7
Managing WebDB Site Content

Estimated completion time: 30 minutes

The content of a WebDB site is made up of items. You can add the following types of items to a WebDB site:

• URL of another Web page

• File, such as a document or an image

• Text

• Imagemap

• Folder link

• WebDB component

• PL/SQL call

• Custom item type

When you add an item to a folder, the item title is displayed as a hypertext link on the folder page. Clicking the title navigates to the item itself.

Note: If you specify that an item should be displayed in place, the item itself is displayed on the folder page, not a link to the item.

Each item can be added to the site as one of the following:

• 1 Regular item A Regular item receives no special treatment to make it stand out on a page.

• 2 News item A News item is displayed before any Regular items, under the News banner. News items are usually items that are of current interest. For example, in The Traveler demo, there might be a News item for a special offer.

• 3 Announcement item An Announcement item is displayed at the top of the page, just under the Quickpicks items. Announcement items are usually items that require special attention. For example, in The Traveler demo, there might be an Announcement about an airline strike.

• 4 Quickpick item A Quickpick item is displayed at the top of the page. Quickpick items are usually items that end users will frequently want to access. For example, in The Traveler demo, there might be a Quickpick item for a currency converter.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section
"Before You Begin"
"Adding a Regular Item"
"Adding a News Item"
"Adding a Quickpick Item"
"Adding an Item with Approval"
"Editing an Item"
"What's Next?"

7.1 Before You Begin

• To complete this chapter you need to use the Tutorial Web Site. Obtain the URL of this Web site from your DBA. You should be set up as a site administrator of the Tutorial Web Site. Instructions for creating the Tutorial Web Site and assigning users as site administrators are provided in Appendix A, "Tutorial Setup Instructions".

  IMPORTANT: To modify a WebDB site, you need to be logged on to the site. If you have not already logged on to the Tutorial Web Site, follow the instructions in "Oracle WebDB Basic Concepts, Displaying an Oracle WebDB Site" to do so now.

• You must have completed Section 6.2, "Designing the Structure of a WebDB Site" and Section 6.4.2, "Granting folder access privileges to a user" before starting this chapter.

• Your DBA or site administrator must have created the TUTORIAL_USER user account. Instructions for creating this user account are provided in Appendix A, "Tutorial Setup Instructions".

  Note: The exercises in this chapter take place in your personal folder. However, the techniques you learn here can be applied to any folder for which you have permission to add or edit items.

7.2 Adding a Regular Item

Most of the items in your Web site will be Regular items.

1. Make sure you are logged on to the Tutorial Web Site with your own user name and password.

   Tip: If you can't remember how to log on to a WebDB site, follow the instructions in "Oracle WebDB Basic Concepts, Displaying an Oracle WebDB Site".

2. Scroll down the home page and under the Owned folders banner, click Confidential to display the Confidential folder.

3. In the banner at the top of the page, clickto enter Edit Mode and display the folder dashboard.

4. In the folder dashboard, clickto display the Item Wizard.

5. In the Item Type list, choose Text Item.

6. In the Display Option radio group, make sure Regular Item is selected.

7. Click Next to display the Text Item: Required Settings and Values page.

   Note: Click Previous if you need to go back to a previous page of the wizard. Do not click your browser's Back button.

8. In the Text field, type:

   This item might contain product information that sales personnel could use 
   when visiting customer sites.
   
   

9. In the Title field, type Tutorial Text Item.

10. In the Category list, choose Tutorial Items <NAME>, where NAME is your own user name. This is the category you created in Section 6.2.2, "Creating categories".

    Note: All Regular items must be assigned to one (and only one) category.

11. In the Description field, type:

    This is some sample text to demonstrate adding a Regular item to a WebDB
    site.
    
    

12. Click Next to display the Text Item: Optional Settings and Values page.

13. In the Perspectives list, choose Tutorial Users <NAME>, where NAME is your own user name. This is the perspective you created in Section 6.2.3, "Creating perspectives".

14. Click Finish to add the item and return to the Confidential folder.

    
    

    The Regular item title, Tutorial Text Item, is displayed as a hypertext link on the folder page, under the Tutorial Items category banner.

15. Click Tutorial Text Item to display the item.

7.2.1 Adding a custom item type item

Now let's add a custom item. Custom item types enable you to customize the existing item types to make them map more specifically to the items you include in your site.

1. Click your browser's Back button to return to the Confidential folder.

2. In the Tutorial Items category banner, clickto display the Item Wizard.

3. In the Item Type list, choose Tutorial Type <NAME>, where NAME is your own user name. This is the custom item type you created in Section 6.2.4, "Creating custom item types".

