1.1 Release Notes for Oracle WebCenter Portal

Learn about new features, deprecated and intent to deprecate items, and known issues for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Topics:

1.1.1 New Features

For an overview of the new features and enhancements for Oracle WebCenter Portal, see What's New for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

1.1.2 Certification Information

To see versions of platforms, supported browser and related software for which Oracle WebCenter Portal is certified and supported, go to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/fusion-certification-100350.html.

1.1.3 Product Documentation

For complete documentation on Oracle WebCenter Portal go to http://docs.oracle.com/en/middleware/

1.1.4 Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com.

1.1.5 Intent to Deprecate

The following features will be deprecated in the next major release of Oracle WebCenter Portal:

  • Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP) feature in WebCenter Portal will be deprecated. IMP lets you see the presence status of other authenticated application users (online, offline, busy, or away), and it provides quick access to interaction options, such as instant messages (IM) and mail.
  • The Personal Microsoft Exchange calendar events feature that allows you to schedule events that are not related to a particular portal will be deprecated in WebCenter Portal.

The above two features will be removed, and will not be available for existing and new customers, starting the next major release of Oracle WebCenter Portal.

1.1.6 Deprecated Features

The following features are deprecated in WebCenter Portal 12c (12.2.1.4):

Deprecated Features Notes

Document Task Flows

List of the Document Task Flows that are deprecated:
  • Document Explorer task flow - Replaced by Content Manager task flow, which is based on WebCenter Content ADF UI.
  • Document List Viewer task flow - Replaced by Content Presenter task flow.
  • Document Manager task flow - Replaced by Content Manager task flow, which is based on WebCenter Content ADF UI.
  • Document Navigator task flow - Deprecated. No replacement.
  • Folder Viewer task flow - Replaced by Content Manager task flow, which is based on WebCenter Content ADF UI.
  • Recent Documents task flow - Deprecated. No replacement.
  • Document Viewer task flow - Replaced by Content Viewer task flow, which is based on WebCenter Content ADF UI.
  • Document Mini Properties task flow - Deprecated. No replacement.
  • Document Properties task flow - Deprecated. No replacement.
  • Document Version History task flow - Deprecated. No replacement.
The Document Manager task flow has few settings that are not available in the Content Manager task flow. The Document Manager task flow has the following settings that are not available in the Content Manager task flow:
  • Connection Name: In 11g, we were able to select different content repositories to show information in the task flow. This option is not available in the Content Manager task flow. In 12c, we can only have one Content server connection.
  • Features Off - In 11g, we were able to specify a list of disabled features for the task flow. For example, search, advanced search, clipboard, rename, newfolder, upload, checkin, checkout, editoffice, edithtml, delete, sidebars, and history. None of these options (enable/disable) are available in the Content Manager task flow in 12c.
  • Layout - In 11g, we were able to specify some available layouts for the Content Manager task flow. For example, Explorer, Table, Tree table. None of these options are available in the Content Manager task flow in 12c.
  • Page Size - In 11g, we were able to specify how many rows to show in the task flow. In the Content Manager task flow, in 12c, you can only select 10, 25, or 50 items per page.
  • Read Only - In 11g, we were able to disable and hide content management operations. None of these options are available in the Content Manager task flow in 12c.

Announcements and Discussions

Oracle WebCenter Portal has deprecated the support for Jive features (announcements and discussions). If you have upgraded from a prior release to Release 12c (12.2.1.4.0), Jive features remain available in your upgraded instance but Oracle support is not provided for these features. In the next release, Jive features will not be available even in the upgraded instances

Mosaic and Unicorn built-in page templates

Beginning with Release 12c (12.2.1.4.0), Oracle WebCenter Portal has deprecated the support for the built-in page templates Mosaic and Unicorn. However, if you have upgraded from a prior release, these page templates remain available in your upgraded instance.

Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (Oracle SES)

Beginning with Release 12c (12.2.1.4.0), Oracle WebCenter Portal has deprecated the support for Oracle SES. If you have upgraded from a prior release, your upgraded instance might be configured to use Oracle SES. In this case, you must configure WebCenter Portal to use Elasticsearch to index and search objects.

Pagelet Producers

 Beginning with Release 12c (12.2.1.4.0), Oracle WebCenter Portal has deprecated the support for Pagelet producers.
OmniPortlet Oracle WebCenter Portal has deprecated the support for OmniPortlet feature.

The following features are deprecated in WebCenter Portal 12c (12.2.1.3):

Deprecated Features Notes

Announcements and Discussions

Oracle WebCenter Portal has deprecated support for Jive features (announcements and discussions). If you are upgrading from a prior release, these features remain available in your existing installations that are being upgraded.

The following features are deprecated in WebCenter Portal 12c (12.2.1):

Deprecated Features Notes

E2.0 Producer

Use ADF task flows, including WebCenter Portal task flows.

