After you find a content item, you can view it in several ways, depending on the available renditions of the content item, the conversion setup for your system, and the configuration of your Web browser. Depending on your access permissions, you may also be able to open or get a copy of the native file.
This section covers the following topics:
To view the Web-viewable rendition of a content item, you must have the appropriate helper application or Web browser plug-in installed. For example, to view the PDF version of a content item, you must have the Adobe Acrobat plug-in.
You can view a Web-viewable file as follows:
From a Content Information page, click the Web Location link.
From a Search Results page, click the Content ID link in the ID column (Headline view) or Description column (Classic View), or the thumbnail (Classic and Thumbnail views).
If a Web-viewable file does not exist, or you do not have the correct helper application or plug-in installed, you are prompted to either save the file or open it in its native application. For more information, see Viewing a Native File.
When you view the native file of a content item, you are prompted to either save a copy of the file or open it in its native application. If you choose to open the file, you are actually opening a copy of the native file that is stored in a temporary location on your hard drive. You are not opening the native file that is stored in Content Server repository.
You can access a native file as follows:
From a Content Information page, click the Native File link.
From a Check‐Out Confirmation page, click the Download native file
button.
From a workflow review notification message, click the Review workflow item link to open the Workflow Review page, and then click the Native File link under Renditions.
Content Server comes with the ThreadedDiscussions component. If enabled, it allows contributors to post questions and comments about the content item throughout multiple revisions. This component must be installed and enabled by your system administer for this functionality to be available.
This section covers the following topics:
Threaded discussions provide question and answer feedback about a content item and help record how and why changes were made to a content item. Because threaded discussion posts follow content through multiple revisions and refer to the revision for which the comment was made, threaded discussions help contributors keep track of enhancement requests or other recommendations for future changes to the content. Each discussion post conveniently lists the revision number of the content to which it refers, so you do not have to view the content information of previous revisions to post to a discussion item.
Discussions are managed content items. When you begin a discussion thread about a content item, an .hscp form for the discussion is created, given the same ID as the content with _d
appended to the end, associated with the content item, and automatically checked in to Content Server.
Note:
If you have a content item that has a document name that is within one character of the database storage maximum, which is 30 by default, you cannot create a threaded discussion for it.
Unlike other content items, edits to a discussion do not create new revisions of the discussion content itself. Instead, the .hscp form that contains the discussion is modified. The Revision History for discussion content is always Revision 1. The revision number does not increment for discussion content. The number of the post represents the chronological order in which the comments were posted.
In Figure 20-1, each top-level post represents a thread. Posting number one (#1) and posting number two (#2) are threads. The reply (#3) to thread number two represents a post within a thread.
Figure 20-1 Threads and Posts
Figure 20-2 shows posts #1, #2, #3 and #4. The reply to "Change to Introduction (#1)," "RE: Change to Introduction (#3)" was made after "Change to Conclusion (#2)."
Figure 20-2 Posting Order
To initiate a discussion from the content information page of a content item:
You must be using a search results view that provides access to the Content Actions menu, such as the Headline or Thumbnail views. If you are using the thumbnail view, then you can click the discussion icon to access the discussion.
To initiate or enter a discussion in progress from the Search Results page:
To initiate a discussion about a workflow document:
Users with read permissions can view the messages within a threaded discussion, but only those who can edit the content can post messages. You can access an existing discussion from the following links:
On the Content Information page, click the ID of the content item to discuss link.
On the Workflow Review page or Search Results page, click the Discuss This Item link.
On the Discussion Info page, click the Web Location link.
On the Search Results page of a discussion, click the Content ID link.
The Discussion link indicates how many discussion posts have been created for the document. The Discussion Count custom information field generates the number of items.
To view and reply to a discussion thread:
To print a threaded discussion.
To delete a threaded discussion. You must have delete permission for the content to delete the discussion.
To delete a discussion:
You can use the Discussion Type metadata field to narrow your search criteria when searching documents. The Discussion Type search field enables you to refine a search for content associated with discussions. The discussion type options are:
N/A: A search applies to all documents including those without associated discussions. A search returns content both with and without a discussion, but does not return any content that is a discussion itself. That is, content IDs with an underscore "_d" are excluded from the search.