4. In the Display Option radio group, make sure Regular Item is selected.

5. Click Next to display the Tutorial Type: Required Settings and Values page.

6. In the p field, type Oracle.

   This is one of the attributes that you defined for the custom item type. This attribute passes the specified value to a procedure that calls an internet search engine.

7. In the Text field, type:

   This is a text item about Oracle Corporation.
   
   

8. In the Title field, type Tutorial Type Item.

9. Note that in the Category list, Tutorial Items <NAME> is already chosen. This is because clickingin a category banner like the Tutorial Items banner automatically adds the item to that category.

10. In the Description field, type:

    An item of type Tutorial Type.
    
    

11. Click Next to display the Tutorial Type: Optional Settings and Values page.

12. In the Perspectives list, choose Tutorial Users <NAME>.

13. In the Notes field, type:

    This item enables end users to search for Web sites and Web pages about 
    Oracle Corporation.
    
    

    This is the other attribute that you defined for the custom item type. Because you did not check Required when you defined this attribute, it is displayed on the Optional Settings and Values page.

14. Click Finish to add the item and return to the Confidential folder.

    
    

    The link, Search, is displayed next to the custom item title, Tutorial Type Item.

15. Click Search to pass the string that you specified in the p field ("Oracle") to the search engine.

7.3 Adding a News Item

You can add items that are of current interest as News items. Typically a News item will only be displayed for a short time, before some other news takes its place.

1. Click your browser's Back button to return to the Confidential folder.

2. In the folder dashboard, clickto display the Item Wizard.

3. In the Item Type list, choose URL.

4. In the Display Option radio group, click News.

5. Click Next to display the URL: Required Settings and Values page.

6. In the URL field, type:

   http://www.cnn.com/world
   
   

7. In the Title field, type CNN World Headlines.

8. In the Description field, type:

   The latest news from around the world.
   
   

9. In the Expiration Period list, choose 7 days.

   Use expiration dates when you only want the item to appear in the Web site for a limited time. After the time specified, the item will no longer be displayed on the site. Thus, you do not have to remember to remove it yourself.

   Note: The item is not deleted from the database until the site administrator purges expired items.

10. Click Finish to add the News item and return to the Confidential folder.

    
    

    The News item title, CNN World Headlines, is displayed as a hypertext link under the News banner, above the Regular items.

7.4 Adding an Announcement Item

You can add items that require special attention as Announcement items.

1. In the folder dashboard, clickto display the Item Wizard.

2. In the Item Type list, choose Text Item.

3. In the Display Option radio group, click Announcement.

4. Click Next to display the Text Item: Required Settings and Values page.

5. In the Text field, type:

   Important Announcement:
   You've almost finished the tutorial.
   
   

6. In the Title field, type Tutorial users, click here now!

7. Click Finish to add the Announcement item and return to the Confidential folder.

   
   

   The Announcement item title, Tutorial users, click here now!, is displayed as a hypertext link above the Regular items and News item.

7.5 Adding a Quickpick Item

You can create frequently used items as Quickpick items, so that end users can access them quickly and easily.

1. In the folder dashboard, clickto display the Item Wizard.

2. In the Item Type list, choose URL.

3. In the Display Option radio group, click Quickpick.

4. Click Next to display the URL: Required Settings and Values page.

5. In the URL field, type:

   http://www.yahoo.com
   
   

6. In the Title field, type Internet Search Engine.

7. Click Finish to add the Quickpick item and return to the Confidential folder.

   
   

   The Quickpick item title, Internet Search Engine, is displayed as hypertext above all the other items.

7.6 Adding an Item with Approval

If you own a folder, or if you have been granted Manage Items privileges on a folder, you can add, edit, move, and delete items in that folder. When you add an item, that item is immediately visible in the folder. If you have Create With Approval privileges, you can only add items to the folder. When you add an item that requires approval, the item does not become visible to other users until the folder owner approves it. This enables the folder owner to maintain control of the folder's content.

7.6.1 Adding an item that requires approval

Adding an item that requires approval is the same as adding any other item. The only difference is that once you have added the item, it only becomes visible to other users when the folder owner approves it.

In Section 6.4.3, "Granting folder access privileges to a group of users", you granted Create With Approval privileges on the Confidential folder to TUTORIAL_USER. In the following exercise, you will add an item as TUTORIAL_USER, and then approve the item as yourself (the folder owner).

1. To add an item as TUTORIAL_USER, you first need to log on to the site as TUTORIAL_USER.

   In the navigation bar, click Log Off to log off the site.

