12 Managing a Development Workspace

In the Oracle HTML DB development environment, developers log in to a shared work area called a workspace. Users are divided into two primary roles: developer and workspace administrator.

Developers can create and edit applications as well as view developer activity, session state, workspace activity, application, and schema reports. Workspace administrators additionally can create and edit user accounts, manage groups, manage development services. This section describes how to access many of these reports and perform Workspace administrator tasks.

This section contains the following topics:

Understanding Administrator Roles

In an Oracle HTML DB development environment there are two different administrator roles:

  • Workspace administrator

  • Oracle HTML DB administrator

A Workspace administrator uses HTML DB Workspace Administration to manage their workspace. In contrast, an Oracle HTML DB administrator is a superuser that manages the entire hosted instance. In order to become a Workspace administrator, an existing administrator must give the developer administrator privileges on the Edit User Page.


See Also:

"Managing an Oracle HTML DB Hosted Service" for more information administering a workspace as an Oracle HTML DB administrator

About the Workspace Administration Page

You access Workspace Administration by clicking the Administration icon on the Workspace home page. On the Workspace Administration page, both developers and workspace administrators have access to the Monitor Activity icon. This icon links to the Monitor page where users can view a variety of Page View and Application Changes reports.

Additionally, workspace administrators have access to these icons:

  • Manage Service links to the Mange Services page. Use this page view workspace information as well as submit requests to the Oracle HTML DB administrator for a new database schema, additional storage, or to terminate workspace service.

  • HTML DB Users links to Manage Users page. Use this page to create new user accounts, manage existing user accounts, and change user passwords.

A Tasks list displays on the right side of the HTML DB Workspace Administration page. Both developers and workspace administrators have access to the following links:

  • About HTML DB links to an About page that lists basic product information including the product version, schema compatibility, application owner, workspace information, current user name, language preference, and database version.

  • Change Password links to a page where users can change their workspace password.


See Also:

"Changing Your Password", "Monitoring Activity", "Managing Users" , "Managing Groups", "Managing Services", and "Managing an Oracle HTML DB Hosted Service" for more information administering a workspace as an Oracle HTML DB administrator

Changing Your Password

All users can change their password using the Change Password page.

To change your password:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. From the Tasks list, select Change Password.

  4. Type a new password in the Password field and then retype the password in the Confirm Password field.

  5. Click Apply Changes.


Note:

All users (developers and administrators) can use the Change Password link on the Oracle HTML DB home page to reset their password.

Monitoring Activity

Both developers and workspace administrators can monitor changes to page views and entire applications by viewing reports on the Monitor page.

Topics in this section include:

Accessing the Monitor Page

To access the Monitor page:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Monitor Activity.

    The Monitor page is divided into the following sections:

    • Page Views

    • Application Changes

    • Sessions

  4. Select a report to review.

Viewing Application Changes by Developer

To view application changes by developer:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Monitor Activity.

  4. Under Application Changes, select By Developer.

  5. Specify a time frame. Make a selection form the Time list and click Go.

  6. To view additional details, select a user ID.

Viewing Application Changes by Day

To view application changes by developer:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Monitor Activity.

  4. Under Application Changes, select By Application.

  5. Specify a time frame. Make a selection form the Time list and click Go.

  6. To view additional details, select an application ID.

Viewing Active Sessions

The Active Sessions Report is only available to Workspace administrators. This displays active sessions for the current workspace.

To view application changes by developer:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Monitor Activity.

  4. Under Sessions, select Active Sessions.

  5. Select the session ID to view the Session Details page.

Managing Users

Workspace administrators can create new user accounts, manage existing user accounts, and change user passwords. User accounts are particularly useful if you are using HTML DB Authentication. HTML DB Authentication checks the username and password against the Oracle HTML DB account repository. The Oracle HTML DB account repository contains account information that developers and administrators when logging in to Oracle HTML DB applications.

Topics in this section include:


See Also:

"About HTML DB Account Credentials" for information about implementing HTML DB Authentication and "Managing Groups"

Creating New User Accounts

Workspace administrators create new user accounts on the Create User page.

To create a new user account:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage HTML DB Users.

    The Manage HTML DB Users page appears.

  4. Click Create End User.

    The Create User page appears.

  5. Under User Identification, enter the appropriate information. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*).

  6. Under Developer Privileges, specify whether the user is a developer or an administrator.

    • User is a developer - These users can create and edit applications as well as view developer activity, session state, workspace activity, application, and schema reports.

