WF_USERS and WF_ROLES, associating users with the roles of which they are members.

Note: If you do not want to implement OID integration, but you choose to define custom views, you can use the wfdircsv.sql script to begin your custom definitions by creating a copy of this script and editing it to incorporate your own directory repository tables in addition to the Workflow local tables. However, note that only the predefined directory service views provided by Oracle Workflow are supported by Oracle. See: Oracle Workflow Support Policy, Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.

If you implement OID integration, you must not customize the view definitions to incorporate any tables other than the Workflow local tables, because only the users in the WF_LOCAL_ROLES table with their user flag set to Y will be synchronized with OID.

arrow icon   Integrating an Oracle Workflow Directory Service with Oracle Database Users

If you are using the standalone version of Oracle Workflow, you can map your directory service to the native users and roles in the Oracle RDBMS. In this case you base your views on the tables DBA_USERS, DBA_ROLES, and WF_LOCAL_ROLES.

Oracle Workflow provides a script named wfdirouv.sql which you can use to set up the views. The wfdirouv.sql script is located in the Oracle Workflow sql subdirectory on your server. This script is automatically run by the Oracle Universal Installer when you install the standalone version of Oracle Workflow. The script creates the three directory service views, WF_USERS, WF_ROLES, and WF_USER_ROLES. See: Workflow Directory Service Views.

The WF_USERS view creates a workflow user for each DBA user and any users stored in WF_LOCAL_ROLES. For each DBA user, the originating system is called ORACLE, and the originating system ID is the USERNAME column in DBA_USERS. The default notification preference for each DBA user is MAILHTML.

The WF_ROLES view includes all users in the WF_USERS view, all roles defined in the WF_LOCAL_ROLES table, and all roles in DBA_ROLES, where role_name begins with WF. For each DBA role, the originating system is ORACLE and the originating system ID is the ROLE column in DBA_ROLES. The default notification preference for each DBA role is MAILHTML.

The WF_USER_ROLES view consists of the names and originating system information of both users and roles in WF_USERS and WF_ROLES, associating users with the roles of which they are members.

The wfdirouv.sql script sets each native Oracle user's e-mail address to the user's respective username. If you want users to be able to receive e-mail notifications, as a minimal setup step, you should edit the wfdirouv.sql script to either link your native Oracle users to an existing mail directory store through the WF_ROLES view definition, or, if the usernames and e-mail account names match, then simply add the domain for your organization, such as '@oracle.com', to the usernames in the WF_USERS view definition. Typically, the columns that you change are EMAIL_ADDRESS in WF_USERS and EMAIL_ADDRESS in WF_ROLES.

Additionally, you should grant each database user who is a Workflow user the wf_plsql_ui database role. This role provides users the privileges to access the Oracle Workflow Web pages. Use the GRANT SQL statement to grant the role to users. For example:

grant wf_plsql_ui to username;

See: GRANT, Oracle Database SQL Reference.

See: Setting Up an Oracle Workflow Directory Service


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