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Oracle® Application Server Portal User's Guide
10g Release 2 (10.1.4) B13809-04 |
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Oracle® Application Server Portal User's Guide
10g Release 2 (10.1.4) B13809-04 |
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About mode
An optional portlet Show mode that displays information about the portlet's copyright, version, and author.
advanced search
A search engine that enables users to:
Find content that contains any or all terms in the search string.
Search selected page groups, or search across all page groups.
Restrict a search to a particular page, category, perspective, item type, or attribute.
If Oracle Text is installed and enabled, all text attributes and the actual content of documents and URLs are searched. If Oracle Text is not installed, or is disabled, the following metadata is searched: item attributes (Display Name, Description, Keywords, and Author), page attributes (Display Name, Description, and Keywords) and category/perspective attributes (Display Name and Description).
If Oracle Text is installed and enabled, you can also use advanced search to perform near, soundex, and fuzzy searches.
See also search portlet. Contrast with basic search and custom search.
API
Application Programming Interface. A set of exposed data structures and functions that an application can use to invoke services on a portal object, such as a portlet, page, or page group. Note that OracleAS Portal APIs are exposed through the PDK available from the Oracle Portal Developer Kit (PDK) page on OTN:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/portal/pdk.html
approval notification
A message in the Notification portlet indicating that a user whose content requires approval has created or updated an item. The intended recipients of approval notifications (approvers) relating to a particular page group or page are identified in an approval process. An approver may respond to the notification by approving or rejecting the item in question.
approval process
A series of one or more steps that determines which users (or groups) need to review content that requires approval before it can be published. Each step in an approval process must have one or more approvers. Routing to the approvers can be in serial (one at a time) or in parallel (all at once), and each step can be defined to require a response (either an approval or a rejection) by any one member or by all members. Once the required number of responses is received during a step, the process continues to the next step. The process ends when the item is rejected, or the final step is reached and the document is approved.
approver
A user identified in a page group or page approval process, either explicitly or implicitly through group membership, as someone who needs to review content that requires approval before it can be published. An approver may choose to approve or reject such content.
ASP
Application Service Provider. A service that provides remote hosting of applications, maintaining and operating the hardware, software, and other resources required to run the applications. A good example is Oracle Portal Online (http://portal.oracle.com), a hosted subscription service that provides the features of OracleAS Portal to smaller businesses and organizations who want to build portals but do not have the resources in-house to build and manage them.
attribute
A portal object that stores information (or metadata) about an item or page: for example, Create Date, Expire Date, or Author. A page group administrator can create custom attributes to extend the functionality of item types and page types. For example, a base attribute on a file is Display Name; a custom attribute might be a check box to indicate whether the file is confidential. Custom attributes are useful for assigning unique, searchable identifiers to items.
authenticated user
A user who is logged on to a portal. By default, authenticated users can access and, based on privileges granted to the user, act on certain portal objects, such as pages.
Contrast with public users, who can access public content only.
authorization
The evaluation of security constraints to send a message or make a request. Authorization uses specific criteria—authentication and restriction—to determine whether the request should be permitted.
basic search
A search engine that enables users to find content that contains a specific search string.
If Oracle Text is installed and enabled, all text attributes and the actual content of documents and URLs are searched. If Oracle Text is not installed, or is disabled, the following metadata is searched: item attributes (Display Name, Description, Keywords, and Author), page attributes (Display Name, Description, and Keywords) and category/perspective attributes (Display Name and Description).
See also search portlet. Contrast with advanced search and custom search.
basic search box item
A navigation item that users can add to a page to enable other users to perform basic searches. The search box can initiate a search of all page groups or a specified subset of page groups.
batch job
The process of running a Portlet Builder portlet in the background using the OracleAS Portal batch job facility. An end user can run a portlet in batch mode by selecting options on the portlet's personalization form. Batch processing is useful if the portlet is based on a large amount of data, if the portlet displays many rows of data, or if the job may take a long time to run.
bind variable
A variable in a SQL statement that must be replaced with a valid value or address of a value in order for the statement to execute successfully. Portlet developers typically use bind variables (for example, dept) to display a parameter entry field in a portlet's personalization form. The entry field enables end users to choose the data that the portlet will display.
caching
The act of storing frequently accessed information, typically Web pages or portlets in OracleAS Portal, in a location where it can be accessed quickly to avoid frequent content generation. For example, Oracle Application Server Web Cache stores dynamically-generated portlets in its memory, then serves them to the PPE when there is a request for the specified portlet. This storage reduces the total time spent handling the request by avoiding connections to the back-end database and other Web sites.
See also expiry-based caching, invalidation-based caching, system level caching, user level caching, and validation-based caching.
calendar
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays the results of a SQL query in calendar format.
call interface
The call interface displays the arguments that were selected when a Portlet Builder portlet was originally created or last edited.
category
A predefined attribute used to group or classify pages, items, and portlets in a page group. A category helps users answer the question: What is this item or page? For example, in a travel page group, you might have categories for maps, snapshots, and hotel reviews. Users can assign only one category to a particular item or page.
See also perspective.
chart
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays the results of a SQL query as a chart, such as a bar chart, pie chart, or line chart. Bar charts are based on at least two table or view columns: one that identifies the bars on the chart and another that calculates the size of the bars on the chart.
check out/check in
A mechanism that allows a user to lock an item, by checking it out, so that other users cannot edit that same item. This prevents users from overwriting each others changes. After editing the item, the user releases it by checking it back in, making it available again for other users to edit.
child object
An object that is part of a hierarchy. For example, sub-pages, sub-categories, and sub-perspectives are child objects of a page, category, and perspective respectively.
