This chapter covers the following topics:
Creating configuration models is an iterative process in which you create a Model, test and update it, and then retest it until the Model is approved for production use. Typically, a configuration model is tested under a variety of conditions to prepare it for the various ways in which it will be used by Oracle Configurator end users to configure products and services. When a configuration model is ready for testing or production use, you must publish it. Publishing makes the Model structure, rules, and UI available to host applications such as Oracle Order Management or iStore.
Publishing is a two-step process. You first create a Model publication in Configurator Developer. Then, you run an Oracle Applications concurrent program to copy all configuration model data to the database that you specified when creating the publication. The target database can be the same database on which Configurator Developer is running, or a different one. The result of the copied configuration model data is called a publication. (Publishing a Model to a remote database instance prevents Oracle Configurator Developer from running on that instance. For information about converting a publication target instance back to a development instance, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.)
A configuration model can have multiple User Interfaces and you can create many publications for the same Model. However, a publication corresponds to only one configuration model and User Interface.
When an Oracle Applications end user launches Oracle Configurator from a host application, the Configurator searches the database for the publication whose definition matches the information sent by the host application. If no matching publication is found but the Model was created from an imported BOM Model, Oracle Configurator displays the BOM Model in the Generic Configurator UI. If no matching publication is found and the Model was created in Configurator Developer, Oracle Configurator displays an error.
For details about the Generic Configurator UI, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
All UI Content Templates that a UI references are published automatically when you publish or republish a Model.
Related Topics
Before you publish a configuration model, be sure that you understand the publication process and carefully plan for how publications will be used.
Refer to the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide for:
Things to consider when planning publications
Details about how a host application selects a publication
A description of the database tables used during the publishing process
Examples of how to maintain publications once they are available in your production environment For an example of how a sample organization maintains its Model publications, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide
An example of how a sample organization maintains its Model publications
Following is an overview of the publishing process:
Using Oracle Configurator Developer, create a publication request. This creates a new record in the database on which Configurator Developer is running.
For details, see Creating a New Model Publication.
Create the publication on the target database by running a concurrent program.
For details, see Copying Model Data to a Database.
Note: The publication cannot be viewed in a runtime Oracle Configurator until the publication concurrent program completes successfully.
Following is an overview of how to system test a publication:
Test the publication by invoking the Model from a host application such as Oracle Order Management, iStore, or TeleSales to ensure that it functions as intended.
Refer toIntroduction to Unit Testing , and your host application’s documentation, for more information.
Use Oracle Configurator Developer to make any necessary changes to the Model, rules, UI, or the publication’s definition.
Republish the Model so the changes you made in Configurator Developer are visible to end users.
Republishing is explained in Republishing a Model.
Note: It may also be necessary to synchronize publication data for configuration models that are based on imported BOM Models. For more information about data synchronization, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
When testing is complete, make the Model available for production use.
If you use the same database for both development and production activities, you can do this by changing the existing publication’s Mode applicability parameter from Test to Production.
If you maintain separate development and production environments, create a new publication in your production database. If your system is set up correctly, you can do this by selecting your production database from a list.
When Model data changes in Oracle Bills of Material, or you modify the Model structure, any rules, or its UI in Configurator Developer, you must republish the configuration model. Republishing updates an existing publication by copying all new and modified data to the target database. Republishing a Model and UI also updates any UI Content Templates that the UI references, since the templates may have changed since the Model was published.
You cannot modify a publication’s applicability parameters when republishing. To modify a publication’s applicability parameters, see Editing a Model Publication.
When you republish a Model, Configurator Developer creates a new publication record, changes the status of the existing publication to Pending Update, and adds a new publication record ID at the end of the existing publication. The new publication ID that is appended to the existing record indicates that the two records are related.
For example, publication record 1001 exists for Model M1 and its status is Complete. Republishing a Model shows how Configurator Developer creates a new record (ID # 1002) when you create a request to republish Model M1.
| ID | Model | UI | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1001 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/23/2000 12:01 | Pending Update {1002} |
| 1002 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/25/2000 14:35 | Pending |
If you decide that you do not want to create the publication, you can delete the Pending process (ID 1002) before its status changes to Complete. Deleting a publication is explained in Deleting a Publication.
