1. Administering Oracle WebCenter Sites
  2. Managing User Interfaces and Assets
  3. Working with the Admin Interface

10 Working with the Admin Interface

The Admin interface has a tree structure with nodes. With the Admin interface you can manage sites, configure its users and default settings, and manage security and workflow. The Developers use the Admin interface to build data models for assets, design and configure attribute editors of assets, and configure mobility and multilingual support for sites.

The following topics describe the three types of administrators and describe the Admin interface, its trees and nodes (tabs), that allow you to manage sites, and system defaults that are accessible either from the Admin interface or the back end:

About the Admin Window

Along with Developers, you can use the Admin interface to perform tasks and configure elements that help in defining and creating a functional site structure. Use the Admin interface to manage WebCenter Sites content management sites, asset types, users, and features such as publishing, workflow, and security.

Administrators use WebCenter Sites Admin to:

  • Create and configure users accounts and profiles, including creating and assigning ACLs and roles to users.

  • Configure and implement security for WebCenter Sites, including REST security, encryption key security, and external security.

  • Configure and schedule publishing sessions.

  • Create and manage workflow processes.

  • Enable revision tracking on asset types.

  • Enable asset types on content management sites and create start menu items which enable users to work with those asset types in the Contributor interface.

  • Configure vanity URLs on a per-asset type basis by creating WebRoots and defining URL patterns.

  • Manage the WebCenter Sites caching system (inCache framework).

  • Use diagnostic utilities to troubleshoot the WebCenter Sites system.

  • Integrate and manage WebCenter Content with WebCenter Sites.

  • Configure the Lucene search engine for the Contributor interface.

Developers use WebCenter Sites Admin to:

  • Build the data model by creating and defining asset types. For example:

    • Creating flex families, which includes defining flex attributes, flex parents, flex parent definitions, flex definitions, flex assets, and flex filters.

    • Creating basic asset types and database tables for those basic assets.

    • Creating proxy assets

  • Create design assets for content management sites, such as Template, CSElement, SiteEntry, Wrapper, Filter, and so on.

  • Design attribute editors and configure bundled attribute editors.

  • Configure sites for multilingual support.

  • Configure the Mobility feature. For example, create device repositories, device groups and suffixes, device assets, site navigations, and mobile templates.

For more information about the Admin interface, see the following topics:

Administrator-Specific Trees and Nodes

You can perform your tasks as an administrator by using the nodes and sub nodes of the General Admin and Site trees. Users having appropriate ACLs and roles can view these trees and nodes.

The following table shows these trees and nodes and the ACLs and roles required to view them.

Table 10-1 Tab Permissions and Roles

Tree Node Sub Nodes ACL Role
General Admin

Admin

  • Sites

  • Asset Types

  • Publishing

  • Search

  • User Access Management

  • WebRoots

  • Start Menu

  • Tree

  • Locale

  • System Tools

  • Clear Checkouts

  • Functions

xceladmin

GeneralAdmin
General Admin

Content Cloud Admin

  • Console

  • History

xceladmin

 General Admin

General Admin

Connector Admin

  • Console

  • History

  • Orphaned Content

  • Configuration

  • Rules

xceladmin

ConnectorAdmin
General Admin Workflow

  • States

  • Processes

  • Actions

  • Timed Action Events

  • Emails

  • Clear Assignments

 xceladmin WorkflowAdmin
Site

Site Admin

Modify the following for the site you are logged in to:

  • Users

  • Asset Types

  • Site Navigations

xceladmin

SiteAdmin
Site Site Navigation Contains a node for each site navigation associated with the site you are logged in to. xceladmin SiteAdmin

The following Administrative Trees are displayed based on the type of site you are logged in to:

  • If you are logged in to a custom site, both General Admin and Site trees are displayed. The General Admin tree remains system-wide. The Site tree is specific to the site you are logged in to. It is therefore a sub-set of the Admin node in the General Admin tree.

  • If workflow processes are created for any site (except the default site), the Workflow node is available in the General Admin tree. The Workflow node lists all workflow processes that have been configured for all sites in the system.

Administrative Nodes in the General Admin Tree

The General Admin tree is the main tree used to create, configure, and manage sites.

The General Admin tree displays the following administrator-specific nodes and sub nodes:

  • Admin: Accounts for all content management components in the WebCenter Sites installation. It includes the following sub nodes specific to administrative functions:

    • Sites: Enables you to manage all content management sites on the WebCenter Sites system.

      The Sites node has the following functions:

      • List of sites that are created in the system.

      • Enables you to define sites and associate the components from the system-wide configuration pool, below the Sites node. WebCenter Sites provides several sample sites as learning tools.

      The configuration pool consists of the following nodes:

    • Asset Types: Configure asset types:

      • To add subtypes or asset associations for basic asset types.

      • To create start menu items for asset types that appear on the New and Search menus.

      • To enable or disable revision tracking for specific asset types. See Managing Revision Tracking.