See also manifest.
child page
In Oracle Instant Portal, a page created beneath a top-level page. Child pages are listed along the left side of the top-level page to which they belong, in the navigation area, and usually support the top-level page's main theme. You can add, delete, re-position, or edit child pages right in the navigation area, assuming you have the appropriate privileges.
classification
Categories and perspectives are used to classify the content of a page or item so that it is easy for users to locate that content during a search.
See also category and perspective.
cluster
A database object used to store tables that are related to one another and that are often joined together in the same area on a disk.
content contributor
A user who has the appropriate privileges to add items to a page. Appropriate page privileges include Manage Content and Manage Items With Approval. Appropriate item privileges include Manage, Edit, and View.
content item type
A means of classifying the actual content of an item that is being uploaded to a page, such as a document, text, or an image.
Built-in content item types are:
See also item type. Contrast with navigation item type.
content repository
The OracleAS Portal schema within the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository that contains the content and metadata associated with a particular portal instance.
Contribute privileges
A privilege level on an Oracle Instant Portal page that allows the user to add, edit, move, or delete items on the page. A user with Contribute privileges also has all View privileges.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheet. A simple mechanism for adding style, such as fonts, colors, and spacing, to Web documents.
current version
The version of an item that is displayed on the page. The current version is not necessarily the most recent version of the item.
See also versioning.
custom provider
A type of provider that enables you to create and maintain portlets that access customer-specific content or applications. You can build custom portlets in OracleAS Portal either declaratively or programmatically.
custom search
A search engine that enables users to define a variety of searches against information stored in the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. By editing the defaults of the Custom Search portlet, you can define unique search forms and search results pages that meet the specific search requirements, or configure portlets that execute and return results based on predefined search criteria.
If Oracle Text is installed and enabled, all text attributes and the actual content of documents and URLs are searched. If Oracle Text is not installed, or is disabled, the following metadata is searched: item attributes (Display Name, Description, Keywords, and Author), page attributes (Display Name, Description, and Keywords) and category/perspective attributes (Display Name and Description).
See also search portlet. Contrast with advanced search and basic search.
DAD
Database Access Descriptor. A set of values that specify how an application connects to an Oracle database to fulfill an HTTP request. The information in the DAD includes the user name (which also specifies the schema and the privileges), password, connect-string, error log file, standard error message, and Globalization Support parameters such as language, date format, date language, and currency.
database provider
A type of provider that is written as a PL/SQL stored procedure and is used to create portlets that reside in the database. One example of a database provider is a provider built using the Portlet Builder to provide form, report, and chart portlets.
Contrast with Web provider.
DBA
Database Administrator. A user belonging to the DBA group. By default, members in the DBA group have access to all OracleAS Portal product pages, and have the Manage privilege for all pages, page groups, database providers, and administration.
default language
The language in which a page group is originally created. After creating the page group, you can add translations to it to enable users to add content in different languages.
developer
A user who builds portlets for others to include on their pages. Relies heavily on the APIs to extend the capabilities of OracleAS Portal; may frequently consult the Portal Knowledge Exchange or the forums for advice or inspiration.
DIP
Directory Integration Platform. The provisioning platform provided by OID to synchronize different directories and directory enabled applications.
display name
An object's external name used throughout OracleAS Portal, for example, in the Navigator, on pages, and in the page editor. When the object is published as a portlet, the display name is used as the title of the portlet in the Portlet Repository.
DIT
Directory Information Tree. A hierarchical tree-like structure in OID consisting of the DNs of the entries.
DN
Distinguished Name. The unique name of a directory entry in OID. It includes all the individual names of the parent entries back to the root. The DN tells you exactly where the entry resides in the directory's hierarchy. This hierarchy is represented by a directory information tree (DIT).
DMZ
De-militarized Zone. A computer host or small network inserted as a "neutral zone" between a company's private network and the outside public network. It prevents outside users from getting direct access to a server that has company data. A DMZ is an optional and more secure approach to a firewall and effectively acts as a proxy server as well. (The term comes from the geographic buffer zone that was set up between North Korea and South Korea following the UN police action in the early 1950s.)
draft item
An item that has been added to a page but has not yet been submitted for approval. In View mode, a draft item is visible only to its author. When a draft item is ready for approval, the author can submit it, at which point the approval process is triggered. Draft items can be added to a page only if approvals are enabled for the page group.
durable URL
A URL that uses the item's GUID (globally unique ID) to uniquely identify it. An item's GUID does not change so its durable URL will not break when the item is edited, renamed, moved, or imported to a different portal instance.
Contrast with path-based URL.
dynamic page
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays dynamic content on a page. The dynamic page wizard enables you to specify one or many PL/SQL blocks within HTML code to create a page. This code executes every time an end user requests the page.
dynamic URL
A URL that contains a query string (one or more parameters and the characters ? and &).
Contrast with path-based URL
Edit Defaults mode
An optional portlet Show mode that enables administrators to set the defaults of a portlet for all users.
Contrast with Edit mode.
Edit mode
Page editing: Edit mode enables an authenticated user with appropriate privileges to set page properties and to add, modify, or delete portlets and items on the page. To switch to Edit mode, the user clicks an Edit link on the page. There are three Edit mode views: Graphical view, Layout view, and List view.
