An item is something more than its content. For example, a file item includes the file as well as information about the file, also known as item attributes. A file item's attributes can include its display name, author, publish date, expiration date, representative image, display setting, and so on. Each seeded item type includes a set of relevant attributes for which you provide values when you upload content to your portal. These values can be used in content searches to locate items with a particular author, keyword, publish date, classification—any attribute value associated with the item.
You will find a list of the base item types available out of the box from Oracle Portal in Appendix A, "Oracle Portal Seeded Objects".
Oracle Portal provides many item-related features that support document collaboration among different users and groups. These include:
Versioning—When item versioning is enabled, previous versions of an item are retained instead of being overwritten when the item is edited. This means that you can have a record of all the changes made to an item and can revert to a previous version if necessary. See Section 14.12, "Using Item Version Control".
Item level security—Item level security enables you to shield unprivileged users from viewing individual items or to grant a higher level of access on an item than might otherwise be granted on the item's containing page. See Chapter 17, "Protecting Your Content".
Document control—With document control, groups of users can edit items using a check in and check out process. This feature restricts a user from overwriting an item when it is checked out by another user. See Section 14.4.4, "Enabling Item Check Out".
Publish dates—When an item includes the Publish Date attribute, you can specify the day and time an uploaded item will display to other users. See Section 14.4.3, "Setting a Publish Date for an Item".
Expiry dates—When an item includes the Expiration Period attribute, you can specify how long an item will display on a page. See Section 14.11, "Expiring Items".
Approvals—When you are granted the page privilege Manage Items With Approval, the items you upload initiate a process that delays publication of the items until they have been approved. See Chapter 20, "Setting Up an Approval Chain" and Section 2.7, "Getting Your Content Approved".