1. Using Portals in Oracle WebCenter Portal
  2. Staying Informed
  3. Getting Notified When Things Change

22 Getting Notified When Things Change

Subscribe to and unsubscribe from portals and application objects, manage your subscriptions, and specify how you are notified when they are changed.

Permissions:

The tasks described in this chapter are available to any WebCenter Portal user. However, your system administrator can enforce certain application defaults that prevent you from setting subscription and notification preferences for yourself. When application defaults are enforced, you will be unable to perform some of the actions described in this chapter.

Topics:

About Subscriptions and Notifications

Subscriptions and Notifications are available for subscribing to services, portals, and objects in WebCenter Portal and sending notifications of changes to subscribed items through texts and mail. Through subscriptions and notifications, you can track changes that occur to your connections, your portal memberships, content in specific portals, and other application objects that are important to you. Depending on how notifications are configured, you can receive notifications through texts or mail.

Notifications provide a way to trigger notices across different messaging channels. Notices are triggered when the portals and application objects to which you have subscribed change.

Messaging channels can include texts and mail (depending on how your system administrator has configured Notifications). For example, you can receive a mail message when your portal membership changes and a text message when someone responds to a particular discussion topic. Messages contain links that take you to the scene of the change.

You can choose the objects that trigger a notice by subscribing to them. In WebCenter Portal, there are three levels of subscription:

  • Application, which you can use to receive notices about changes to your portal memberships, Message Board, Connections, and Feedback.

    Such notifications occur only for application-level activities that involve you as the user.

  • Portal, for changes to a subscribed feature, such as Events, Discussions, Announcements, and Blogs, that occur within the scope of a selected portal

  • Object, for changes to the application objects you have subscribed to, such as a particular discussion topic

Table 22-1 describes the types of activities that can trigger a notification and indicates the level and location of the associated subscription (for more information, see Subscribing to the Application, to Portals, and to Objects).

Note:

You must explicitly subscribe to an object to receive subscription-related notifications about it, unless the system administrator has set and enforced company-wide subscription defaults. For more information about object-level subscriptions, see Subscribing to a Discussion Topic.

Table 22-1 Activities that Can Trigger Notifications

Activity Level Where to Subscribe

A user sends you an invitation to connect

Note: Out of the box, the option to send notifications for invitations to connect is enabled and is not end-user configurable.

Application

Preferences (for more information, see Setting Application-Level Subscriptions)

Your portal role changes, for example from Portal Manager to another custom role

Application

Preferences

You are added as a member of a portal

Application

Preferences

Your portal membership is removed

Application

Preferences

A user posts a message to your Message Board

Application

Preferences

A user likes your Message Board post (messages explicitly set on a Message Board and not those added from Publisher to the Activity Stream)

Application

Preferences

A user comments on your Message Board post (messages explicitly set on a Message Board and not those added from Publisher to the Activity Stream)

Application

Preferences

A user posts feedback for you

Application

Preferences

An announcement is created

Portal

On the portal, for example, from the Actions menu on a portal in Browse portals (for more information, see Setting Portal-Level Subscriptions)

A new event is created

Portal

On the portal

An event is updated

Portal

On the portal

An event is deleted

Portal

On the portal

A new discussion topic is created

Portal

On the portal

A new discussion forum is created

Portal

On the portal

A user replies to a discussion topic

Object

On the topic (for more information, see Subscribing to a Discussion Topic)

A user comments on a discussion topic

Object

On the topic

A user deletes a discussion topic

Object

On the topic

You can establish your preferred messaging channels through the Messaging page of your Preferences (for more information, see Establishing and Managing Your Messaging Channels and Filters). Additionally, you can use messaging preferences to create filters for the types of notifications you want to receive.

Messaging configuration is available when your system administrator selects a BPEL server as the connection type for outbound notifications. If the system administrator selects a Mail server, the only available messaging channel is mail; consequently, you are neither required nor able to configure your own messaging channels when your system administrator selects a Mail server as the connection type for outbound notifications.