See also Mobile Preview mode and Pending Items Preview mode.
Portlets: An optional portlet Show mode that enables personalization of the portlet on a per user, per instance basis.
Contrast with Edit Defaults mode.
Oracle Instant Portal: Opposite of View mode. When the Edit mode handle bar is clicked, thus displaying the edit toolbar and the Add Item and Add Page buttons, the page is said to be in Edit mode. This is the only state in which action may be taken upon the page.
Edit mode handle bar
In Oracle Instant Portal, the gray icon that one clicks to display the edit toolbar. When the edit toolbar is displayed, the page is in Edit mode. Users with View privileges on the page do not see the Edit mode handle bar.
email item
In Oracle Instant Portal, an item represented by a yellow envelope and, optionally, a title on the page. When the user clicks the envelope, an email editor is opened displaying a blank email. The email is pre-populated with the address specified by the item's creator.
Enterprise Manager
Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g is a component of the Oracle Application Server that enables administrators to manage Oracle Application Server services through a single environment. For example, an administrator can use Enterprise Manager to monitor the services that make up an OracleAS Portal instance, including HTTP services, the PPE, the Oracle database, providers, and Oracle Ultra Search.
enterprise portal
A common, integrated starting point that provides personalized access to relevant enterprise information sources. Enterprise portals enable site visitors to personalize their view of the resources available on the public Internet.
event
An action within a portal triggers a corresponding event. Page designers can specify what should happen when these events occur, for example, by specifying that a particular event forces the reloading of the current page, and passes parameters to the newly loaded page.
Event servlet
The Event servlet implements the functionality of OracleAS Portal to allow for dynamic page navigation when accessing an event enabled portlet. The Event servlet runs in the same container as the PPE.
expandable rich text item
In Oracle Instant Portal, a type of text item designed to conserve space on the page. When in View mode, an expandable rich text item is represented by a white envelope, a title, and a summary. When the user clicks the envelope, the item expands to reveal the text associated with the item. Compare to a rich text item, in which the full text of the item is never hidden. Both expandable rich text and rich text items may contain images, hyperlinks, and tables, as well as any valid HTML code.
expiration period
The number of days after which, or an exact date on which, an item expires. After an item expires, it is viewable only by the item's or page's owner and the page group administrator in Edit mode. Expired items are removed from the database during a system purge of all expired items.
expiry-based caching
A caching method that uses a retention period to specify how long the item is valid in the cache before a refresh is required. When there is a request for the item beyond the retention period, it is refreshed in the cache.
Oracle Application Server Web Cache uses both expiry-based caching and invalidation-based caching. Any data saved in OracleAS Web Cache is considered valid until it is invalidated or it expires. For example, if expiry-based caching is specified for a fully assembled page, the page content remains valid in the cache for the specified retention period before it needs to be regenerated.
See also invalidation-based caching and validation-based caching.
expiry notification
A message automatically sent to a user or group indicating that an item on the page is about to expire. The notification is set up by the page group administrator.
explicit object
An object which is explicitly selected, from the Navigator or Bulk Actions, for export.
See also manifest and referenced object.
export
A method of creating a set of files (transport set) that contains page groups, pages, portlets, and other content from a single OracleAS Portal instance. You can then import this set of files into another Oracle Application Server instance.
extension
A Java class that extends the functionality of Oracle JDeveloper. For example the PDK includes an extension to aid with the development of portlets with Oracle JDeveloper.
external application
An application external to OracleAS Portal that is typically launched from the External Applications portlet. As each external application is configured by a portal administrator, users simply supply their user name and password information. The Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On will present these credentials for future authentication challenges.
external object
An object which is an external dependency of an explicit object. External objects ensure that the explicit objects perform on the target portal.
See also manifest.
favorite
A hyperlink in the Favorites portlet that provides quick access to a frequently visited URL, either inside or outside your company firewall. An authenticated user can personalize the Favorites portlet with his or her own preferred set of frequently accessed URLs.
Favorite Content area
An area on the Oracle Instant Portal home page in which a user's favorite content appears. Users select items for this area by clicking an icon that looks like a house beside the item. The Favorite Content area is different for each user.
file item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. When a user adds a file item to a page, the file is uploaded into the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository and is displayed as a hyperlink on the page. When a user clicks the display name link, the file may be downloaded to the user's computer or displayed in the user's Web browser, depending on the file type and the configuration of the browser.
In Oracle Instant Portal file items are represented by a rectangle with a red asterisk at the top and, optionally, a title and summary. When the user clicks the icon, the file associated with the item opens in a second browser window.
firewall
A system (either hardware or software) that acts as an intermediary to protect a set of computers or networks from outside attack. It regulates access to computers on a local area network from outside, and regulates access to outside computers from within the local area network. A firewall can work either by acting as a proxy server that forwards requests so that the requests behave as though they were issued by the firewall machine, or by examining requests and attempting to eliminate suspect calls.
form
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that provides a transactional interface to one or more database tables, views, or procedures. For example, you can the Portlet Builder to build a form for entering new employee information into your Human Resources database.
See also master-detail form.