    • Publishing: Set up the publishing system on the development and management systems.

    • Search: Configure asset types so that they are indexed correctly when you are using supported third-party search engine modules. See Configuring the Lucene Search Engine.

    • User Access Management: Create ACLs and users, to enable or disable revision tracking for non-asset tables. This node includes the following:

      • Users: Manage WebCenter Sites users and the roles associated with each user ID.

      • Roles: Use roles for determining the recipients of workflow assignments and to control users' access to functions in the Oracle WebCenter Sites interfaces.

      • ACLs: Allow access to individual tables and sites.

      • User Profiles: Specify email addresses for your users.

      • REST Security: Configure the security groups and assigning users to those groups. Adding a user to the security groups is tied to the WebCenter Sites interface.

    • WebRoots: Interpret a vanity URL. Click Add New to create WebRoots. You can edit existing WebRoots. See Working with WebRoots.

    • Start Menu: Create links in the form that opens when users click the New button or Search button. You use the links to create assets or search for existing assets.

      Note:

      This release of WebCenter Sites supports automatic creation of the New and Search Start Menu items.

    • Tree: Control access to the existing tree tabs, create tabs, or view assets in the tree in the Oracle WebCenter Sites: Contributor interface.

    • Locale: Set the default locale for the WebCenter Sites system. See Configuring the User Interfaces.

    • System Tools: Troubleshoot problems directly from the administrator's interface. Features include configuring log4j logging, accessing various types of system information, managing caches, searching logs, testing the performance of the shared file system, and to perform various other operations on WebCenter Sites database.

    • Clear Checkouts: Unlock and check back in to the database the assets that are checked out by specific users. See Managing Revision Tracking.

    • Functions: Administrators can enable or disable in the Oracle WebCenter Sites interfaces of all users or selected users.

  • Content Cloud Admin: You can configure Content Cloud with WebCenter Sites that connects WebCenter Sites and Content Cloud .

    You can view the following sub nodes in the Content Cloud Admin node:

    • Console: Enables you to configure Content Cloud with WebCenter Sites.

    • History: Displays the synchronization logs between Content Cloud WebCenter Sites and Content Cloud, and helps you to identify the status of the synchronizations.

  • Connector Admin: Shows the administrative functions for administering WebCenter Content. See Understanding WebCenter Content Integration.

    You can view the following nodes in the Connector Admin node:

    • Console: Displays the Recent Activity table. The table displays the recent connector activity.

    • History: View the archived connector sessions. You can also drill down to individual content items for detailed information about their processing.

    • Orphaned Content: Displays assets that you cannot delete when its counterpart content item is either deleted, expired, or disabled from synchronization. See Orphaned Content.

    • Configuration: Configure WebCenter Sites to connect with WebCenter Content.See Connecting to WebCenter Content.

    • Rules: Set of instructions enabled for the connector to follow when it runs. See Creating an Active Rule.

  • Workflow: Workflows are configured from this tree node. Workflows are created from the workflow building blocks (states, assets, users) that were created and assigned using the subnodes under the Admin node. For more information about workflow, see Creating and Managing Workflow Processes.

    Note:

    While the Workflow tab is site-specific, its content is not.

    • The tab: When an administrator logs in to a site, the Workflow tab opens if the user is assigned the xceladmin ACL and WorkflowAdmin role for that site. In this respect, the Workflow tab is site-specific.

    • The tab's content: The Workflow tab displays system-wide information, that is, all workflow processes for all sites in the installation. Therefore, the content under the nodes in the Workflow tab is not site-specific.

    • States: Create asset status points in the workflow.

    • Actions: Create workflow building blocks called actions. Any workflow can use these actions.

    • Timed Action Event: Configure how often due dates are calculated for assets in workflow.

    • Processes: Create a workflow process, specify global process information, and then create steps, assigning step actions to them as required. The steps in the process create the flow of the process by linking the states in a specific order.

    • Email: Create the workflow email messages. Any workflow can use these emails.

    • Clear Assignments: Clear workflow assignments.

About the Site Admin Node in the Site Tree

The Site Admin node in the Site tree is site-specific. Use it to manage the selected site.

The Site Admin node holds a subset of the administrative functions in the General Admin tree’s Sites node. It allows you to manage existing users of the site, enable or disable asset types. It does not allow you to create users, asset types, or sites. You use this tree when your administrative roles and ACLs limit you to administer one or a few sites, rather than when you have administrative rights across the entire system. If you have access to all sites, it would not matter if you used this tree or the General Admin tree.

For any other user to access this tab, the user must be assigned the xceladmin ACL and the SiteAdmin role for the site(s) that the user logs in to.

Developer-Related Trees and Nodes

Developers use the General Admin and Content trees in the left navigation pane of the Admin interface to create the framework for the content management site and its components. Only the users with coding knowledge and required ACLs and roles can perform the developer-specific tasks using the General Admin and Content trees.

