Administering Portal Homepages and Pagelets

This chapter provides an overview of portal homepage and pagelet administration and discusses how to:

• Manage tabbed homepages.

• Manage pagelet attributes.

See Also

Working With Browser-Based Applications

Personalizing Your Homepage

Understanding Portal Homepage and Pagelet Administration

Available homepage functionality differs based on the products that you have licensed. Each users' homepage data is stored in a separate set of tables named PSPRUHDEFN (which is updated when a user personalizes the homepage), PSPRUHTAB, and PSPRUHTABPGLT. Based on the data in these tables, a personalized HTML homepage is generated.

As a portal administrator, you can create multiple homepages that users can view as a series of tabs across the top of the homepage. To accomplish this, you create additional homepage tabs with content specific to target community audiences.

Pagelet Loading

Portal homepages load each pagelet individually when you sign on. The pagelet appears as you see in this example, indicating that it's currently loading its data.

Managing Tabbed Homepages

This section discusses how to:

• Add homepage tabs.

• Configure tab attributes.

• Select the tab content.

• Specify the tab layout.

• Rearrange the tab order.

• Troubleshoot homepages.

Pages Used to Manage Tabbed Homepages

Adding Homepage Tabs

To add a new homepage tab:

1. Select PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content.

2. Click the Portal Objects link.

3. Click the Homepage link.

4. Click the Tabs link.

5. Click the Add Content Reference link.

Configuring Homepage Tabs

Access the Content Ref Administration - General page. (Select PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content. Click the Portal Objects link. Click the Hompage link. Click the Tabs link).

Name	Enter a unique name for the tab. The value you specify in the Name field can consist of up to 50 letters, digits, and underscores ( _ ). It cannot contain any spaces and cannot begin with a digit.
Label	Enter the label to display on the tab.
Usage Type	Select Homepage tab to create a tabbed homepage or an operational dashboard. When you select Homepage tab, two additional pages appear in the component: the Tab Content and Tab Layout pages.
Valid from date	Enter the date that the tab becomes visible to the end user. You can enter a date to remove the tab from display.
Allow rename	Select this check box to enable users to rename the tab label of the homepage tab using the Personalize Content page.

Homepage Tab Attributes

Use the Homepage tab attributes group box of the Content Ref Administration page to enable users to rename the homepage tab label, as well as associate a help topic with the homepage tab, hide the pagelet action bar, and specify a homepage as an operational dashboard.

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Creating Homepage Tabs

To create homepage tabs:

1. Click the Add Content Reference link.

2. Enter a name and label for the new tab.

   Note. The label value appears as the homepage tab name.

3. In the Usage Type field, select Homepage tab.

   After selecting Homepage tab, the page refreshes to display two additional pages, the Tab Content and Tab Layout pages.

4. In the Valid from date field, enter the date that you want the tab to first appear for your users. Optionally, enter a valid to date to remove the tab from use.

5. Select the homepage tab attributes.

6. Define the tab content and tab layout.

   See Selecting the Tab Content.

   See Arranging the Tab Layout.

7. Click the Save button.

8. To view the newly defined tab, click Home to return to your homepage.

See Also

Setting Content Reference Security

Creating WorkCenter Operational Dashboard Pages

Selecting the Tab Content

Access the Tab Content page (click the Tab Content tab).

To select pagelets for the homepage:

1. Select the check box for the pagelet to appear on the homepage tab.

   Select the Include All? check box to select all pagelets in the category.

   Note. The user must have security access to the pagelet component for the pagelet to be properly displayed on the homepage.

2. Use the drop-down list to select the pagelet behavior.

   Optional	The pagelet does not appear automatically on the homepage. However, it is available for users when personalizing the homepage.
   Opt-Dflt (option-default)	The pagelet appears on all user homepages, if the users have access to the pagelet. The pagelet can be removed when users personalize the homepage.
   Req-Fix (required-fixed)	The pagelet appears on all user homepages, if users have access to the pagelet. The placement of the pagelet can not be changed, and it also cannot be removed.
   Required	The pagelet appears on all user homepages if users have access to the pagelet. The placement of the pagelet can be changed, but it cannot be removed.

3. Click the Save button.

Note. Content outside of PeopleSoft applications is available only with PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal.

Important! When selecting content for inclusion on any PeopleSoft homepage, only one pagelet or portlet should use the calendar prompt. If more than one pagelet or portlet per homepage uses the calendar prompt, unexpected results might occur.

Arranging the Tab Layout

Access the Tab Layout page (click the Tab Layout tab).

Label	Displays the label information from the Content Ref Administration page.
Basic Layout	Select to display the pagelets in either two or three columns on the homepage. To specify the three-column layout, be sure that at least one pagelet does not have the Req-Fix behavior option selected on the Tab Content page.
Columns	Displays the pagelets selected on the Tab Content page in the column sections. If the basic layout is two columns, the pagelets are divided into left and right columns. If the basic layout is three columns, the pagelets are divided into left, center, and right columns. Note. A pound sign (#) indicates a pagelet with the Req-Fix behavior option selected on the Tab Content page. An asterisk (*) indicates a pagelet with the Required behavior option selected on the Tab Content page. For example, #Signon indicates that the Signon pagelet cannot be moved to a different location on the homepage.
	Use to position the pagelets. Highlight a pagelet, and then click the directional arrow buttons to move the selected pagelet above a pagelet, below a pagelet, to the next column to the right, or the next column tothe left.
Delete Pagelet	Highlight a pagelet and then click to delete it from the homepage.