FPA
Federated Portal Adapter. The Federated Portal Adapter is a module in the portal instance (written in both Java and PL/SQL) that receives SOAP messages for a Web provider, parses the SOAP, and then dispatches the messages to a database provider as PL/SQL procedure calls. In effect, the Federated Portal Adapter makes a database provider behave exactly the same way as a Web provider, allowing users to distribute their database providers across database servers. All remote providers can be treated as Web providers, hiding their implementation (database or Web) from the user. The most common use is to share database providers (including page groups) owned by one portal instance among other portal instances.
frame driver
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder consisting of a Web page divided into two frames. A driving frame contains a SQL query that drives the contents of the second (target) frame.
Full Screen mode
An optional portlet Show mode that provides more content than can be shown in the portlet when it is sharing a page with other portlets.
function
A PL/SQL subprogram that performs a specified sequence of actions and then returns a value. Functions are usually small blocks of code written to perform a specific task within the scope of a larger application.
In a page, end users execute functions by clicking the title of a PL/SQL or custom item.
gist
An Oracle Text summary consisting of the document paragraphs that best represent the overall subject matter. You can use such summaries to skim the main content of the text or assess your interest in the text's subject matter.
global privilege
A privilege that grants a certain level of access to a user or group on all objects of a particular type. For example, you could grant a Web Designer group Manage privileges on all styles.
Graphical view
A page editing view that renders page content in-place on the page. Graphical view enables you to view pages and items as they appear on the finished page as you edit.
Contrast with Layout view and List view.
group
A collection of OracleAS Portal users who typically share a common need or interest; for example, Human Resources, Accounting, and so on. Groups make it easy to grant access to an object (such as a page or portlet) to several users at once. You can also use groups to implement user roles by assigning role-related privileges to a group, then adding users in that role. OID tracks the membership of OracleAS Portal groups.
group owner
A user who has the privilege to add or delete members from a group, or to delete the group itself. Groups can have more than one owner.
HA
High Availability. A collection of solutions to ensure that your applications meet the required availability to achieve your business goals, eliminating single points of failure with no or minimal outage in service.
HDML
Handheld Device Markup Language. A simple language to define hypertext-like markup content and applications for handheld devices with small display.
Help mode
An optional portlet Show mode that displays usage information about the functionality of the portlet.
hierarchy
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays data from a self-referencing table or view. At least two columns in the table must share a recursive relationship. A hierarchy can contain up to three levels and display data such as employees in an organization chart or the hierarchical relationship between menus in a Web site.
home page
The page, defined within OracleAS Portal, that typically displays when logging on or when a user clicks a Home smart link item. The portal administrator chooses this page for public users; authenticated users may choose their own. If the portal administrator enables mobile page design, he or she can specify a separate mobile home page to display when the portal is accessed from a mobile device.
HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language. A format for encoding hypertext documents that may contain text, graphics, and references to programs and other hypertext documents.
HTML content layout
A type of HTML Template that uses item-level substitution tags to define a formatting scheme for individual regions. The HTML content layout repeats itself for each item or portlet in the region.
Contrast with HTML page skin.
HTML page skin
A type of HTML Template that uses page-level substitution tags to control the appearance of the area surrounding page content. You can apply HTML page skins to pages or Portal Templates.
Contrast with HTML content layout.
HTML Template
A portal object built using your own HTML code that wraps around your page or region content. You can use an OracleAS Portal wizard or any third party HTML editor to build HTML Templates.
See also HTML content layout and HTML page skin. Contrast with Portal Template.
HTTP
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The underlying format, or protocol, used across the Web to format and transmit messages and determine what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. HTTP is the protocol typically used between Oracle Application Server and its clients.
iasconfig.xml
The Portal Dependency Settings file, in which configuration settings for an OracleAS Portal instance are established. Each change to iasconfig.xml requires an update to the OracleAS Portal schema in the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository, using the tool ptlconfig.
IDE
Integrated Development Environment. A visual tool containing editors, debuggers, screen painters, object browsers, and the like.
ILS
Item Level Security. A mechanism that controls granular access to items on a given page. ILS authorizes item managers to grant explicit item access to users and groups that take precedence over page-level privileges.
image item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. You can add images in JPEG, GIF, or PNG formats.
In Oracle Instant Portal, as opposed to the images that are added as part of a rich text item or expandable rich text item, image items are designed to stand alone on the page. An image item is added through the Add Item icon; an image that is part of a text item is added through the Insert Image window.
image map item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. An image map is a single image with hotspots that, when clicked, link to other URLs. For example, you can create an image map of the world in which each continent is hyperlinked to more information about the continent.
import
A method of transporting content and objects (for example, page groups, pages, and portlets) into an OracleAS Portal instance. For example, you can import a page, its associated style, and its contents from one instance of OracleAS Portal to another.
index
An optional structure associated with a table used to locate rows of the table quickly, and (optionally) to guarantee that every row is unique.
in-place editing
In Oracle Instant Portal, the ability to add items or pages in context, as opposed to having to create these objects elsewhere and then add them to the page or portal.
internal image name
The name used to identify an image that has been uploaded to the portal. Uploaded images can be reused within the portal by referencing their internal names.
internal provider
A type of provider that makes page group objects (pages, navigation pages, and so on) available to instances of OracleAS Portal.
invalidation-based caching
A caching method where an item remains in the cache until it is explicitly invalidated. For example, a user may update an item, requiring the item in the cache to be invalidated. The next time there is a request for the invalidated item, it is refreshed in the cache
Oracle Application Server Web Cache uses both expiry-based caching and invalidation-based caching. Any data saved in OracleAS Web Cache is considered valid until it is invalidated or it expires. When the information cached in OracleAS Web Cache becomes inaccurate, it must be invalidated. For example, page metadata saved in OracleAS Web Cache is invalidated when a page designer changes the page structure or when user privileges change. Likewise, a portlet instance is invalidated whenever it is personalized by an end user.