Folders_g as WebCenter Content Foldering Service

Migrate to Framework Folders.

Support for IBM DB2 Database

Support for IBM DB2 Database is deprecated.

Support for IBM WebSphere

Support for IBM WebSphere is deprecated.

Support for Microsoft Desktop Integration

Migrate to Framework Folders and leverage the WebCenter Content Desktop Integration feature.

Support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and 2007

Oracle recommends that you upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and higher versions.

Support for Microsoft Office Communicator R1

Oracle recommends that you upgrade to Microsoft Lync 2010.

Support for OES 10g Dynamic Role

Support for OES 10g Dynamic Role is deprecated.

Support for Oracle Portal Adapter

Support for Oracle Portal Adapter is deprecated.

Support for Personalization Server

Support for Personalization Server is deprecated.

Support for Trinidad Render

Use default ADF renderer instead.

WebCenter Portal Activity Graph

Activity Graph feature is deprecated.

WebCenter Portal Live Search

Enable Oracle Secure Enterprise Search to search portal objects in WebCenter Portal.

WebCenter Portal Page templates prior to 11g PS3 Release (11.1.1.4.0)

After you upgrade to 12c, update your portal to use the new built-in page templates.

WebCenter Portal Polls and Surveys

Polls and Surveys tools are deprecated (available from 12.2.1.4.0).

WebCenter Portal Recent Activities task flow

Use the Activity Stream task flow.

WebCenter Portal Rich Text Portlet

Use ADF rich text editor instead.

WebCenter Portal Worklist task flows

Worklist task flow is deprecated.

Web Clipping Portlet

Use WebCenter Pagelet Producer instead.

1.1.7 Issues Related to Installing and Configuring Oracle WebCenter Portal

Irregular Translation When IE 10 or 11 Browser Is Set to Some Chinese Language Locales

Platform: All

This note refers to more recent versions of the Internet Explorer browser 10+. These browsers support BCP47 style language tags, such as the Chinese locales zh-Hans-SG, zh-Hans-CN, zh-Hant-HK, zh-Hant-MO, and zh-Hant-TW.

If you set your browser language to zh-Hans-SG, zh-Hant-HK, or zh-Hant-MO, and the same language is not set in WebCenter Portal, you will likely see translation inconsistencies on a page. For example, some WebCenter Portal user interface elements may default to the locale selected for the server; some content may default to Traditional or Simplified Chinese.

Workaround: Set your IE 10+ browser locale to zh-Hans-CN or zh-Hant-TW, or select a language preference through the WebCenter Portal UI under user preferences. You can also select your preferred language from the WebCenter Portal login UI.

1.1.8 Issues Related to Patching and Upgrading Oracle WebCenter Portal

Top Banner Not Rendering Correctly

Platform: All

In Oracle WebCenter Portal, when you open a portal that was upgraded from a previous installation, the top banner of the portal does not render correctly. This happens when the portal has a page template set to a specific value and the skin is left as [System Default].

Workaround: Choose a skin to match the page template. Configure the upgraded portal to use the Spaces FX or Fusion FX skin, depending on the page template.

1.1.9 Issues Related to Mobile Applications

Unable to View Entire Content on iPad Because Scrollbars Not Shown

Platform: iOS (mobile)

The Apple iOS platform does not use scrollbars. When you view a page on an iPad, content may appear truncated because scrollbars are not shown. Also, iFrame components ignore dimensions on an iPad.

Workaround: To view the entire content area, use the two-finger scroll gesture on your iPad.

RSS Links Not Working Properly on iPad

Platform: iOS (mobile)

The Apple iOS platform renders RSS links by loading them through the site reader.mac.com. If the WebCenter Portal instance is not accessible outside of your firewall, RSS links cannot be viewed.

Cannot Upload Content Using iPad

Platform: iOS (mobile)

The Apple iOS platform does not support a native file system browser; therefore, you cannot upload content from an iPad. All upload actions, such as publish, upload, and share, are disabled or hidden when you access WebCenter Portal from an iPad.

Cannot Copy Text on a Page Using iPad

Platform: iOS (mobile)

When you access a page through an iPad, you cannot copy the text that is shown on the page. This is a limitation from the Apple iOS platform.

Mobile Page Variants Not Displayed Correctly on Nexus 4 Devices

Platform: Mobile

Mobile page variants are not displayed on the Nexus 4 devices.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, create a new device with the following user agent string:

Mozilla/5.0 \(Linux; Android.+4.2.+Nexus 4.+Chrome.*Mobile Safari.*

1.1.10 General Issues and Workarounds

SQL Query with NCHAR Data Type Throws Exception

Platform: All

When using a SQL data control, you may encounter an error if the query contains a column with the NCHAR data type.