To arrange the tab layout:

1. Select a basic layout option.

2. Select the pagelet name.

3. Click the directional arrow buttons to position the pagelets.

4. Click the Save button.

Note. The portal administrator determines the flexibility of the layout of the pagelets based on the settings that you select on both the Tab Content and Tab Layout pages. Grant the end user as much or as little flexibility as your organization demands.

Rearranging the Tab Order

The sequence number determines the homepage tab order. The tabs appear with the lowest sequence number first. If any numbers are identical, then the order is alphanumeric. If no sequence numbers exist, the default is considered to be zero. For example, if no sequence numbers are entered, the default is zero, and the order is alphanumeric.

To rearrange the tab order:

1. Select PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content.

2. Click the Portal Objects link.

3. Click the Homepage link.

4. Click the Tabs link.

5. Click the Edit link for each tab that you want to reorder.

6. Enter a number in the Sequence field.

If caching is turned on for the portal, the tab order change does not take effect until the caching recycles or the web server is restarted.

Troubleshooting Homepages

Under most circumstances, PeopleTools portal technology assembles homepages by simultaneously retrieving content for all the pagelets referenced on the homepage. As a result, the portal renders the homepage as soon as the user signs in and immediately begins loading individual pagelets. Under certain circumstances, pagelets do not load simultaneously, but load sequentially.

Sequential Pagelet Retrieval

When document.write or document.writeln scripts are detected inside a pagelet, the homepage loads all pagelets sequentially. This is required to properly assemble that pagelet's content. For example, consider a homepage with the following pagelets, each of which loads in the time indicated:

• Pagelet A: 0.5 seconds

• Pagelet B: 1.2 seconds

• Pagelet C: 33.5 seconds

• Pagelet D: 2.3 seconds

Note. These pagelets can all have relatively quick average load times, but any pagelet might be excessively slow on occasion.

The total time required to retrieve all the pagelets is 37.5 seconds, which is disproportionately skewed by pagelet C. Some reasons for this could be that pagelet C's URL is incorrect or has changed, the domain name server can't resolve the URL, the content server is down or unreachable, the content server is behind a firewall, or the content server is temporarily unavailable. As a result of such high retrieval times, the total time to render the homepage is unacceptable to the user, and for practical purposes the pagelet is unavailable.

You can respond to unavailable pagelets by specifying a time-out period during which each pagelet must load. This improves portal homepage performance by enabling the system to present the homepage quickly in spite of an individual pagelet's unavailability. You specify a pagelet time-out as a content reference attribute on the pagelet's Content Ref Administration page.

See Configuring Pagelet Time-outs.

Managing Pagelet Attributes

This section discusses how to:

• Manage pagelet attributes.

• Configure pagelet Help links.

• Configure pagelet time outs.

• Configure pagelet refresh attributes.

Page Used to Manage Pagelet Attributes

Managing Pagelet Attributes

Access the Content Ref Administration page (PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content. Click the Edit link for the appropriate content reference).

Select Pagelet in the Usage Type drop-down list box.

Use the Pagelet Attributes group box to select the default column for a pagelet, associate a help topic with the pagelet, set refresh time, and hide certain buttons from users.

This table describes the pagelet attribute fields:

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Note. When document.write or document.writeln scripts are detected inside a pagelet, the whole homepage will be refreshed instead of just that pagelet. This is required to properly assemble that pagelet's content.

See Implementing Pagelet Caching.

Edit URL Information

Use the Node Name and URL Type fields to specify a page to be used for personalizing this pagelet, and to make the personalization button appear in the pagelet header.

See Also

Administering Content References

Configuring Pagelet Help Links

To specify pagelet help:

1. Select PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content, Portal Objects, and navigate to the Content Ref Administration (content reference administration) page for the pagelet.

   You define the pagelet help in the Content Reference Attributes region of the page.

2. Enter PTPPB_PAGELET_HELP_LINK in the Name field.

3. Leave the Label field blank.

4. Clear the Translate check box.

   Note. You must clear the Translate check box or unexpected results might occur.

5. In the Attribute Value field, enter the URL of the location of your help document, for example http://www.mycompany.com/help_doc1.html

6. Save the content reference.

Note. The pagelet Help URL takes precedence over the Help ID, when both attributes are set for a pagelet.

Note. The help button appears only when the pagelet is on the homepage inside the PeopleSoft Portal; it will not appear when the pagelet is displayed as a WSRP portlet.

See Also

Administering Content References

Configuring Pagelet Time-outs

To specify a pagelet time-out:

1. Select PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content, Portal Objects, and navigate to the Content Ref Administration (content reference administration) page for the pagelet.

   You define the pagelet time-out in the Content Reference Attributes region of the page.

2. Enter PSTIMEOUT in the Name field.

3. Enter PSTimeout in the Label field.

4. In the Attribute Value field, enter number of seconds before the pagelet is considered unavailable. This can be any positive integer.

   Note. The portal ignores this attribute if you specify 0 or a negative value, or if the content reference isn't a pagelet.

5. Save the content reference.

When your specified time-out expires, the portal stops attempting to load the pagelet and generates an error message.

See Also

Administering Content References

Configuring Look and Feel

Configuring Automatic Pagelet Refresh Attributes

To specify a pagelet refresh time in seconds:

1. Select PeopleTools, Portal, Structure and Content, Portal Objects, and navigate to the Content Ref Administration (content reference administration) page for the pagelet.

   You define the pagelet time-out in the Content Reference Attributes region of the page.

2. Enter the number of seconds for automatic refresh in the Refresh Time (sec) field.

3. (Optional) Check the Hide refresh image check box to prevent manual pagelet refresh by the user.

4. Save the content reference.

Note. Pagelets with document.write or document.writeln should not have the refresh timer set (to automatically refresh every x number of seconds) because this requires that the whole homepage be refreshed every x number of seconds.