See also expiry-based caching and validation-based caching.
item
An individual piece of content (text, hyperlink, image, and so on) that resides on a page in an item region. Users with an appropriate privilege level can add items to a page. Item content and metadata are stored in the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. Items are rendered on the page according to the layout, style, and attribute display defined for the item region.
See also item type.
In Oracle Instant Portal, the means through which content is added to a page. Available item types are rich text item, expandable rich text item, file item, URL item, email item, and image item.
item ID
The local database reference to the content of an item. An item ID value is used in custom item types to pass items to PL/SQL procedures. The function uses the item ID to access the content of the item.
item placeholder item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. An item placeholder identifies where the content from items that use a Portal Template for items will display in relation to the rest of the template content.
item type
An object that defines the contents of an item and the attributes that are stored (metadata) about an item. Base item types included with OracleAS Portal are categorized as content item types and navigation item types.
Custom item types are item types created by page group administrators to extend the functionality provided by base item types and store additional attribute information about items.
J2EE
Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition. A platform that enables application developers to develop, deploy, and manage multitier, server-centric, enterprise level applications. The J2EE platform offers a multitiered distributed application model, integrated XML-based data interchange, a unified security model, and flexible transaction control. You can build your own J2EE portlets and expose them through Web providers.
See also OC4J.
J2SE
Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition. A platform that enables application developers to develop, deploy, and manage Java applets and applications on a desktop client platform such as a personal computer or workstation. J2SE not only defines API standards, but also specifies the deployment of enterprise applications, thus enabling application server administrators to perform the deployment regardless of the vendor of the J2SE server.
See also OC4J.
JavaScript
A scripting language developed by Netscape that enables generation of portlets that introduce dynamic behavior in otherwise static HTML. The Portlet Builder enables you to use JavaScript to create routines that validate entry fields in forms and personalization forms. You can also create JavaScript event handlers for entry fields and buttons on forms.
JSP
JavaServer Pages. An extension to servlet functionality that provides a simple programmatic interface to Web pages. JSPs are HTML pages with special tags and embedded Java code that is executed on the Web or application server. JSPs provide dynamic functionality to HTML pages. They are actually compiled into servlets when first requested and run in the servlet container.
See also JSP tags.
JSR 168
Java Specification Request (JSR) 168. Defines a set of APIs for building standards-based portlets using Java. Portlets built to this specification can be rendered to a portal locally or deployed to a WSRP container for rendering portlets remotely. For more information, see http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=168.
JSP tags
Tags that can be embedded in JSPs to enclose Java code. These tags use the <jsp: syntax and enclose action elements in the JSP with begin and end tags similar to XML elements.
keyword
An attribute used to provide additional information about a page or item so that users can easily locate the page or item during a search.
Layout view
A page editing view that enables you to add, arrange, and remove regions on the page. You can also hide, show, delete, or move content in this view.
Contrast with Graphical view and List view.
LBR
Load-balancing router. A very fast network device that distributes Web requests to a large number of servers. It provides portal users with a single published address, without their having to send each request to a specific middle tier server.
LDAP
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. A standard for representing and accessing user and group profile information.
level
An object used to provide structure to mobile pages and as a way to limit the amount of content displayed on the smaller screens of mobile devices. Users drill down into the levels on a mobile page to view more content.
library
A collection of one or more PL/SQL or Java program units. Libraries can be referenced by several applications simultaneously.
Link mode
An optional portlet Show mode that enables portlets to render themselves on mobile devices, such as cellular telephones.
List view
A page editing view that displays a listing of all page content and provides options that enable you to perform actions (delete, move, copy, and so on) on multiple objects.
Contrast with Graphical view and Layout view.
list of objects item
A type of navigation item that a user can add to a page to list objects (for example, pages and perspectives) as a drop-down list or as links (with or without associated images).
local provider group
The collection of providers that are defined within an instance of OracleAS Portal. Provider groups make it easier to share providers defined or registered within one instance of OracleAS Portal with other OracleAS Portal instances.
See also provider group. Contrast with remote provider group.
lock
A setting automatically applied to a Portlet Builder portlet when it is being edited. The setting prevents other users from editing the portlet.
In WebDAV the action of preventing other users from editing a file. Locking a file in a WebDAV client checks out the corresponding item in the portal itself.
login/logout link item
A type of navigation item that a user can add to a page to enable other users to log in or log out of the portal.
LOV
List of values. A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that enables developers to add selectable values to entry fields in forms. A single list of values can be displayed in different formats, such as combo boxes, radio buttons, or check boxes.
Manage privileges
A privilege level on an Oracle Instant Portal page that allows the user to edit, move, or delete a top-level page and all its child pages. A user with Manage privileges on a portal's home page is considered an administrator of that portal. A user with Manage privileges also has all Contribute and View privileges.
manifest
The list of objects in a transport set and their dependents, which provides a granular level of control over the import mode.
master-detail form
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays a master table row and multiple detail rows within a single HTML page. Values in the master row determine which detail rows are displayed for querying, updating, inserting, and deleting.