    • User is an administrator - Workspace administrators additionally can create and edit user accounts, manage groups, alter passwords of users within the same workspace, and manage development services.

  7. Under User Groups, select an optional user group.

    You can use groups to restrict access to various parts of an application. Groups are primarily useful when using HTML DB Authentication.

  8. Click Create User or Create and Create Another.

Editing Existing User Accounts

Workspace administrators edit existing user accounts on the Edit User page.

To edit an existing a user account:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage HTML DB Users.

    The Manage HTML DB Users page appears.

  4. Click Existing Users.

    The Existing Users page appears. You control how the page displays by making a selection from the View list. Available options include:

    • Icons (the default) displays each user as a large icon. To edit a user, click the appropriate icon.

    • Details displays each user as a line in a report. To edit a user, click a user name.

    The Edit User page appears.

  5. Under Developer Privileges, specify whether the user is a developer or an administrator.

    Developers having administrator privilege have access to all tools and reports available on the Workspace Administration list. These users can also alter passwords of users within the same workspace.

  6. Under User Groups, select an optional user group.

    You can use groups to restrict access to various parts of an application. Groups are primarily useful when using HTML DB Authentication.

  7. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Changing a User Password

Workspace administrators can change the password of any user in their workspace.

To change a user password:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage HTML DB Users.

    The Manage HTML DB Users page appears.

  4. Click Existing Users.

    The Existing Users page appears.

  5. To search for an existing user, enter a query in the Find field and clicking Go.

  6. Select a user.

  7. Scroll down to Password, type a new password in the Password and Confirm Password fields, and click Apply Changes.

Managing Groups

Workspace administrators can create groups to restrict access to various parts of an application. Keep in mind, however, that groups are not portable over different authentication schemes. Groups are primarily useful when using HTML DB Authentication.

Topics in this section include:


See Also:

"About HTML DB Account Credentials" for information about implementing HTML DB Authentication and "Managing Users"

Creating a Groups

To create a new group:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage HTML DB Users.

  4. Click Create Group.

    The Create/Edit Group page appears.

  5. Specify a group name, description, and click Create Group.

Editing an Existing Group

To edit an existing group:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage HTML DB Users.

  4. Click Existing Groups.

    The Existing Groups page appears.You control how the page displays by making a selection from the View list. Available options include:

    • Icons (the default) displays each group as a large icon. To edit a group, click the appropriate icon.

    • Details displays each group as a line in a report. To change the group name or description, click the appropriate name.

  5. Make the appropriate change and click Apply Changes.

Viewing Group Assignment Reports

To view a report of user group assignments:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Mange HTML DB Users.

  4. Click User Group Assignments.

    The User Groups Assignments report appears.

Adding Users to and Removing Users from a Group

To add a user to a group:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Mange HTML DB Users.

  4. Click Existing Users.

    The Existing Users page appears.

  5. Select a user.

    The Edit User page appears.

  6. Scroll down to User Groups.

  7. Select a group from the Groups list.

  8. Click Apply Changes.

To remove a user to a group:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Mange HTML DB Users.

  4. Click Existing Users.

    The Existing Users page appears.

  5. Select a user.

    The Edit User page appears.

  6. Scroll down to User Groups.

  7. Deselect the selected group in the Groups list.

  8. Click Apply Changes.

Managing Services

Workspace administrators use the Managing Services page to view reports about the current workspace and associated schemas, manage session state, purge log files, terminate a workspace service, or request a new schema or additional storage.

Topics in this section include:

Viewing a Workspace Overview Report

Workspace administrators can view a summary report about the current workspace by selecting Workspace Overview on the Manage Services page.

To view a summary report about the current workspace:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services and Workspace Overview.

  4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Managing Session State and User Preferences

A session is a logical construct that establishes persistence (or stateful behavior) across page views. Each session is assigned a unique ID which the HTML DB engine uses to store and retrieve an application's working set of data (or session state) before and after each page view. Sessions persist in the database until purged by an administrator.

Workspace administrators can purge session state or user preferences within their workspace on the Session State Management page.

Topics in this section include:

Managing Session State and User Preferences for the Current Session

Workspace administrators can use the Session State Management page to manage session state and user preferences for the current session.

To manage session state and user preferences for the current session:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Session State.

  5. When the Session State Management page appears, click Report your current session, with an option to purge.

  6. Under Session State you can:

    • Reset the session state for the current session by clicking Purge Session State.

    • View information about the current session by clicking View Session State.