Default settings for application-level subscriptions can be configured by the application administrator. This means that your initial view of application-level Subscription Preferences is determined by these application administrator defaults. Application-level subscriptions appear on the General Subscriptions tab of the Subscriptions page in your Preferences (Figure 22-1).

Figure 22-1 Preferences - Subscriptions Page

Description of Figure 22-1 follows
Description of "Figure 22-1 Preferences - Subscriptions Page"

For each option on the General Subscriptions tab, the system administrator controls two settings:

  • Whether the subscription is enabled for the feature

  • Whether users are allowed to change the default setting

These settings determine how and whether general subscription options appear on your view of the tab. Table 22-2 illustrates how administrator-level subscription settings affect the appearance of the General Subscriptions tab.

Table 22-2 Effect of Administrator Defaults on Subscriptions Preferences

Subscription Enabled by Default User Can Change Default Option in Preferences

True

True

Rendered normally, check box selected

False

True

Rendered normally, check box deselected

True

False

Grayed out, check box selected

False

False

Hidden, check box hidden

You can view and delete all of your subscriptions from one location: the Current Subscriptions tab on the Subscriptions page in Preferences (Figure 22-2).

Figure 22-2 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: Current Subscriptions Tab

Description of Figure 22-2 follows
Description of "Figure 22-2 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: Current Subscriptions Tab"

Use the Subscriptions page to view and manage all of your application-, portal-, and object-level subscriptions. For more information, see Viewing and Cancelling Your Subscriptions.

WebCenter Portal also provides Notifications viewers that can be added to a portal page. The Notifications viewers duplicate the features provided through Notifications preferences, with the added benefit of flexibility. That is, the Notifications viewers can be placed on any page. Additionally, the Subscription Preferences viewer changes scope according to where it is placed.

Two Notifications viewers are available:

Establishing and Managing Your Messaging Channels and Filters

Your mail address is your default messaging channel. With no filters defined, a subscription is sufficient to trigger a mail notification, provided your system administrator has configured shared credentials and mail is the messaging default.

After you have subscribed to an application object, no additional configuration is required to receive a notification through your mail when that object changes.

However, if you want to receive notifications over your phone or from an alternate mail address, you can use Messaging preferences to configure messaging channels and define messaging filters for messages generated from the Oracle User Messaging Service:

  • Messaging channels are the channels over which messages, notifications, and alerts are received from the Oracle User Messaging Service. Channels include mail and text. Messages, notifications, and alerts come from the services that are registered with the Oracle User Messaging Service.

  • Messaging filters define sorting conditions for messages and specify the channels through which to send the messages that meet the conditions. For example, you can specify that messages from a named user should come to you as a text, while messages from a named service come to you as an email.

The section includes the following topics:

Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings

To access messaging configuration settings:

  1. From your user menu, select Preferences.
  2. On the Preferences page, click Messaging.
  3. On the Messaging page, click Manage Configuration to open the User Messaging Preferences login page.

    Note:

    The Manage Configuration button is active only when a BPEL server is configured with WebCenter Portal. If a BPEL server is not present, the button is grayed out, and mail, the default messaging channel, is used for notifications. Because the BPEL server provides notification features, the Manage Configuration button may be active even when your system administrator elects to use a mail server instead of a BPEL server for notifications. In environments where more than one BPEL connection is registered, the messaging preferences repository is shared by all. When you set messaging preferences for one BPEL connection, you set them for all.

    Figure 22-6 Preferences - Messaging Page (BPEL Server Not Configured)

    Description of Figure 22-6 follows
    Description of "Figure 22-6 Preferences - Messaging Page (BPEL Server Not Configured)"
  4. Log in to the User Messaging Server to open the Messaging Preferences panel.

    • The Messaging Channels tab provides controls for creating and managing messaging channels and a view of all configured messaging channels, such as EMAIL and SMS. The EMAIL channel is always available. By default, it uses your email address from the LDAP identity store.