See also form.
menu
A portlet created with Portlet Builder that displays a Web page containing options that end users can click to navigate to other menus, other Portlet Builder portlets, or URLs.
metadata
Data that describes data. For example item attributes store item metadata, such as display name, description, and author.
middle tier
Part of the Oracle Application Server architecture that handles HTTP user requests by forwarding them to the appropriate portal database or provider, assembles portal pages, and manages caching of portal content.
MIME type
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension type. A message format used on the Internet to describe the contents of a message. MIME is used by HTTP servers to describe the type of content being delivered.
mobile page
A type of page that enables page designers to produce pages specifically for mobile devices, for example, cellular phones.
Mobile Preview mode
A preview mode that enables you to preview how your page will look on a mobile device.
mod_oc4j
The Oracle HTTP Server module that manages the communication between the Oracle HTTP Server and OC4J.
mod_plsql
The Oracle HTTP Server module that handles the database connections made from the Oracle HTTP Server. It enables PL/SQL database procedures to generate HTTP responses containing formatted data and HTML code that can display in a Web browser.
MVC
A classic design pattern often used by applications that need the ability to maintain multiple views of the same data. The MVC pattern hinges on a clean separation of objects into one of three categories: models for maintaining data, views for displaying all or a portion of the data, and controllers for handling events that affect the model or views. Because of this separation, multiple views and controllers can interface with the same model. Even new types of views and controllers that never existed before, such as portlets, can interface with a model without forcing a change in the model design.
navigation area
In Oracle Instant Portal, the area along the left side of the page in which the search box and a list of the page's child pages appear.
navigation item type
A means of providing navigation and access to portal-specific functions.
Built-in navigation item types include:
See also item type. Contrast with content item type.
navigation page
A special purpose page within a page group that is typically embedded on other pages or Portal Templates to implement standard user interface effects such as navigation bars and banners. Often contains navigation item types for navigation within the portal.
Navigator
A feature for locating objects and interacting with OracleAS Portal. Provides access to objects to which the user has privileges, such as page groups, providers, and database objects.
New Content area
An area on the Oracle Instant Portal home page in which content added anywhere in the portal over the last 24 hours is gathered.
non-default subscriber
A subscriber that has a stripe on a hosted OracleAS Portal provided by an ASP.
object map link item
A type of navigation item that a user can add to a page to display a map of objects that are available in the portal.
OC4J
Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE. The J2EE server component of Oracle Application Server written entirely in Java that executes on the standard Java Development Kit (JDK) Virtual machine (Java VM). It includes a JSP Translator, a Java servlet container, and an Enterprise JavaBeans (JB) container.
OmniPortlet
A Web provider that provides portlets that can display spreadsheet, XML, and Web Service data as tabular, chart, news, bullet, and form layouts.
Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository
An Oracle database that contains schemas and business logic used by application server components (including OracleAS Portal) and other pieces of the infrastructure.
OracleAS Portal uses a schema within the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository to store and manage the content and metadata associated with the portal instance. This is sometimes referred to as the content repository.
Oracle Application Server Portal
A component of Oracle Application Server used for the development, deployment, administration, and configuration of enterprise class portals. OracleAS Portal incorporates a portal building framework with self-service publishing features to enable you to create and manage information accessed within your portal.
Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On
A component of Oracle Application Server that enables users to log in to all features of the Oracle Application Server product suite, as well as to other Web applications, using a single user name and password. OracleAS Portal is integrated with Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On as a partner application and delegates authentication to it.
Oracle Application Server Web Cache
A component of Oracle Application Server that improves the performance, scalability, and availability of frequently used Web sites. By storing frequently accessed URLs in memory, Oracle Application Server Web Cache eliminates the need to repeatedly process requests for those URLs on the Web server. Oracle Application Server Web Cache uses invalidation-based caching and is integrated with OracleAS Portal for improved performance.
See also portal cache.
Oracle Application Server Wireless
A component of Oracle Application Server used to deliver information and applications to mobile devices. Using Oracle Application Server Wireless, you can create custom portal sites that use different kinds of content, including Web pages, custom Java applications, and XML-based applications. Oracle Application Server Wireless sites make this diverse information accessible to mobile devices without your having to rewrite the content for each target device platform.
Oracle Application Server Wireless XML
A device independent markup language used for communication between OracleAS Portal and Oracle Application Server Wireless.
OracleAS Portal Verification Service
(Previously known as Portal Studio). A major component of Portal Center (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/portal) that is specifically tuned to the needs of the portal developer. This site provides developers a way to test and display remote portlets exposed as Web or WSRP providers without having to install their own copy of OracleAS Portal. Developer's portlets reside on their servers and must be accessible over the Internet. You can access OracleAS Portal Verification Service directly at http://portalstandards.oracle.com.
Oracle HTTP Server
The Web server component of Oracle Application Server that is used to service HTTP requests. It is the part of the middle tier that handles requests between the Web and OracleAS Portal. Extensions to the Oracle HTTP Server support Java servlets, JSPs, Perl, PL/SQL, and CGI applications.
Oracle Instant Portal
A product built on top of OracleAS Portal, designed to provide a common place to share and exchange content for smaller groups of users.
Oracle Instant Portal administrator
A user who has full privileges over the entire portal. Any user with Manage privileges on the portal's home page is considered an Oracle Instant Portal administrator for that portal. The PORTAL and ORCLADMIN users, created during the installation process, are Oracle Instant Portal administrators for all portals. Only an Oracle Instant Portal administrator can change the banner or style, manage users, and create new top-level pages.
