Portal Management

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Visitor and Administrator Features

Portal Management

WebLogic Portal 7.0 provides tools for developing, deploying, and administering enterprise Web sites. These tools are contained in the BEA E-Business Control Center and the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools. This document provides a tour of the Portal Management Tools, which are part of the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools. This section includes information on the following subjects:

Overview of Portal Management

The WebLogic Portal Administration Tools are browser based and can be easily accessed by and delegated to authorized users. Tasks performed through these tools typically take effect immediately in the running portal instance. The user interface of the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools is implemented using JavaServer Pages.

About this part of the tour This part of the tour demonstrates portal management functionality. You will be accessing the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools as a System Administrator. As such you will have access to all administrative functionality. Unlike the Visitor Options section, this part of the tour is not a strict step-by-step set of instructions. Feel free to explore and make changes not specified in this tour.

Starting WebLogic Portal Administration Tools

Before you begin this part of the tour, make sure that the Portal Example is running, as discussed in Starting the Tour.

With WebLogic Portal running, start the Portal Example as follows:

Windows: Start Menu —> Programs —> BEA WebLogic Platform 7.0 —> WebLogic Portal 7.0 —> Portal Examples —> Portal Example —> Start Portal Admin Tools

UNIX: Log on to the Portal Example client. If you installed WebLogic Portal with the default settings, you can use the following (case sensitive) URL in a browser that is invoked on the same machine as the server:

http://localhost:7501/sampleportalTools/index.jsp

where localhost is the name of the server running the Portal Example.
In the Enter Network Password dialog box, enter the following:

Username: administrator

Password: password

The WebLogic Portal Administration Tools page appears, as shown in Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1 WebLogic Portal Administration Tools

Portal Management Home

The Portal Management Home page is the starting point for accessing all portal functionality. The following paragraphs provide information to help you understand the features that the tour is demonstrating. Please read it carefully.

About portals and group portals An application can have multiple portals and each portal can have multiple group portals. Each portal and group portal can be managed by different administrators, have a unique look and feel, and contain different pages and portlets.

For example, you can have an application that has three portals: one for partners, one for retail customers, and a company portal. Within the company portal you could have a manager group portal and an employee group portal. The employee group portal would have a Home page that contains portlets such as Employee Newsletter, Human Resources, and Company Store, while the manager portal might have the same portlets plus portlets such as Corporate Meetings, Administration, and Expense Reporting. Each portal could contain different pages and have different skins.

Group portal definition Group portals are different configurations of a portal. Each configuration (group portal) has a specified user group and allows delegation of privileges among administrators and users.

Delegated Administration WebLogic Portal has delegated administrative capabilities, which is sometimes called decentralized administration. Delegated administration supports the allocation of administrative tasks, where administrators can entrust other administrators or users with full or partial administrative abilities. For example, a system administrator could delegate full control of an engineering group portal to the R&D director, who in turn could delegate some administrative abilities to each of the R&D managers.

Portal Management

From the Portal Management Home, you can access the following capabilities:

Creating new portal administrators
Delegating administrative tasks to portal administrators
Creating new group portals
Accessing existing group portals for editing
Deleting group portals

To learn about portal management and portal administrators, take the following steps:

To access the Portal Management Home page, click the Portal Management icon on the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools page. The Portal Management Home page appears, as shown in Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-2 Portal Management Home—Initial

On this page you can access the default and existing group portals, create new group portals, delete group portals, and edit portal administrators.
In the right column of the Portal Management Home page, click Edit portal administrators. The Editor Portal Administrator Settings page opens, as shown in Figure 3-3.
Figure 3-3 Edit Portal Administrator Settings

On this page you can create a new administrator or select a user and access that user's administrator settings.
Click the Create New Administrator button. The Create New Portal Administrator page opens, as shown in Figure 3-4.
Figure 3-4 Create New Portal Administrator

On this page, you can choose users or administrators and access their privileges. The Admin Eligible Users list contains users who are permitted to become portal administrators and the Promotable Group Administrators list contains users that already have some administrative abilities, that is, they are already Group Portal Administrators.