2. Log back on to the site using the user name TUTORIAL_USER and the password TUTORIAL.

   Tip: If you can't remember how to do this, follow the instructions in "Oracle WebDB Basic Concepts, Displaying an Oracle WebDB Site".

3. In the navigation bar, clickto display the Site Map.

4. Expand Products.

5. Click Confidential to display the Confidential folder. TUTORIAL_USER has Create With Approval privileges on this folder.

6. In the banner at the top of the page, clickto enter Edit Mode and display the folder dashboard.

   IMPORTANT: When you enter Edit Mode as TUTORIAL_USER, the item management icons are not displayed next to the item titles. This is because TUTORIAL_USER has privileges only to add items, and cannot edit existing items. Also, there are fewer tools offered in the folder dashboard. This is because TUTORIAL_USER is not a site administrator and does not own this folder, and thus cannot perform folder administration tasks, such as creating folders within the Confidential folder or changing the folder's style.

7. In the folder dashboard, clickto display the Item Wizard.

8. In the Item Type list, choose Text Item.

9. In the Display Option radio group, make sure Regular Item is selected.

10. Click Next to display the Text Item: Required Settings and Values page.

11. In the Text field, type:

    This is some sample text to demonstrate adding an item that requires 
    approval.
    
    

12. In the Title field, type Item Requiring Approval.

13. In the Description field, type:

    The folder owner needs to approve this item.
    
    

14. Click Finish to add the item and return to the Confidential folder.

    
    

    The item title, Item Requiring Approval, is displayed as a hypertext link under the Items awaiting approval banner.

7.6.2 Approving an item

When an item that requires approval is added to a folder, the folder owner must review that item and decide whether to make it visible to other users or not.

1. To approve an item, you need to be logged on to the site as the folder owner. In the previous exercise you were logged on as TUTORIAL_USER, so the first thing you need to do now is log back on to the site as yourself. You are the site administrator, and by default have folder owner privileges on every folder in the site.

   In the navigation bar, click Log Off to log off the site.

2. Log back on to the site using your own user name and password.

3. Scroll down the home page and under the Owned folders banner, click Confidential to display the Confidential folder.

   The item you created in the previous exercise is displayed under the Items awaiting approval banner. The only users who can view this item are the original contributor, folder owner, and site administrator.

4. Clickto approve the item.

   Note: You do not need to enter Edit Mode to approve an item.

   
   

   The item is now displayed under the General category banner. Any user with access to the Confidential folder can now view the item.

   Note: You can also edit the item, move it to a different folder, or delete it.

7.7 Editing an Item

If you have Manage Items privileges, you can edit existing items in the WebDB site.

Note: When you edit an item in a WebDB site, you edit how the item is displayed on the site. Except for items of type Text Item, you do not edit the actual content of the item itself.

1. In the banner at the top of the page, clickto enter Edit Mode and display the folder dashboard.

2. Clicknext to CNN World Headlines to display the Edit URL: Required page.

3. Click the Optional tab to display the Optional page.

   
   

4. Check Display In Full Browser Window.

   Selecting this option means that when an end user clicks the item title, the item will fill the whole browser window, rather than the current frame. The user can then view more of the item without having to scroll, but the site navigation bar will no longer be displayed.

5. Clickto save your changes and return to the Confidential folder.

6. Click CNN World Headlines. The item is displayed in the full browser window.

7. Click your browser's Back button to return to the Confidential folder.

8. You can add images to items, to make them stand out more on the page.

   First let's find an image to use for the Internet Search Engine Quickpick.

   1. Open a new browser window and go to the following URL:

      http://us.yimg.com/i/recip/1yahoo.gif
      
      

   2. Save the image to your local file system, making a note of the directory where you save the image.

   3. Close the browser window.

9. In the Confidential folder, clickunder Internet Search Engine to display the Edit URL: Required page.

10. Click the Optional tab to display the Optional page.

11. Click Browse next to the Image field and locate the image you saved in Step 8.

12. Clickto save your changes and return to the Confidential folder.

    
    

    The Quickpick image, , is now displayed instead of the title.

7.8 What's Next?

In this chapter, you learned how to:

• Add a Regular item to a WebDB site

• Add a custom item to a WebDB site

• Add a News item to a WebDB site

• Add an Announcement item to a WebDB site

• Add a Quickpick item to a WebDB site

• Add an item requiring approval to a WebDB site

• Approve an item

• Edit an item in a WebDB site

This concludes the Web site development part of the tutorial. Now you're ready to add items to your own Web site, without having to rely on a Webmaster. This means that you can take responsibility for your own Web site content and keep it accurate and up-to-date. For more information about any subject you've learned in this chapter and others, see the online help.