The following table provides information about the permissions required to access developer-related tree nodes.

Table 10-2 Tree Permissions and Roles

Tree Node Sub Nodes ACL Role
General Admin

Admin

  • AssetMaker

  • Flex Family Maker

  • Proxy Asset Maker

xceladmin

GeneralAdmin
General Admin

Mobility

  • Device Groups

  • Devices

  • Device Repository

  • Image Properties

xceladmin

GeneralAdmin
General Admin Visitors Admin

  • Identity Providers

  • Access Providers

  • Profile Providers

  • Aggregation Templates

  • General Configuration

xceladmin

GeneralAdmin

About the Developer Nodes in the General Admin Tree

The developer-specific nodes in the General Admin tree are used to configure, integrate, and otherwise develop WebCenter Sites and its features.

The General Admin tree displays the following developer-specific nodes and sub nodes:

  • Admin: Enables developers to create and manage the asset types on your content management sites. It includes the following sub nodes specific to development functions:

    • AssetMaker: for site developers to create asset types using the basic asset data model. See Creating Basic Asset Types in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

    • Flex Family Maker: for site developers to create new flex families and flex asset types. See Creating a Flex Asset Family in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

    • Proxy Asset Maker: for site developers to create proxy asset types. See Installing Sample Proxy Assets in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

  • Mobility: Enables developers to configure the Mobility feature. It includes the following sub nodes:

    • Device Groups: for site developers to create and enable device groups for all content management sites on the WebCenter Sites system. See About Device Groups and Suffixes in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

    • Devices: for site developers to create device assets, which are then associated with device groups. See About Device Assets in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

    • Device Repository: Used by developers to upload the device repository, which is a file that WebCenter Sites uses to detect mobile devices. The device repository contains the properties of devices and uniquely identifies each device based on its user agent. Developers can either activate the default device repository or upload a third-party WURFL file. See About Device Repository in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

    • Image Properties: Used by developers to set the properties of device images for optimization. See How to Create Device Assets in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

  • Visitors Admin: Enables developers to configure and manage Visitor Services through the WebCenter Sites Admin interface. The following options enable you to add, remove, and change aggregation templates and providers without restarting the server.

    • Identity Providers: Enables developers to create and configure a custom identity provider to replace Oracle Access Manager (OAM).

    • Access Providers: Enables developer to configure access providers. Access providers verify the credentials of components (WebCenter Sites and Engage) requesting profile information from Visitor Services through the Visitor Services API client.

    • Profile Providers: Enables developers to create and configure a customer profile provider. By default profile providers are provided for LDAP and Eloqua.

    • Aggregation Templates: Enables developers to create templates that identify the attribute each profile provider will supply and to identify and aggregate like attributes across visitor profiles even when attributes have different names.

    • General Configuration: Enables developers to configure an instance of Visitor Services with WebCenter Sites which, in turn, enables WebCenter Sites to request profiles from Visitor Services through REST APIs, Java APIs, and JavaScript APIs.

About the Developer Nodes in the Content Tree

The Content tree provides developers with shortcuts to access design assets such as Template, SiteEntry, and Attribute assets that have been created on your WebCenter Sites system.

Provides developers with access to the following types of assets:

  • Attribute

  • Attribute Editor

  • Definition

  • Parent Definition

  • Page Attribute

  • Page Definition

  • Template

  • CSElement

Developers can expand an asset type node to view all the assets that have been created from that type.

Miscellaneous Trees and Nodes

Apart from the administrative nodes in the trees of the Admin interface, there are miscellaneous trees and nodes such as the default tees and nodes and nodes and trees customized and configured by administrators.

See Options for Managing Access to the Tree (Admin Interface Only).

The default miscellaneous trees and nodes are:

  • My Work tree:

    • Bookmarks: Holds a list of book marked pages. Frequently-used pages can be marked and accessed from this tab to make finding them easier.

    • History: Shows the assets that you worked with during the current session. All users see this tab as soon as they create, inspect, edit, or copy their first asset.

  • Site Navigation node, under the Site tree: Represents the layout and overview of the site. This tab shows each site that is controlled by WebCenter Sites.

    It displays lists of Placed pages and the Unplaced pages. Placed pages are pages which are created and have been integrated into the live site. Unplaced Pages are pages which are finished but are not integrated into the live site.

    It displays nodes such as Default, Touch, or NonTouch based on the suffix you select when you associate device groups to the navigation. See How to Create Site Navigations in Developing with Oracle WebCenter Sites.

About System Defaults

The Admin interface of WebCenter Sites has several system defaults. Familiarise yourself with these system defaults to help you configure users and sites.

  • Trees and tree nodes

  • ACLs

  • Roles

  • Users

  • Asset types

  • System Tables

You must be familiar with the defaults to configure users and sites. Information about system defaults is given in System Defaults and WebCenter Sites Database Tables.