Oracle Internet Directory
The repository for storing OracleAS Portal user credentials and group memberships. By default, the Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On authenticates user credentials against Oracle Internet Directory information about dispersed users and network resources. Oracle Internet Directory combines LDAP version 3 with the high performance, scalability, robustness, and availability of the Oracle database.
Oracle JDeveloper
Oracle JDeveloper is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building applications and Web services using the latest industry standards for Java, XML, and SQL. Developers can use Oracle JDeveloper to create Java portlets.
Oracle PartnerNetwork Solutions Catalog
(http://solutions.oracle.com/) A collection of information on Oracle Partner joint products and services. The Solutions Catalog includes information on partners who offer OracleAS Portal related products and services.
Oracle Text
A feature of Oracle9i and later that provides advanced search and retrieval services on content stored in an Oracle repository. It is fully integrated into OracleAS Portal to provide users with the ability to perform a full text search and retrieve content managed within the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. It also provides automatic grouping and classification of results by gist and theme.
Oracle Ultra Search
An Oracle Text-based application that supports crawling, indexing, and federated searching of multiple, heterogeneous repositories including databases, file systems, Web servers, and e-mailing list archives.
Contrast with search portlet.
OTN
Oracle Technology Network. The online Oracle technical community that provides a variety of technical resources for building Oracle-based applications. You can access OTN at http://www.oracle.com/technology/.
package
A database object consisting of a PL/SQL specification and a body. The specification includes the data types and subprograms that can be referenced by other program units. The body includes the actual implementation of the package.
page
A portal object that contains portlets and items. Each time you display a page, it is dynamically assembled and formatted according to the portlets and layout chosen for that page.
See also page type.
page designer
A user with the Manage privilege on a page (also known as a page manager). A user with this privilege can perform any action on the page and can create sub-pages under the page. The page designer is often responsible for designing the layout (or region configuration) of the page and assigning privileges on the page to other users (for example, to determine who can add content to the page).
The scope of a page designer's control over a page may be limited if the page is based on a template.
page function item
A type of navigation item that a user can add to a page. A page function is a procedure call that a user can add to a custom page type. If there are no page functions associated with the current page, the page function item does not display.
page group
A portal object that groups and sets properties of related portal objects, such as pages, styles, navigation pages, and perspectives. Page groups typically contain a hierarchy of pages and sub-pages for organizing content.
page group administrator
A user who has full privileges over an entire page group. Page group administrators set up and maintain the page group; designate page owners; and create a taxonomy. Page group administrators can also view and manage all the pages in the page group.
page group map
A hierarchical representation of all page groups in a portal, which enables users to access individual pages within the page group. The page group map is tailored for each user; only the pages the user is authorized to view or edit are displayed.
page link item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. A page link provides a route using a hyperlink to another page within the portal. When the user clicks the display name link, the page referenced by the item is displayed in the user's browser.
page metadata
Stored information or attributes about a page, which is used by OracleAS Portal to set its layout and cache.
page path item
A type of navigation item that a user can add to a page. A page path is a chain of page reference names. Page paths, often called breadcrumbs, describe the complete directory path.
page toolbar
In page Edit mode, the links at the top of the page that enable you to edit various aspects of the page, switch editing views (for example, from Graphical view to Layout view), edit page group properties, and so on.
page type
A portal object that defines the content of a page and the information that is stored about a page. Base page types included with OracleAS Portal are: standard page, mobile page, PL/SQL page, JSP, and URL page. Custom page types are page types created by page group administrators to extend the functionality provided by base page types and store additional information about pages.
parameter
A value passed between pages and portlets, or between portlets.
A page parameter is a page level parameter (created by a page designer) whose values can be mapped to portlet parameters.
A portlet parameter is declared by a provider. Page designers map page parameters to portlet parameters. When the PPE requests a portlet from a provider, only the portlet parameters that the portlet declared and mapped to page parameters are sent.
parameter entry field
A field on a personalization form that enables end users to enter values that will be passed to an OracleAS Portal portlet.
partner application
An application that has delegated its authentication to Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On. If registered with the OracleAS Single Sign-On, users can log in to multiple partner applications using a single log in page. In a given session, once users have been authenticated by the OracleAS Single Sign-On, they won't need to log in again to access additional partner applications.
path-based URL
A path-based URL identifies the path taken through the portal to get to a particular object. It is an easy-to-read URL but as it contains the names of portal objects, the URL becomes invalid if the name of any object within the path changes.
For example, the path-based URL to access a top-level page (sample_page) of the page group MyPageGroup:
http://mymachine.mycompany.com:5000/portal/page/mydad/MyPageGroup/sample_page
Contrast with durable URL.
PDK
OracleAS Portal Developer Kit. The development framework used to build and integrate Web content and applications with OracleAS Portal. It includes toolkits, samples, and technical articles that help make portal development simple. You can take existing Java servlets, JSPs, URL-accessible content and Web Services and turn them into portlets. It is typically used by external developers and vendors to create portlets and services. The PDK is regularly updated on Portal Center (http://portalcenter.oracle.com/) to provide developers with the latest tools and techniques.
See also PDK-Java, PDK-PL/SQL, and PDK-URL Services.
PDK-Java
A toolkit for implementing portlets in Java and adding portal features. Used to declaratively turn your existing Java servlets, JSPs, and Web services into portlets.
See also PDK. Contrast with PDK-PL/SQL.
PDK-PL/SQL
A set of articles, samples, and services that enable PL/SQL programmers to easily create portlets and extend them by using PL/SQL APIs.