Why two lists? The purpose of these lists is to help ensure that a user is not inadvertently promoted to a portal administrator. Users in the Admin Eligible list are placed there using the User Management tools accessed from the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools Home page. For more information, see "Administering Users and Groups" in the Administration Guide at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13218_01/wlp/docs70/admin/usrgrp.htm.
Select any user in either list and then click the Select User button. The New Portal Administrator Settings page opens as shown in Figure 3-5.
Figure 3-5 New Portal Administrator Settings

On this page, you can set the privileges for the new administrator. When you select a Can Manage check box, check boxes for the available privileges appear. The following list defines the meaning of the attributes:
To return to the Portal Management home, click Portal Management in the left column. The Portal Management Home page appears.
In the right column of the Portal Management Home page, click Create group portal. The Create New Group Portal page opens, as shown in Figure 3-6.
Figure 3-6 Create New Group Portal

On this page you can enter the name of the new group portal, set the orientation of the navigation bar, and access the pages that assign the user group and template.
Click the Browse User Groups button. The Select a User Group page opens as shown in Figure 3-7.
Figure 3-7 Select a User Group

A group portal is always associated with a single user group. The everyone group is automatically generated as the default user group when the portal is created. You use the User Management tools part of the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools to manage user groups. For more information about user groups, see "Administering Users and Groups" in the Administration Guide at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13218_01/wlp/docs70/admin/usrgrp.htm.
Click a user group. The Create New Group Portal page opens with the group you selected in the User Group field.
On the Create New Group Portal page, click the Browse Templates button. The Browse Templates page opens, as shown in Figure 3-8.
Figure 3-8 Browse Templates

This page allows you to select a group portal to be used as a template for the new group portal. The Portal Example gives you only two choices: Avitek Portal (default) and Avitek Users.
Click Avitek Users (Avitek). The Create New Group Portal page reappears, as shown in Figure 3-9.
Figure 3-9 Create a New Group Portal

Notice that this page now contains the ability to copy administrators and entitlements from the template.
To return to the Portal Management Home page, click Portal Management in the left column. The Portal Management Home page appears.

This completes exploring the portal management features.

Group Portal Management

Group portals are configurations of a portal for a specified user groups. Two groups portals are provided with the Portal Example: an everyone group portal and the Avitek Users group portal. The everyone group portal is the default group portal. It is the portal displayed to visitors before logging in or who are not group portal members.

The Avitek Users group portal demonstrates the features available in group portals. To learn about Group Portal Management, take the following steps:

In the right column of the Portal Management Home page, click Avitek Users (Avitek). The Portal Management Home page opens, as shown in Figure 3-10.
Figure 3-10 Group Portal Management Home

As you can see from Figure 3-10, the Group Portal Management Home page provides a number of group portal functions. The right column provides links to portal functionality and a brief description of each capability. The left menu column provides links to the same pages as those listed in the right column, plus information about the group portal.

As a system administrator, you can see all available functionality. Delegated administrators will see a subset of the functionality based on their delegated privileges. A description of each capability is presented in the sections that follow.

Appearance and Content Category

As the name suggests, you can change the content of a portal, its behavior, and its appearance.

Manage Pages and Portlets

A great deal of functionality is available in the category, including the following:

Select which pages can be used by the group, set the order that the pages appear on the navigation bar, and choose which page is the home page.
Set attributes for individual and multiple pages.
Ability to edit names of the layouts.
Change page layouts and portlet positions.
Change page and portlet attributes and entitlements.

To learn about managing pages and portlets, take the following steps:

On the Group Portal Management Home page, click Manage Pages and Portlets in the right column. Alternatively, you can click Pages & Portlets in the left menu column. The Pages and Portlets page appears, as shown in Figure 3-11.
Figure 3-11 Pages and Portlets
Click Select and Order Pages. The Select and Order Pages page appears, as shown in Figure 3-12.
Figure 3-12 Select and Order Pages

On this page, you can to do the following:
To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click the Back button. The Pages and Portlets page appears.
To set attributes for multiple pages, click Set Attributes For Multiple Pages. The Set Page Attributes page appears, as shown in Figure 3-13.
Figure 3-13 Set Page Attributes—Initial

Note: You can only set attributes for multiple pages on non default pages. Figure 3-13 shows an example that is not part of the out-of-the-box Portal Example. The default page is indicated by an asterisk.