  7. Under User Preferences, you can:

    • View preferences for the current user, by clicking View Preferences.

    • Reset user preferences for the current user by clicking Reset Preferences.

Purging Sessions by Age

Sessions are used to maintain user state. Workspace administrators can purge existing sessions by age.

To purge existing session by age:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Session State.

  5. Select Purge existing sessions by age.

  6. Make a selection from Sessions older than.

  7. Click one of the following buttons:

    • Report Session generates a report detailing the total number of sessions for the workspace, the number of users, and the number of old sessions.

    • Purge Sessions purges existing sessions by age.

Viewing Session Details Prior to Removing Session State

Workspace administrators can determine whether to remove existing sessions by first reviewing session details on the Session State page.

To view session details prior to removing session state:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Service.

  4. Click Session State.

  5. Select Report recent sessions with drilldown to session details.

  6. To narrow the results, select a time increment, specify a user, and click Go.

Viewing Preferences for Users

Workspace administrators view preferences for a specific user on the Purge Preferences report.

To view the Purge Preferences report:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Session State.

  5. On the Session State Management page, select Report preferences for users.

    The Preferences Report page appears.

  6. Specify a user and click Go.

Purging Preferences for a Specific User

Workspace administrators purge preferences for a specific user on the Purge Preferences page.

To purge preferences for a specific user:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Service.

  4. Click Session State.

  5. On the Session State Management page, select Purge preferences for a selected user.

    The Purge Preferences page appears.

  6. Select a specific user and click Report.

    A report appears at the bottom of the page.

  7. To purge the displayed user preferences, click Purge User Preferences.

Purging Log Files

Oracle HTML DB automatically deletes log entries older then one month. Workspace administrators can manually purge developer logs and the External Count Clicks log on the Log files page.


See Also:

"Managing Logs" for more information deleting log files as an Oracle HTML DB administrator

Purging the Developer Activity Log

The Developer Activity Log track changes to applications within the current workspace.

To purge the Developer Activity Log:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Logs.

  5. Click Purge Developer Log.

Purging the External Clicks Log

The External Clicks Log counts clicks from an Oracle HTML DB application to an external site. You can implement this functionality using COUNT_CLICK procedure.

To purge the External Clicks Log:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Logs.

  5. Click Purge Click Log.

Terminating a Workspace Service

To submit a request to the Oracle HTML DB administrator to terminate workspace service:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Terminate Service.

  5. Follow the on-screen instructions and click Request Termination.

Requesting a Database Schema

To submit a request to the Oracle HTML DB administrator for a new database schema:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Request Schema.

  5. Enter a new schema name and click Request Database Schema.

Requesting Additional Storage

To submit a request to the Oracle HTML DB administrator for additional storage space for your workspace:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Request Storage.

  5. Specify the amount of storage to add and click Request Storage.

Viewing Schema Reports

Schema Reports offer summaries of database privileges by schema as well as a list of all database schemas available in the current workspace.

To view Schema Reports:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Schema Reports.

    Available Schema Reports include:

    • Database Privileges by Schema

    • Database Schemas Available for the Current Workspace

Disabling PL/SQL Program Unit Editing

By default, developers can change and compile PL/SQL source code when browsing database procedures, packages, and functions in Object Browser. You can disable PL/SQL program unit editing by selecting Do not allow PL/SQL program unit editing on the Workspace Preferences page.

To disable PL/SQL program unit editing:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Workspace Preferences.

    The Workspace Preferences page appears.

  5. From PL/SQL Editing select one of the following:

    • Allow PL/SQL program unit editing

    • Do not allow PL/SQL program unit editing

    If you select Do not allow PL/SQL program unit editing, developers can still create and replace PL/SQL program units using scripts or the SQL Command Processor.

Controlling PL/SQL Editing for an Oracle HTML DB Instance

You can also control PL/SQL program unit editing for an entire Oracle HTML DB instance within the Oracle HTML DB Administration Services application.

Managing Application Models

Running the Create Application Wizard creates an application model. This model contains basic application property values, such as the application pages and page definitions, DML processes, and multi-row operation processes. When you create a new application, you can base it on an existing application model, making the creation process more productive.

Deleting an Application Model

You can remove unwanted application models on the Application Models page.

To delete an application model:

  1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.

  2. Click the Administration icon.

  3. Click Manage Services.

  4. Click Application Models.

    The Application Models page appears.

  5. To search for a model, enter a case insensitive query in the Model field and click Go.

  6. Select the models you want to delete and click Delete Checked.