Processing a Republish Concurrent Request shows how the new publication record’s status changes to Processing when one of the publishing concurrent program selects it.
| ID | Model | UI | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1001 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/23/2000 12:01 | Pending Update {1002} |
| 1002 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/25/2000 14:35 | Processing |
Updating Status when Republish is Successful shows how Configurator Developer updates the publication records when the concurrent program successfully copies the Model data to the target database, and creates the publication on the target database. That is, the status of the new record changes to Complete and the old record (ID 1001) no longer appears.
| ID | Model | UI | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1002 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/25/2000 14:35 | Complete |
Updating Status when Republish Fails shows how Configurator Developer updates the publication records when the concurrent program fails. In this case, the status of the original publication reverts to Complete and the new record is set to Error.
| ID | Model | UI | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1001 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/23/2000 12:01 | Complete |
| 1002 | M1 | UI-1 | 11/25/2000 14:35 | Error |
When a publishing request fails, you must manually delete the publication request (in this example, ID 1002). For details, see Deleting a Publication.
To republish a Model, see Republishing a Model.
You specify applicability parameters to control a publication’s availability to host applications. When an end user invokes Oracle Configurator, the host application creates an initialization message. To display the publication, the parameters in this message must exactly match the publication’s applicability parameters; otherwise, the runtime Oracle Configurator displays an error. For more information about the initialization message, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
You can create multiple publications for the same configuration model on the same database, but every publication’s applicability parameters must be unique. In other words, publications with overlapping applicability parameters cannot exist on the same database. For details, see Overlapping Applicability Parameters.
Applicability parameters determine which publication to display based on the following criteria:
Mode: Use this parameter to specify whether the publication is used for production or testing activities, or if it is unavailable. Values include Test, Production, and Disabled. Only publications with a mode of Production or Test can be accessed by a host application such as Order Management or iStore. A publication marked as Disabled is unavailable to host applications, but is not deleted from the database.
Applications: Use this parameter to specify which host applications can access the publication. For example, you can specify that a publication is available to Oracle Order Management and iStore, but not TeleSales. For more information about this parameter, see the chapter on publishing in the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
For a complete list of host applications, see the current release or patch information for Oracle Configurator on MetaLink, Oracle's technical support Web site.
Languages: Use this parameter to specify in which languages the publication is available. You must select at least one language. The list of values includes the base language and all installed languages on the Oracle Applications database on which Configurator Developer is running. For more information, see Introduction to Multiple Language Support .
Usages: Use this parameter to indicate whether the publication is available based on the Usage specified by the host application. By default, a publication’s availability is not limited to a specific Usage, and the Usages applicability parameter is set to "Any Usage."
Oracle Applications products (such as Order Management and iStore) use a profile option to determine the Usage name to use when selecting a publication. For details, see the Oracle Configurator Installation Guide.
For general information about Usages, seeIntroduction to Effectivity.
For an example of how you can use Usages to limit a publication’s availability, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
Date Range: Use this parameter to indicate that the publication is always available, never available, or is available only for a specific period of time. The Start and End dates may range from 01/01/1601 through 12/31/4710, inclusive.
The dates and times you specify here determine only whether the publication is available when accessed by a host application; the effective dates (or Effectivity Set) defined within the Model itself determine whether parts of the Model structure, configuration rules, or UIs are available at runtime.
Note: Oracle Configurator compares the time period you specify for the Date Range parameter to the system date of the target database in which the publication exists. If the time on the machine on which the publication was created and the time on the machine on which the host application is running are not the same, the Model may not appear as expected. To resolve this issue, override the default Valid From setting by selecting the No Start Date box.
Only one publication can exist on the same database for the same product, publication mode, application, Usage, and so on. If other publications currently exist on the target database, at least one applicability parameter must be unique to create the new publication. Oracle Configurator Developer ensures that any changes you make to existing publications will not create conflicting applicability parameters.
Comparing Applicability Parameters provides examples of how Configurator Developer does not allow multiple publications for the same Model on the same target database instance.
| Applicability Parameter | Publication A | Publication B | Publication C | Publication D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publication Mode | Test | Test | Test | Test |
| Applications | OM | iStore, Order Capture, OM | OM | OM |
| Usage | Desktop_A1 | Desktop_A1 | Desktop_A1 | LaptopPC |
| Date Range | 10-JUN-00 to 01-DEC-00 | 10-JUN-00 to 01-DEC-00 | 10-OCT-00 to 10-DEC-00 | 10-JUN-00 to 01-DEC-00 |
| Creation Status: Successful | Creation Status: Failed | Creation Status: Failed | Creation Status: Successful |
In this example, the configuration model is successfully published and the result is Publication A and Publication D. When you compare this publication with requests to create publications B and C, you can see that:
The request to create Publication B fails because although the publication is available to iStore and Order Capture, it is also available to Order Management (OM). Therefore, the Applications parameters overlap.
The request to create Publication C also fails because the date ranges overlap.
Publication D is created successfully because the Usage specified is unique, even though all of its other applicability parameters are the same as Publication A’s.
For more information about maintaining publications, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.