Select Web, and then click the Set Attributes button. The Set Page Attributes page for the selected pages appears, as shown in Figure 3-14.
Figure 3-14 Set Page Attributes—Page Selected

This page allows you to set particular attributes for a single page or a group of pages. The attributes that appear are only those common to the selected pages. If only one page has been selected, all attributes are displayed. The following list defines the meaning of the attributes:
To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click Pages & Portlets in the left column. The Pages and Portlet page appears.
To change the names of the different layouts available, click Edit Layout Display Names. The Edit Layout Display Names page appears, as shown in Figure 3-15.
Figure 3-15 Edit Layout Display Names

On this page, you can change the name of the layout that is displayed to the group. The name of the layout does not change, just the name displayed to the group.
To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click the Back button. The Pages and Portlet page appears.
To view the layout options for a page, click one of the Layouts buttons. The Select Page Layouts page appears, as shown in Figure 3-16.
Figure 3-16 Select Page Layouts

On this page, you can set which layouts are available to the group and which layout is the default. The asterisk indicates the default layout.
To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click the Back button. The Pages and Portlet page appears.
To set the attributes for a page, click a page's Attributes button. The Set Page Attributes page appears, as shown in Figure 3-17.
Figure 3-17 Set Page Attributes

This page allows you to set the attributes of a particular page. The following list defines the meaning of the attributes:

Available - Makes the page available for viewing.
Visible - Makes the page visible to the visitor.
Mandatory - Overrides the visitor's ability to make a page not visible.
Display Name - Changes the name of the page.
Visitor Editable Name - Allows the visitor to change the page name.
Use Image - Use an image file, rather than text, to display the name of the page.

To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click the Back button. The Pages and Portlet page appears.
To set the entitlements for a page, click a page's Entitlements button. The Set Page Entitlements page appears, as shown in Figure 3-18.
Figure 3-18 Set Page Entitlements—Everyone

On this page, you can set page entitlements for visitor groups called entitlement segments. Page entitlements control visitor access to pages and what a visitor can and cannot change (that is, privileges).

This page shows only the everyone entitlement segment. You can add other entitlement segments to this page by clicking Add or Remove Entitlement Segments (see Figure 3-20).

About entitlement segments An entitlement segment is a group of users who have common characteristics. The Avitek user group (not Avitek Users, which is the name of the Group Portal) has three entitlement segments: Approver, Investor, and FinancialAdvisor (see Figure 3-19). Entitlement segments are defined in the E-Business Control Center. Recall that each group portal is associated with a user group, as indicated in left column.

Note: For more information about entitlement segments, see "Creating Groups to Control Page and Portlet Access" in the Administration Guide at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13218_01/wlp/docs70/admin//admin/usrgrp.htm#1182407 and the E-Business Control Center online help.
To add an entitlement segment, click Add or Remove Entitlement Segments. The Add or Remove Entitlement Segments page appears, as shown in Figure 3-19.
Figure 3-19 Add or Remove Entitlement Segments

This page allows you to select the segments for which you want to set entitlements.
Select one of the segments, move it to the Selected Entitlement Segments list, and then click the Save button. The Set Page Entitlements page appears, as shown in Figure 3-20.
Figure 3-20 Set Page Entitlements—Everyone and Approver

Now this page allows you to set the entitlements separately for the Approver segment.

Note: Abstain is a feature of distributed administration. It gives you the ability to allow other entitlements segments to determine the entitlements for a particular page. For example, if you select Abstain in the Approver's Can Remove column, the entitlement is then determined by the Everyone entitlement settings. Abstain gives you the ability to set a specific entitlement without affecting other entitlements.
To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click the Back button. The Pages and Portlets page appears.
To change portlet attributes and entitlements for a page, click the Edit Portlets button. The Edit Portlet Entitlements and Attributes page appears, as shown in Figure 3-21.
Figure 3-21 Edit Portlet Entitlements and Attributes

This page allows you select the portlets you want to edit. The changes you make to these portlets only affect the characteristics of the portlet on the selected page.
Select one or more portlets, and then click the Set Attributes button. The Set Portlet Attributes page appears, as shown in Figure 3-22.
Figure 3-22 Set Portlet Attributes for Two Pages

The following list describes the function of the check boxes:
To return to the Edit Portlet Entitlements and Attributes page, click the Back button. The Edit Portlet Entitlements and Attributes page appears.
To set entitlements for a portlet, select a portlet, and then click the Set Entitlements button. The Set Portlet Entitlements page appears, as shown in Figure 3-23.
Figure 3-23 Set Portlet Entitlements

As previously mentioned, entitlements control visitor access to pages and portlets and what visitors can and cannot change. Portlets have the added ability to be editable, as indicated by the Can Edit column.