    • The Messaging Filters tab provides a way to outline the conditions under which you are notified and to associate a messaging channel with a defined set of conditions.

For information about messaging configuration, see the following topics:

Establishing a Messaging Channel

Establishing a messaging channel involves selecting the channel over which a notification is sent and providing the delivery address for that channel.

To establish a messaging channel:

  1. Go to the User Messaging Preferences page, as described in Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings.
  2. On the the Messaging Channels tab, click the Create icon to open the Add Channel dialog.
  3. In the Name field, enter a display name for the channel.

    For example, enter MyPhone.

  4. From the Type list, select the channel over which to send notifications:

    Tip:

    The presence of a channel is determined by your system administrator, who deploys them and makes them available.

    • EMAIL to specify that notifications are sent to you through your mail

    • SMS to specify that notifications are sent as text messages to your phone

  5. In the Address field, enter an address for the selected type:

    • For EMAIL, enter the address of the mail account to which to send notifications. For example, my.name@example.com.

    • For SMS, enter the phone number to which to send notifications in the format <country_code><area_code><number>/ For example, 14154444444.

  6. For the Default check box:

    • Select to identify one or more channels as the default channel over which to send notifications.

      Default channels are the channels over which all notifications that do not meet any of your defined filtering conditions are sent.

    • Deselect to prevent selected channels from being used as defaults.

  7. Click OK to save your changes and exit the dialog.

To complete your configuration, see Creating and Applying Messaging Filters.

Editing a Messaging Channel

To revise messaging channel values:

  1. Go to the User Messaging Preferences page as described in Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings.
  2. If necessary, click the Messaging Channels tab to bring it forward.
  3. Select the messaging channel you want to revise, and click the Edit icon to open the Modify Channel dialog.
  4. Change values as desired.
  5. Click OK to save your changes and exit the dialog.

Deleting a Messaging Channel

When you delete a messaging channel, any filters that rely on the deleted channel instead use the default. In the absence of a specifically identified default channel, the mail channel is used for sending notifications.

To delete a messaging channel:

  1. Go to the User Messaging Preferences page as described in Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings.
  2. If necessary, click the Messaging Channels tab to bring it forward.
  3. Select the messaging channel you want to delete, and click the Delete icon.
  4. Click OK in the Confirmation dialog.

Creating and Applying Messaging Filters

Messaging filters enable you to qualify the types of notifications you want to receive and weed out the notifications of no interest. Filters also provide a means of associating a selected messaging channel with a particular type of notification. For example, using messaging filters, you can specify that all notifications about portal updates go to mail while all notifications about event changes go to your phone, provided your system administrator has configured Notifications to use multiple messaging channels.

Two important things to know about setting up messaging filters:

  • Text values in your filtering conditions are case-sensitive. For example, messaging filters differentiate between Event and event.

  • Create separate conditions for multiple terms. For example, for a Subject that contains Ari gave feedback, create three filtering conditions, one for each term.

To create and apply messaging filters:

  1. Go to the User Messaging Preferences page as described in Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings.
  2. On the Messaging Filters tab, click the Create icon to open a filter-creation page.
  3. In the Filter Name field, enter a display name for the filter.
  4. Optionally, enter a filter description in the Description field.
  5. From the Matching list, select from:

    • All of the following conditions to require that all of the conditions you specify are met

    • Any of the following conditions to require that at least one of the conditions you specify is met

  6. From the first Add Filter Condition list, select from:

    • Subject to base a condition on words appearing in the message subject

      It is likely that the most useful filter condition option is Subject. The subjects of notification messages are standardized and can therefore be anticipated. This makes subjects ideal for setting up filtering conditions. See Table 22-4 for a list of standard notification message subjects and examples of filter conditions.

    • From to base a condition on the message sender

      All notification messages are sent from the same entity—as configured by your system administrator.

    • Date to base a condition on when the message was generated

      Date and Time options may be useful for ad hoc situations, for example, you want to ensure that any notifications about events delivered on the day of the event are sent right to your phone.

    • Time to base a condition on the time the message was generated

    Note:

    Of all the filter conditions available on the Add Filter Condition list, Subject, From, Date, and Time are the options that are relevant to and work with the types of messages generated by Notifications. The other options have no effect.

  7. From the second Add Filter Condition list, select an operator for the condition.

    See Also:

    See Table 22-3 for an alphabetical list of operators that are relevant to the attributes Subject, From, Date, and Time.

  8. Click the Click to add new filter condition icon.
  9. From the Messaging Option list, select from:

    • Send No Messages to omit notification for the defined filter conditions

    • Send Messages to all Selected Channels to send notification through all channels selected from the Add Notification Channel list

    • Send to the First Available Channel to send notification through the first open channel of all the selected channels

  10. From the Add Notification Channel list, select the channel over which to send the notification messages that meet your defined filter conditions, and then click the Click to add channel to this filter icon.

    The Add Notification Channel list is populated with the channels that are defined on the Messaging Channels tab. You can add multiple channels in turn.

  11. Click OK to save and apply the messaging filter.

    Tip:

    If your defined filtering conditions do not match an incoming notification, the User Messaging Server will send notifications over all the channels you have identified as default channels.

Table 22-3 provides an alphabetical list of operators that are relevant to the attributes Subject, From, Date, and Time and describes the values they require.

Table 22-3 Operators relevant to Subject, From, Date, and Time

Operator Value(1) Attributes

Between

In the fields provided:

  • For Date, enter a start date and end date between which to apply the filter

  • For Time, select a start time (hours and minutes) and end time between which to apply the filter

Date, Time

Contains

Enter a string that must be included in the message Subject or return address (From)

Separate multiple values with commas.

Subject, From

isEqual

Enter the literal value that must be used for the message Subject, Date, Time, or return address (From)

Subject, From, Date, Time

isGreaterThan

Enter the message delivery date beyond which to apply the filter

Date

isGreaterThanOrEqual

Enter the message delivery date on which to start applying the filter

Date

isLessThan

Enter the message delivery date before which to start applying the filter

Date

isLessThanOrEqual

Enter the message delivery date on which to stop applying the filter

Date

isNotEqual

Enter a literal value that must be ignored for the message Subject, Date, Time, or return address (From)

Subject, From, Date, Time

isWeekday

No value is required. This operator applies to messages sent on weekdays.

Date

isWeekend

No value is required. This operator applies to messages sent on weekends.

Date

NotContains

Enter a string that must be excluded from the message Subject or return address (From).

Separate multiple values with commas.

Subject, From

Footnote 1 String values are case sensitive. Multiple values in strings must be separated by a comma.

Table 22-4 provides a list of standard notification message subjects and examples of condition formulations.

Tip:

Messaging filters are case-sensitive. For example, they differentiate between Event and event.

You must create a separate condition for each term. For example, when you filter for Ari gave feedback, create three conditions—one for each term.

Table 22-4 Standard Notification Message Subjects

Standardized Notification Subject Example Filter Conditions

userName has invited you to become a connection

  • Subject Contains connection

  • Subject Contains Ari

    You can set the condition action to route or ignore all messages concerning a named user for any subject that includes a user name.

userName posted message on your message board

  • Subject Contains message

  • Subject Contains board

userName commented on your message board posting

Subject Contains commented

userName likes on your message board posting

Subject Contains likes

userName gave feedback to you

  • Subject Contains gave

  • Subject Contains feedback

Portal Membership Change

Subject isEqual Portal Membership Change

userName created the forum forumName

  • Subject Contains Monty

  • Subject Contains created

  • Subject Contains forum

userName created the event eventName

  • Subject Contains Java

  • Subject Contains Summit

userName changed the event eventName

  • Subject Contains Java

  • Subject Contains Summit

  • Subject Contains changed

userName deleted the event eventName

  • Date isEqual 5/31/10

  • Subject Contains event

  • Subject Contains Java

  • Subject Contains Summit

On the day of the event, all notifications concerning the Java Summit event are routed to a selected channel. You can omit the term event, and receive other related notifications.

Editing Messaging Filters

To edit a messaging filter:

  1. Go to the User Messaging Preferences page as described in Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings.
  2. If necessary, click the Messaging Filters tab to bring it forward.
  3. Select the filter condition to edit, and click the Edit icon.
  4. Make your changes.
  5. Click OK to save and apply your changes.

Deleting Messaging Filters

To delete a messaging filter:

  1. Go to the User Messaging Preferences page as described in Accessing Messaging Configuration Settings.
  2. If necessary, click the Messaging Filters tab to bring it forward.
  3. Select the filter condition to delete, and click the Delete icon.
  4. Click OK in the resulting Confirmation dialog.

    Note:

    You can remove a filtering condition without deleting the entire filter. Follow the steps in Editing Messaging Filters, and click the Delete icon next to the condition to remove.

Subscribing to the Application, to Portals, and to Objects

Where you perform a subscription varies according to the level at which the subscription is applied (either application, portal, or object level) as well as the type of object being subscribed to. For example:

  • Application-level subscriptions are made through your personal preferences.

  • Portal-level subscriptions are made on the portal's right-click menu on the Portals page.

  • Object-level subscriptions are made on the object itself.

This section steps you through these subscription scenarios. It includes the following topics:

Setting Application-Level Subscriptions

You can use subscription preferences to specify whether to receive notifications from People Connections for activities related to Connections, Feedback, and Message Board. Additionally, you can use subscriptions preferences to subscribe to portal management activities, such as changes to any of your portal memberships or roles.

Application-level subscriptions are affected by the defaults set by your system administrator. In your view of Preferences, some subscription options may appear but be unavailable, while others may be hidden completely.

For more information, see About Subscriptions and Notifications.

To set application-level subscriptions:

  1. From the user menu, select Preferences.
  2. On the Subscriptions page, click the General Subscriptions tab.

    Figure 22-7 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: General Subscriptions Tab

    Description of Figure 22-7 follows
    Description of "Figure 22-7 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: General Subscriptions Tab"
  3. Select the actions that should trigger a notification.

    See Also:

    For more information about messaging channels, see Establishing and Managing Your Messaging Channels and Filters.

    Select from:

    • Connections to receive notification when another user invites you to connect

    • Feedback to receive notification when other users leave feedback for you

    • Message Board to receive notification when other users post messages to your Message Board, like your posts, and comment on your posts

    • Portal Management to receive notification when you are added or removed as a member or your role changes

    Deselect actions that should not trigger a notification.

  4. Click Save.

See Also:

For information about managing application-level subscriptions, see Viewing and Cancelling Application-Level Subscriptions.

Setting Portal-Level Subscriptions

You can use portal-level subscriptions to trigger notification messages whenever any of the following actions occur in the portal:

  • An announcement is created

  • An event is created, updated, or deleted

  • A discussion forum or topic is created

To subscribe to a portal:

  1. Open the Subscribe dialog in one of the following ways:
  2. In the Subscribe dialog, select one or more of the following options:

    Note:

    An option appears in this dialog only when its type is also provided in the portal. For example, if the portal manager has not enabled discussions in the portal, the Discussions option does not appear in this dialog.

    • Events, to receive notice whenever an event is created, updated, or deleted in this portal

    • Documents and Blogs

      Note:

      In WebCenter Portal 12c (12.2.1), a new Documents service task flow has been introduced. Integration between the new task flow and subscriptions and notifications is not in place in this release; consequently, no document-related activities trigger notifications (document-related activities include actions on documents, wikis, and blogs). Integration between the new Documents task flow and subscriptions and notifications will be reintroduced in a subsequent release.

    • Discussions, to receive notice whenever a discussion topic is created in this portal

      See Also:

      To see a more detailed level of notifications for a specific discussion topic, such as when the topic is edited, liked, or commented on, subscribe to the topic at the object level. For more information, see Subscribing to a Discussion Topic.

    • Announcements, to receive notice whenever an announcement is created in this portal

  3. Click Save to save your settings and exit the dialog.

After you have subscribed to a portal, the subscription is reflected on the Current Subscriptions tab on the Subscriptions page of Preferences. From that tab you can view all of your portal- and object-level subscriptions. For more information, see Viewing and Cancelling Portal- and Object-Level Subscriptions.

Subscribing to a Discussion Topic

When you subscribe to a discussion topic, you are notified whenever a user, edits, deletes, likes, or comments on the selected discussion topic.

See Also:

For more information, see Establishing and Managing Your Messaging Channels and Filters.

To subscribe to a discussion topic:

  1. Go to the discussion topic you want to subscribe to.
  2. Click the Subscribe link at the top of the topic (Figure 22-10).

    Figure 22-10 Subscribe Link on a Discussion Topic

    Description of Figure 22-10 follows
    Description of "Figure 22-10 Subscribe Link on a Discussion Topic"

See Also:

For information about unsubscribing, see Viewing and Cancelling Portal- and Object-Level Subscriptions.

Viewing and Cancelling Your Subscriptions

Where you view and cancel your current subscriptions depends on the level of the subscription (application, portal, or object level):

  • View, cancel, and make application-level subscriptions on the General Subscriptions tab on the Subscriptions page in Preferences.

  • View and cancel portal- and object-level subscriptions on the Current Subscriptions tab on the Subscriptions page in Preferences.

    See Also:

    The settings available on the Current Subscriptions tab are also provided through the Subscriptions Viewer. For more information, see About Subscriptions and Notifications.

This section provides information about how to view and cancel your application-level subscriptions and how to view and cancel your portal- and object-level subscriptions. It includes the following topics:

Viewing and Cancelling Application-Level Subscriptions

View and cancel application-level subscriptions through Preferences or through the Subscription Preferences viewer (for more information, see About Subscriptions and Notifications).

To view or cancel application-level subscriptions:

  1. From the user menu, select Preferences (see Accessing the Preferences Pages).
  2. Click Subscriptions to open Subscription preferences, and then click the General Subscriptions tab (Figure 22-11).

    Figure 22-11 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: General Subscriptions Tab

    Description of Figure 22-11 follows
    Description of "Figure 22-11 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: General Subscriptions Tab"
  3. View and change your current application-level subscriptions.
  4. To cancel a subscription, clear its check box.

Viewing and Cancelling Portal- and Object-Level Subscriptions

Both portal- and object-level subscriptions are listed in Preferences on the Subscriptions page. Use the controls on the Current Subscriptions tab to adjust your view of these subscriptions and to cancel (or unsubscribe from) a portal- or object-level subscription.

Tip:

Portal- and object-level subscriptions can be cancelled through the same action you took to create the subscription. At the portal- and object-levels, subscription options toggle between subscribed and unsubscribed. Follow the steps outlined in Setting Portal-Level Subscriptions, but select to unsubscribe instead.

See Also:

The settings available on the Current Subscriptions tab are also provided in the Subscriptions Viewer. For more information, see About Subscriptions and Notifications.

To view and cancel portal- and object-level subscriptions:

  1. From the user menu, select Preferences.
  2. On the Subscriptions page, click the Current Subscriptions tab.

    Figure 22-12 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: Current Subscriptions Tab

    Description of Figure 22-12 follows
    Description of "Figure 22-12 Preferences - Subscriptions Page: Current Subscriptions Tab"
  3. Use the View menu to control the display order of columns and to hide or show individual columns.
  4. To cancel or unsubscribe from a portal- or object-level subscription, select the subscription, and click Unsubscribe, then click Unsubscribe again in the Unsubscribe Notification Subscription dialog.
  5. Click Save.