6 Setting Up Community Infrastructure

In the staging phase, you use the portal resources created in development to create the Community templates with which portal administrators and end-users create Communities. If you developed custom content management functionality for your Community, set up the required content properties in staging.

In this phase you also set up visitor entitlements and delegated administration on Community resources and configure cache for performance management in this phase. After your application is configured and tested, you deploy it to the production environment.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 6.1, "Creating a Community Template"
Section 6.2, "Community Properties Reference"
Section 6.3, "Deploying Communities"

6.1 Creating a Community Template

A Community template lets users create a Community that has specific features and characteristics. As a portal administrator, you create Community templates for end users that have specific characteristics, depending on Community needs. For example, the template for a financial Community would have different books, pages, and portlets than the template for a music Community.

Because of the unique characteristics of each Community, Community templates must be well planned from the design phase through the development phase. Once you enter the production environment, a Community must look and behave in the desired way.

You can create Community templates based on resources provided by your development team (*.ctmeta or *.portal files) or based on existing books, shells, and Look and Feel files in the portal library. You can also create a new book that your template will use.

Perform the following steps to create a Community template:

If necessary, create a new portal in the WebLogic Portal.
In the Portal Resources tree, expand the Portals directory, select your Portal, select Templates, and select Community Templates.
On the Community Templates page, click Create Community Template. The Create Community Template wizard appears.
In Step 1 of 6 in the wizard, select the source for your template and click Next. Use Search or Show All to display the available resources.
- From a Community template metadata file – Lets you select any *.ctmeta file your development team has created. These files contain preconfigured Community properties, making Community creation easier when more technical properties have been preset. This is the recommended method and is the most common method to create a Community template.
- Select resources in the Library – Lets you create a Community using an existing book, or a book you create yourself, in the portal Library. Make sure the book you select was designed to be used in a Community.
  
  Note:
  If you create a new book in the template-building process, after the template is created you must go into the portal Library and configure the book with the resources you want it to have.
- From a .portal file – Lets you create a Community using an existing .portal file created by your development team. Make sure the .portal you select was designed to be used as a Community.
In Step 2 of 6, select the appropriate resource and click Next.
In Step 3 of 6, enter the following information and click Next:
- Title (required) - The title that appears when selecting the template.
- Description (optional) - The description appears when an end user creates a Community using this template. It helps the Community creator understand which template he is selecting.
- Default Shell (required) - Select a shell that includes the Community Tools. Confirm this with your development team.
- Look and Feel (required) - Select a look and feel designed for or compatible with the Community.
- Add this template to the Library (optional) – Select the check box if you want to use the template to create additional Communities in the current portal web project.
In Step 4 of 6, set any available properties for the Community and click Create Template. See Section 6.2, "Community Properties Reference" for property descriptions. You can also click Review Properties to review what you enter here.
In Step 5 of 6, if you have an existing Community template you are prompted to resolve conflicts. Some of the resources your template uses (such as books, pages, and portlets) might have the same internal names as existing resources. The resources might be exactly the same, or new resources might have matching names. This window lets you decide what to do with the resources your template is using; click Next after you determine how to resolve the conflict. Review the Community properties and click Create Template. (If you clicked Create Template in Step 7, you can skip this step.)

Note:
XML markup refers to the basic definition and configuration of the portlet, which does not include end-user customizations.
In Step 6 of 6, view the summary of the created template and click Finish. Portal administrators and end users can now create a Community based on that Community template.

6.2 Community Properties Reference

Community properties can be set in the following ways:

In development, when developers create .ctmeta files that portal administrators use to create Community templates and Communities.
In production, when portal administrators create Community templates based on library resources or .portal files.
In production, when end users create Communities based on existing Community templates.

The following are descriptions of Community properties.

Title – The default name of the Community that appears in the user interface. The title can be overridden by the localized Community title.
Description – The default description of the Community that appears in the user interface. The description can be overridden by the localized Community description.
Allow non-members to access this community – If set to true (checked), anyone can access the community without registering as a member.
Allow anyone to register for community membership – If set to true (checked), anyone can register as a member in the Community without first receiving an invitation.
Allow people to customize their view and add personal pages – If set to false (unchecked), the Visitor Tools are disabled in the Community. Community administrators, however, can still access the Community Tools.
Registration Uri/Page – The path to the Community registration page, usually the home page for a Community.
Error Uri/Page – The path to the error page that is displayed when a user is not allowed access a Community; for example, if the user is not a member or the Community is disabled.
Expiration Date - The date when the Community will automatically become inactive.
Make this community active now / Status – If set to Inactive, only Community members with an administrative capability can access the Community.
Track member visits to this community – If set to yes, the number of times members visit the Community is stored in the virtual content repository.
Callback Class – The name of the class (including the package path information) that performs special tasks when the Community is created, activated, deactivated, or deleted.
Enable Tree Optimization – If set to true, improves Community performance. For more information on this feature, see Designing Portals for Optimal Performance in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Portal Development Guide for Oracle WebLogic Portal.

6.3 Deploying Communities

The WebLogic Portal propagation tools do not support the propagation of Communities. The tools support only propagation of Community templates. For this reason, do not create Communities in the staging environment. Create them in the production environment.

To test your Communities prior to making them public in the production environment, create them as inactive. The Community creator can then configure and test the Community before activating it.

For information on deployment and propagation, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Production Operations Guide for Oracle WebLogic Portal.