You can add or remove entitlement segments, just as you did in the Set Page Entitlements window.
To return to the Pages and Portlets page, click Pages & Portlets in the left column. The Pages and Portlets page appears.
To change the position of portlets on a page, click the Position Portlets button for the Home page. The Home Position Portlets page appears, as shown in Figure 3-24.
Figure 3-24 Position Portlets: home

Notice that the Visible Portlet Positions on the Default Layout section contains three lists of portlets. This section reflects the three-column layout of the page, which is its out-of-the-box default. If you select a portlet, that portlet's attributes are also displayed and editable on this page.

Note: If you have changed the default layout, this section will reflect that layout.
Click the Back button, and then click the Position Portlets button for the Web page. The Web Position Portlets page appears, as shown in Figure 3-25.
Figure 3-25 Position Portlets: web

Notice that Visible Portlet Positions on the Default Layout section now contains two groups of portlets, reflecting the default two-column layout for the Web page.

Note: If you have changed the layout for this page, it will reflect the layout that you selected.

Click the Back button. The Pages and Portlets page appears.
Return to the Group Portal Management Home by clicking the Group Portal Mgmt. link near the top of the left menu column.

Select Skins

Skins define the overall appearance of the portal; skins define the fonts, colors, and graphics used by the portal and its pages and portlets. The Portal Example provides five skins as samples. A skin is a cascading style sheet (CSS) and a set of images. An HTML designer and a graphic artist can design new skins. After a skin is designed and placed in the proper directories, you need to use the E-Business Control Center to make the skin available to the Portal Management tools.

To learn about the group skins functionality, do the following:

On the Group Portal Management Home page, click Select Skins in the right column. Alternatively, you can click Skins in the left menu column. The Select Skins page appears, as shown in Figure 3-26.
Figure 3-26 Select Skins

On this page, you can define which skins are available to the group and which skin is the default skin. Unused skins are not visible to the group. Additionally, you can access the page to change the names of the skins.
To change the name that is displayed for a skin, click the Edit Skin Display Names button. The Edit Skin Display Names page appears, as shown in Figure 3-27.
Figure 3-27 Edit Skin Display Names

This page allows you to change the name that is displayed for a skin. The actual name of the skin is not changed, just the name displayed to the group.
To return to the Group Portal Management Home, click Group Portal Mgmt. in the left menu column.

Group Portal Attributes

This category allows you to choose the user group associated with the group portal and edit the name displayed in the group portal.

What is a user group? A user group consists of users that have been defined in the User Management Administration Tools part of the WebLogic Portal Administration Tools. Alternatively, users can be integrated into WebLogic Portal from a third-party system using Unified User Profile (UUP).

Group portals and user groups A group portal is always associated with a user group. You assign a user group to group portal in the Portal Management section, as described in Portal Management. You create user groups and add users to groups in the User Management tools part of WebLogic Portal Administration Tools., and you create user properties in the E-Business Control Center. For more information about user groups, see "Administering Users and Groups" in the Administration Guide at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13218_01/wlp/docs70/admin/usrgrp.htm and the E-Business Control Center online help

To learn about the Group Portal Attributes, do the following:

On the Group Portal Management Home page, click the Group Portal Attributes link in either column. The Group Portal Attributes page opens, as shown in Figure 3-28.
Figure 3-28 Group Portal Attributes

On this page, you can change the orientation of the navigation bar and change the name that is displayed for the group portal. Figure 3-29 shows an example of a vertical navigation bar.

Figure 3-29 Vertical Navigation Bar
Click the Browse User Groups button. The Select a User Group page opens, as shown in Figure 3-30.
Figure 3-30 Select a User Group

On this page, you can search and assign a user group to a group portal. Every group portal has exactly one user group.

The left column indicates any changes made in the group assignment and name, as shown in Figure 3-31.

Figure 3-31 Changing User Groups

Return to the Group Portal Management Home by clicking Group Portal Mgmt. in the left menu column.

User and Group Management

This category allows you to manage users and set user group properties. Specifically, you can do the following:

View, edit, remove, and create visitors in a user group (User Management).
View and edit properties in the user group associated with the group portal (User Group Management).

About properties You define user group properties in the E-Business Control Center and set the default values. In Group Management, you can set the properties for groups associated with group portals. For more information about defining properties, see E-Business Control Center online help.

User Management

User management allows you to view, edit, remove, and create visitors in a user group.

To learn about user management, do the following: