14.4 Editing Items

Editing an item exposes all of its attributes for revision. You can do anything to these attributes, from providing updated content to revising the publish date or deleting the item's representative image.

Item attributes store information about the item, such as the item's classification, description, or author. The range of attributes available for an item is determined by your page group administrator. See Section A.2, "Base Attributes" for a list of all the built-in attributes it is possible to associate with a portal object. In addition to these, page group administrators can create their own attributes for storing extra information.

To view/change item attribute values, click the Edit Item icon displayed next to the item. Some of the more common item attributes are described in the following sections:

• Section 14.4.1, "Editing an Item"

• Section 14.4.2, "Classifying the Content of an Item"

• Section 14.4.3, "Setting a Publish Date for an Item"

• Section 14.11, "Expiring Items"

• Section 14.4.4, "Enabling Item Check Out"

14.4.1 Editing an Item

To edit an item:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

2. Go to the page that contains the item to be edited.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

3. Click the Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

4. Click the Edit Item icon next to the relevant item (Figure 14-18).

   Figure 14-18 Edit Item Icon

   
   

5. Make your changes to the item attributes.

   Note:

   For descriptions of item attributes, see Appendix A, "Oracle Portal Seeded Objects". For information about attributes related to item versions and translations, see Section 14.12, "Using Item Version Control". For information about naming rules associated with items, see Appendix D, "Object Naming Rules in Oracle Portal".

6. Click OK to save your changes and return to the page.

14.4.2 Classifying the Content of an Item

When you add items to a page it is important to classify their content. This is useful because the details entered here assist users in finding your content and enable them to determine if the item is of interest.

For example, you can apply a category and one or more perspectives to each item and assign keywords that describe the content or purpose of the item.

This section describes how to edit item classifiers. It contains the following subsections:

• Section 14.4.2.1, "Changing the Category of an Item"

• Section 14.4.2.2, "Changing the Perspectives of an Item"

• Section 14.4.2.3, "Changing the Search Keywords for an Item"

14.4.2.1 Changing the Category of an Item

An item can be assigned to one category that classifies the item content. At any time, you can change an item's category.

To change the category of an item:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

2. Go to the page that contains the item to be classified.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

3. Click the Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

4. Click the Edit icon beside the item to be classified (Figure 14-19).

   Figure 14-19 The Edit Item Icon

   
   

5. Select a category from the Category drop-down list.

6. Click OK.

14.4.2.2 Changing the Perspectives of an Item

Perspectives describe the audience or interest area for the item. You can change the perspective(s) of an existing item at any time. Unlike categories, you can choose more than one perspective for an item. For example, a sales report might belong to both the Sales Representative and Marketing Manager perspectives.

To change the perspectives of an item:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

2. Go to the page that contains the item you will classify with one or more perspectives.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

3. Click the Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

4. Click the Edit icon beside the item to be classified (Figure 14-20).

   Figure 14-20 The Edit Item Icon

   
   

5. Use the Move icons to move a perspective from the Available Perspectives to the Displayed Perspectives list.

   In Windows, you can select multiple perspectives by holding the Ctrl key while clicking each perspective. In UNIX, simply click each perspective.

6. Use the Move icons to the right of Displayed Perspectives to set the display order of the perspectives.

7. Click OK.

14.4.2.3 Changing the Search Keywords for an Item

An item can be assigned one or more keywords that describe the content, or purpose of the item. When a user performs a search, the user's search criteria is compared to the keywords in items and pages to find a match.

To change search keywords for an item:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

2. Go to the page that contains the items to which to assign keywords.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

3. Click the Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

4. Click the Edit icon beside the item to which to assign keywords (Figure 14-21).

   Figure 14-21 The Edit Item Icon

   
   

5. In the Basic Search Keywords field, add or change one or more keywords that accurately describe this item.

6. Click OK.

14.4.3 Setting a Publish Date for an Item

You can add items to a page in advance, then delay their display to other users until a day and time you specify. For example, you can add a file item for a document that discusses next month's Sales Targets and set a publish date that coincides with the day of the meeting that discusses the targets.

To set publish date details for an item:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

2. Add the item to a page.

   For information on adding items to pages, see Section 14.2, "Adding Items to a Page".

3. On the Item Attributes page, go to the Publish Date field, and enter the date and time on which this item is to be published to other users.

   Use the format DD-MON-YYYY HH12:MI PM; for example:

   12-JAN-2006 01:00 PM
   

4. Click OK.

14.4.4 Enabling Item Check Out

Item checkout provides document control for items that are managed by multiple users. When a user checks an item out, the item is locked and other users cannot overwrite the item. Other users can view the item, but not modify it. With the appropriate privilege, users can copy checked-out items. The copy is automatically checked in.

After the user checks the item in, another user can check the item out and edit it. This prevents users from overwriting each other's changes.

Item check-out is enabled on an item-by-item basis. Consider enabling it for items that are edited by multiple users.

Note:

If an item is submitted for approval, the item is automatically checked out so that other users cannot edit it. The item is not checked back in until it is approved or rejected. For more information on the approval process, see Chapter 20, "Setting Up an Approval Chain".

To enable item check-out:

1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

2. Go to the page that contains the item for which to enable item check-out.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".

3. Click the Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

4. Click the Edit Item icon beside the relevant item (Figure 14-22).

   Figure 14-22 The Edit Item Icon

   
   

5. Select Enable Item Check-Out.

   Contact your page group administrator if this option is not available.

6. Click OK.

For information on checking items out and into Oracle Portal, see Section 14.5, "Checking Items Out and In".