Use Oracle Content Management Applications

Introduction

Oracle Content Management (OCM) provides a content apps platform which allows you to develop and deploy web applications that run in the context of Oracle Content Management (using it as the content management system). Use the Oracle Content Management apps framework to create custom solutions that extend the features of OCM to suit your user scenarios.

The application framework and demo apps are not available in the Starter Edition of Oracle Content Management.

The applications portal provides some pre-built applications that get you started with Oracle Content Management features quickly. These apps use a variety of web technologies including Oracle Jet, Preact, Java, and more. You can install and configure these apps for your specific use cases.

Access the Applications Portal

You set up and deploy apps in the Oracle Content Management web interface, which includes an Applications page. To see the Applications option in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION), you need to have the service administrator (CECServiceAdministrator) role in Oracle Content Management.

In addition, you must have the following roles in Oracle Content Management to install and manage apps:

Depending on the type of app you’re deploying, you may also need the repository administrator (CECRepositoryAdministrator) role to create repositories, publishing channels, and/or taxonomies in Oracle Content Management before installing an app.

The Applications page has two main sections:

Landing page for the applications portal in the Oracle Content Management web interface.

Pre-Built Apps

The applications portal includes some pre-built demo and sample apps:

These demo and sample apps are only available in the Premium Edition of Oracle Content Management, not in the Starter Edition.

Email Builder App

Email Builder is a demo Oracle Content Management app which provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface for marketers to create e-mails that can be downloaded for use with e-mail campaign management tools of your choice, including Oracle Responsys.

See the Email Builder documentation for full details.

Overview page for the Email Builder app in the Oracle Content Management applications portal.

Video Hub App

Video Hub is a demo Oracle Content Management app which enables you to easily organize, sort, browse, and search your collection of advanced videos hosted in Oracle Content Management.

See the Video Hub documentation for full details.

Video Hub app for Oracle Content Management.

Asset Activity Timeline App

Asset Activity Timeline is a demo app which lets you track all the activities of an asset and filter the activities based on your preferences. The app presents the activities in both a timeline view and a table view, so you can find relevant insights quickly.

Asset Activity Timeline app for Oracle Content Management.

Type Visualization App

Type Visualization is a demo app which lets you select content types, and then view and evaluate the content in a visual representation. The visualization not only showcases the additions of data fields, but also relationships between each referenced type, and provides insights into the number of repositories where assets were added. Choose between linear, circular, or force-directed layout for your visualization.

Type Visualization app for Oracle Content Management.

Explore the Available Apps

To see the available apps on your Oracle Content Management instance:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface as an administrator.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Discover tab.

This page shows all apps that are available for installation. This includes both the pre-built apps and any custom apps deployed to the system. You can install an app from here. After you install an app, it’s listed on the Installed Apps tab.

Discover tab of Oracle Content Management Applications page.

Install an App

To use an app, you must first install it from the list of available apps on the Discover page. This will create an instance of the app in your Oracle Content Management instance. Some apps can be installed on the same Oracle Content Management instance multiple times (for example, Video Hub), while others can be installed only once (for example, Email Builder).

In order to install and manage apps, you must have the following roles in Oracle Content Management:

Depending on the type of app you’re installing, you may also need the repository administrator (CECRepositoryAdministrator) role to create repositories, publishing channels, and/or taxonomies in Oracle Content Management before installing an app.

If you want multiple users to install or configure apps, it’s recommended that you create a user group in your identity domain (IAM or IDCS) to avoid permission issues with application artifacts.
After creating or modifying any groups, make sure to resynchronize the group with Oracle Content Management.

Once an application is installed with a group name, only users in that group can subsequently install, upgrade, or uninstall the application, or change its runtime configuration or instance middleware secret.

Identity domain groups can only be added for an application if there are no existing instances of that application. In addition, identity domain groups can’t be added during an application upgrade.

To install an app:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface as an administrator.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Discover tab.

  4. Open the tile of the application you want to install.

  5. On the application overview page, click Install.

    Video Hub application overview page.

  6. Enter a name of your application instance. Depending on the application, you may be prompted to provide some additional information, such as the name of a repository to use for the application. When you’re done, click Confirm.

    You need Manager permissions to perform tasks with repositories. If you’ve created a user group and assigned the required roles to the group in your identity domain, then all of the application artifacts—templates, content types, components, repositories, and themes—will be shared with the user group during the installation.

  7. The application is now installed.

View the Installed Apps

To view the apps that are installed on your Oracle Content Management instance:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface as an administrator.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Installed Apps tab.

This page shows all apps that are currently installed on your Oracle Content Management instance. This includes both the pre-built apps and any custom apps. You can configure or launch an app from here, or view its activity.

Installed Apps tab of Oracle Content Management Applications page.

Configure an Installed App

Configure your app for use with Oracle Content Management. Some apps may not have any configuration options. You can only configure apps that you installed yourself or for which you were granted admin privileges.

To configure an installed app instance:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface as an administrator.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Installed Apps tab.

  4. Open the three-dotted instance menu for the app, and choose Configure.

  5. Modify the app configuration settings as needed and click Submit when you’re done.

The configuration settings will take effect immediately, but users may need to log off the app and log back in to see the changes.

Configuration interface for Video Hub app in the Oracle Content Management applications portal.

Launch an Installed App

After installing an app, launch it to use the app. You can only launch apps that you installed yourself or for which you were granted admin privileges.

Depending on the app, other users may be able to use the app, too. For example, you can share the URL of a Video Hub gallery with other users so they can view and filter the videos. They’ll need to have a user account to the Oracle Content Management instance that the video gallery is running on, but they don’t need any special privileges. Access to other apps may be more restricted.

To launch an installed app instance:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface as an administrator.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Installed Apps tab.

  4. Select your app. Click View Instances to open the three-dotted instance menu for the app, and choose Launch.

Depending on the app configuration, you may see two site names in the list: one for the public version and one for the private (authenticated) version.

The app launches and you can use it. Here’s an example of what the Video Hub app looks like:

Video Hub app for Oracle Content Management.

View App Activity

After installing and configuring an app, you may want to monitor how people interact with it.

To view the activities of an installed app:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface as an administrator.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Installed Apps tab and click View Activities in the app tile. Or, click View Instances, open the three-dotted instance menu for an app, and choose Activity.

You’ll see all recent activity for the installed app instance(s), such as when it was installed and (re)configured, and by whom.

App activity for the Video Hub app for Oracle Content Management.

Remove an App

To uninstall an app:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Content Management web interface.

  2. Click Applications in the left navigation menu (under ADMINISTRATION). If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the required user privileges.

  3. On the Applications page, open the Installed Apps tab.

  4. Open the three-dotted instance menu for the app, and choose Uninstall. You can only uninstall app instances that you installed yourself or for which you were granted admin privileges.

If you uninstall an app, any associated repositories, publishing channels, taxonomies, and assets will remain in the system. They’re not removed automatically with the app.