Workaround: You can workaround this issue by using the to_char (NCHAR_COLUMN NAME) function.

Cannot Customize or Personalize a JSF Portlet

Platform: All

When you click OK after customizing or personalizing a JSF portlet (that is, a portlet created using the Oracle JSF Portlet Bridge), the portlet produces a time-out message and ceases to respond. This occurs when performing two actions in single operation (editing and then changing the portlet mode).

Workaround: First perform the edit action and click Apply (instead of OK), and then click Return to change the portlet mode back to View mode. Portlet developers can avoid the issue entirely by editing the code for the generated Edit Defaults mode in the edit_defaults.jspx file and the Edit mode in the edit.jspx file: Remove the code for the OK button so users must use Apply.

Embedded Images Not Rendered in the Mail Task Flow

Platform: All

The Mail task flow does not render embedded images. Emails that contain inline images show them as attachments rather than render them within the message body.

Error When Page Name Includes a Space

Platform: All

When accessing a portal page on a device, such as a tablet or iPhone, an issue arises when all of the following conditions are true:

  • The page name has a space

  • The page does not have a page variant defined

  • The Page Fallback setting for the page or the portal is Display No Page

In this case, the expected behavior is to see Page Not Available on the device. However, when all of the listed conditions are true, the content of the page appears (without the page title) on the device in lieu of the Page Not Available message.

For more information, see the Setting Page Behavior for a Portal When No Page Variant Exists and Setting Page Behavior for a Specific Page When No Page Variant Exists sections in Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal.

Unable to Edit Box Properties

Platform: All

Building Portals with Oracle WebCenter Portal discusses Working with Web Development Components on a Page. Note that Box components cannot be modified or deleted since the View Actions menu is not rendered.

Error While Re-running Portlet Application on IntegratedWebLogicServer

Platform: All

When you attempt to run a portlet application (such as a JSR 286 Portlet or Portlet Bridge application) on the IntegratedWebLogicServer more than one time, you get the following deployment error:

There is more than one webservice with the name of "{urn:oasis:names:tc:wsrp:v1:wsdl}WSRP_v1_Service".

Resolve this issue by not running the portlet application again. Instead, deploy the application's EAR deployment profile to the IntegratedWebLogicServer by creating an Application Server Connection to the IntegratedWebLogicServer.

Administrator Console Skin Does Not Load Properly

Platform: All

The Administration Console Skin does not load correctly after updating the Default Page Template and Application Skin to a custom page template and custom skin. This issue appears when attempting to restart the portal server, and may create difficulties when attempting to perform administrative operations such as clicking on a portal template, or when creating a new portal.

To resolve this issue, create a new skin at the shared asset level and then log in. The new skin is simply used for a one-time triggering of skin registration, and can be deleted afterwards.

Connection Timeout Occurs when a WebCenter Portal Server Connection is Created in a Production Environment

Platform: All

When creating a WebCenter Portal Server connection, you enter the host name and port number for the Portal Server you are connecting to. For the host, you can enter either the fully qualified domain name, localhost, or the server name. When the Portal Server is a cluster in an enterprise deployment topology, use the host name and port of the individual server node and not that of the load balancer.

Secured Portlets Return the Remote Portlet Communication Error

Platform: All

When you try to access a secured portlet, it returns the remote portlet communication error. To work around this issue:

  1. Log on to Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control.

  2. From the Weblogic Domain menu, select Security, then Credentials.

  3. Expand the webcenter-1111 folder.

  4. Select the key for the WSRP portlet producer connection. For example, if WSRP connection name is wsrp1, the credential key is anonymous#wsrp1-wsconn.

  5. Click Edit.

  6. For the keystore.type property, specify the value KSS.

  7. Click OK.

  8. Restart the WC_Portal and WC_Portlets managed servers.

WebCenter Portal JDeveloper Extension Names Modified

Platform: All

JDeveloper Extension names/IDs in Oracle WebCenter Portal are updated:

  • WebCenter Core Design Time (oracle.webcenter.core) is changed to WebCenter Core Design Time (oracle.webcenter.common).

  • WebCenter Framework and Services Design Time (oracle.webcenter.app) is changed to WebCenter Portal Design Time (oracle.asset-publishing-ext).

Note:

This change is applicable only if you are upgrading from Oracle WebCenter Portal 11g installation and not for a fresh installation.

Warning Displayed When Installing the WebCenter Core Design Time Extension for JDeveloper

Platform: All

When restarting JDeveloper after installing the WebCenter Core Design Time extension, you can ignore the following warning message:

Installing updates...  
oracle.ideimpl.deferredupdate.task.InstallExtensionTask perform  
WARNING: No Extensions In Bundle: .../oracle.webcenter.wccore_bundle.zip

Installing WebCenter Portal JDeveloper Extensions from Local File

Platform: All

When installing the WebCenter Portal extensions for Oracle JDeveloper by using the Install From Local File option, you must install the WebCenter Core Design Time extension first and restart JDeveloper before installing the WebCenter Portal Design Time extension.