Single Content: A search applies to documents that have a discussion focused on a single content item. A search using this option returns the discussion content itself (it returns only content that is a discussion). Only content IDs with an underscore "_d" are included in the search results.
Note:
If you do not select any criteria for Discussion Type, all content with or without discussions are displayed, including the discussion content itself.
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Subscriptions notify you automatically whenever a content item is revised. There are two types of subscriptions:
Content item subscription: Users manually subscribe to individual content items.
Criteria subscription: The system administrator sets up a subscription based on one or more metadata fields. When a user subscribes to the Criteria subscription, they are automatically subscribed to all content items that match a particular value of those metadata fields.
For example, the system administrator sets up a criteria subscription with Author values as the criteria. Whenever you view a Content Information page, you can choose to subscribe to all content items checked in by the author of the current content item.
The system administrator can subscribe users to specific content items or to criteria subscriptions, but users have the ability to cancel these subscriptions.
To subscribe to a content item:
To view your current subscriptions, Open the My Content Server tray, and click My Subscriptions.
To unsubscribe from a content item:
If the Electronic Signatures component is enabled, you can optionally sign a content item with an electronic signature that uniquely identifies the contents of the file at a particular revision and associates the revision with a particular user.
This section covers the following topics:
An electronic signature is a unique identifier computed from the binary content of a content item and associated with other metadata such as the name of the user who signs the content item. Unlike a digital signature, which uniquely identifies both the document and the signer and encrypts the information with the document, an electronic signature is not stored with the document.
When you check in a content item, Content Server generates the identifier and stores it with the revision metadata for the content item. When you "sign" a content item, a copy of the identifier is stored with the electronic signature metadata. When you check in a modified revision of the content item, a new identifier is calculated.
Content Server can compare the identifier stored with the content item to the identifier stored with the electronic signature to help you determine if a signed content item has changed and if existing signatures for a content item are valid.
Note:
The identifier is computed from the content only, not the associated metadata. A change in the metadata for a content item does not invalidate the electronic signature for the content item.
Because electronic signatures are stored separately from both the content item and from its metadata, multiple users can sign a particular content item revision. For example, in a workflow approval process, multiple reviewers may sign a revision of a content item.
Any user with access to the Document Information page for a content item can sign the content item. You can also provide an electronic signature as part of a workflow approval step. For more information, see Reviewing Revisions in a Workflow.
You can access signature information for a signed content item from the Content Information - Signatures tab. For more information about signing a content item, see Signing a Content Item Electronically.
The following table describes the restrictions on objects that you can sign electronically:
Object | Description |
---|---|
Content Items |
You can sign any content item, such as a document, an image, a zip file, and so on. You can sign the native file, but not other renditions, such as web-viewable versions of the native file. |
Folios |
You can sign a folio, provided it has been frozen. |
Metadata-only |
You cannot sign items that do not have an associated content item, such as metadata profiles or Content Server folders. Because metadata itself is not used to calculate the signature ID, a change to the metadata for a content item does not constitute a change to the electronic signature for the content item. |
When you sign a content item electronically, the signature is automatically associated with your user name and certain information about the content item such as the content name and revision ID. You must provide your user name and password to sign a content item revision, and you typically provide additional information such as the reason for signing the document.
Your system administrator may also define additional metadata fields that are stored as part of the metadata for the electronic signature.
Note:
Because signature metadata is stored separately from content item metadata, you cannot search for electronic signature metadata with the standard search options provided.
A system administrator can use signature metadata in a watermark to indicate that a PDF document has been electronically signed. For more information, see Managing Oracle WebCenter Content.
When a content item itself is modified, it produces a different computed identifier. By comparing the identifier of a content item with the stored signature, Content Server can determine whether the signature for a particular revision is still valid.
Because identical files produce the same calculated identifier, you can compare a file in a local file system to a particular content item revision to determine if the files are identical. For more information, see Search for a File in Revisions.
You can also verify a file from a local file system against all signed or unsigned content to which you have access. For more information, see Search for a File in the Repository.
To view signature information for an electronically signed content item:
To compare a file in a local file system to the signed revisions of a content item:
Note:
The external file is compared to signed revisions only.