Analytics Collector Not Accessible on the Second Node

Platform: All

When starting servers in a cluster topology, you must allow one server to completely start and be in the Running mode before attempting to start other servers. You can then start all the other servers simultaneously. This is required only when you start the servers for the first time after a fresh WebCenter Portal installation. If you start all the servers simultaneously, Analytics Collector might not be accessible on the other nodes in the cluster.

Document Service Operations Fail When Using JAX-WS Connections to Content Server

Platform: All

If WebCenter Portal uses the JAX-WS connection to Content Server, certain document service operations, such as service provisioning, might fail if the WebCenter Portal instance is not used for some time. To work around this issue, restart the WC_Portal managed server and perform the operation again.

Use createContentServerConnection to Create a JAX-WS Connection to Content Server

Platform: All

If you create a JAX-WS connection to Content Server using Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control, logging into WebCenter Portal returns an internal server error. To work around this issue, instead of Fusion Middleware Control use the createContentServerConnection WLST command to create the JAX-WS connection to Content Server.

Unable to Delete Pages With SubPages in WebCenter Portal Installed with SQL Server

Platform: All

In a WebCenter Portal instance using SQL Server, when you try to delete a page with subpages, the page will still exist in the UI but the following error is shown in the managed server logs: 

oracle.webcenter.portal.transaction.TransactionException: An error occurred executing a transactional method. 
at  
oracle.webcenter.portal.persistence.transaction.TransactionManagerImpl.execute (TransactionManagerImpl.java:295) 
...  

Caused by: java.sql.SQLIntegrityConstraintViolationException: [FMWGEN][SQLServer JDBC Driver][SQLServer] The DELETE statement conflicted with the SAME TABLE REFERENCE constraint "WC_PORTAL_ENTITY_SEC_ENTITY". The conflict occurred in database "certdb", table "MSSQLCERT_WEBCENTER.WC_PORTAL_ENTITY", column 'SECURITY_ENTITY_ID'.

To work around this issue:

  1. Connect to the SQL Server using the WebCenter schema.

  2. Drop the trigger WC_PORTAL_ENTITY_SEC_ENTITY_TRIGGER.

  3. Recreate the trigger as follows:     
    	CREATE TRIGGER WC_PORTAL_ENTITY_SEC_ENTITY_TRIGGER ON WC_PORTAL_ENTITY               
		INSTEAD OF DELETE AS               
		UPDATE WC_PORTAL_ENTITY SET SECURITY_ENTITY_ID = NULL WHERE SECURITY_ENTITY_ID IN (SELECT ID FROM DELETED)               
		DELETE FROM WC_PORTAL_ENTITY WHERE ID IN (SELECT ID FROM DELETED);

  4. Delete the page again in WebCenter Portal.

Unable to Modify displayName for Resources Using REST APIs

Platform: All

The displayName parameter is a derived parameter and cannot be modified directly for any resources by using REST APIs.

Workaround: You need to modify the name parameter.

Unable to Create a Navigation Node Using POST in REST API

Platform: All

When you try to create a navigation node using the POST method in REST API, the create operation fails with a 403 Forbidden error message. This is a known issue.

EL Expressions are Not Supported in REST APIs

Platform: All

Webcenter objects having EL expressions cannot be accessed using REST APIs as EL expressions are not supported with REST.

Content Manager Taskflow Does Not show Directory Filters When Parameters are Passed

Platform: All

Content Manager taskflow may not show directory path filters when the taskflow display is triggered through input parameters. You can still navigate to your required directory structure using bread crumbs that show up the current directory path.

Page Navigation Fails if the First Navigation Item is a Link

Platform: All

If a link is specified as the first navigation item in the navigation model of a portal, page navigation fails. This is a known issue.

Analytics, Against Oracle Database May Not Work After Throwing Exceptions

Platform: All

Analytics, against Oracle Database may stop working with exceptions like: 

Caused By:
com.plumtree.analytics.core.persist.exception.EventLoaderException: Exception
while loading namespaces! com.plumtree.analytics.core.dao.DAOException:
java.sql.SQLException: Invalid argument(s) in call
		at com.plumtree.analytics.core.persist.EventLoader.loadNamespaces(EventLoader.java:168)
		at com.plumtree.analytics.core.persist.EventLoader.loadFromStream(EventLoader.java:90)

Workaround: Apply Oracle Database 12.2.0.1.0 patch: http://aru.us.oracle.com:8080/ARU/ViewPatchRequest/process_form?aru=21455037.