PDK-URL Services
A utility for declaratively turning secured and public Web content into portlets. These services are capable of dynamically passing parameters to target URLs, clipping and reformatting content, and providing Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On for applications requiring form-based or basic authentication. These services also allow developers to take any application written in any language and easily create integrated portlets. PDK-URL Services takes the URL of an application, parses the content, and uses the PDK-Java framework to create a portlet.
See also PDK.
Pending Approvals Monitor
A portlet that enables you to list pending approvals in the page groups that you administer. You can list the pending approvals by approver, date, page group, or submitter.
Pending Items Preview mode
A preview mode that enables you to view items that are awaiting approval. This mode can be used by content contributors to preview items they have added before they are approved, and by approvers to preview items before they approve or reject them.
See also Edit mode.
personalization form
A page that prompts end users for values to pass to a Portlet Builder portlet. End users can view the personalization form for a portlet, if one has been created, by clicking the portlet's Personalize link.
personal page
An area within OracleAS Portal where authenticated users can store personal content and share it with other users. The portal administrator can choose to create a personal page for a user when creating a user account.
perspective
A cross-category grouping of items. Perspectives help users answer the question, Who will be interested in this item? For example, you can add links to diverse vacation spots around the world and assign perspectives like Vacations for Nordic Enthusiasts, Archeology Expeditions, and Extreme Vacations for Adventurers to items about vacation types. Users publishing content using an item type that includes a perspective attribute may specify none, one, or many values.
Contrast with category.
PL/SQL item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. A PL/SQL item contains a block of PL/SQL code. When a user clicks the item, the code is executed. The result displays in the user's browser. PL/SQL items can also be displayed directly on the page.
PL/SQL page
A type of page. PL/SQL pages contain PL/SQL code that generates HTML when the page is rendered.
portal
A common interface (that is, a Web page) that provides a personalized, single point of interaction with Web-based applications and information relevant to individual users or class of users. Portals built using OracleAS Portal are made up of pages managed within page groups, containing portlets and items.
portal administrator
A user with the highest level of privileges in OracleAS Portal. Portal administrators can view and modify anything in OracleAS Portal, even pages and database providers marked private. (The only exception is groups: although portal administrators can modify the PORTAL_ADMINISTRATORS and PORTAL_PUBLISHERS groups, they cannot modify any other group unless they have been named group owner.)
Portal Builder page
A predefined page that contains development and administrative portlets used to build and manage portal objects and services.
portal cache
A mechanism for storing cache entries for objects that use validation-based caching. It also acts as a backup to the memory-based Oracle Application Server Web Cache when objects use both validation-based caching and invalidation-based caching.
Portal Center
(http://portalcenter.oracle.com/) A Web site where you can find out everything you want to know about OracleAS Portal. Updated frequently, it always has the latest product information, and is home to the Portal Developer Services and OracleAS Portal Verification Service. This Web site contains all information about the product (including documentation, demonstrations, and so on), and provides access to OracleAS Portal expertise.
Portal Community
A network of people dedicated to creating and exchanging information about OracleAS Portal. This community includes anyone who uses OracleAS Portal; it can leverage the Portal Knowledge Exchange for sharing Portal-related information and take advantage of the Portal Developer Services.
Portal Developer Services
The network of people dedicated to creating and exchanging OracleAS Portal expertise. This program provides online testing tools through Portal Center (http://portalcenter.oracle.com/), as well as other venues, and interaction with the product team and other portal developers, using newsletters, surveys, and the Portal Knowledge Exchange.
See also Portal Community.
Portal Knowledge Exchange
A self-service Web site where subscribers to the Portal Developer Services can share white papers, techniques, and portlets with others in the Portal Community. Contributions can also be rated so that the most valuable contributions can be easily located.
Portal Services
A set of services running in the OracleAS Portal OC4J instance that are used to assemble portal pages and to access portal and page metadata. The Parallel Page Engine (PPE) is one of the Portal Services that assembles portal pages. Other services, like those previously provided by mod_plsql, are incorporated into the Portal Services as well.
portal session
A period of interaction between a browser and OracleAS Portal, from the initial access to log off, closure of the browser window, or expiration of the session after a period of inactivity.
Portal Template
A portal object built declaratively using a wizard that enforces specific layouts, colors, fonts, and backgrounds for pages and items. You can use Portal Templates with navigation pages, standard pages, and pages based on custom page types that are based on the standard page type. You can also use Portal Templates with text items, PL/SQL items, URL items, and all file items with a MIME type of text/html or text/plain.
Contrast with HTML Template.
portlet
A reusable, pluggable Web component that typically displays portions of Web content. Portlets are the fundamental building blocks of a portal page. Using the Portlet Builder, you can easily create your own portlets. OracleAS Portal also provides several ways to build portlets programmatically and to integrate any kind of Web content. Portlets may be implemented using various technologies, such as Java, JSPs, Java servlets, PL/SQL, Perl, ASP, and so on. The PDK covers the standard-based portlet development options that OracleAS Portal provides.
Portlet Builder
A collection of portlet-building wizards that are accessible through the Provider tab in the Portal Navigator. You can use these wizards to build charts, forms, reports, calendars, and lists of values.
portlet publisher
A user who can publish portal objects (pages or otherwise) as portlets so that they can be included on pages.
portlet record
A programmatic structure that contains detailed information about a portlet, such as its implementation style and Show mode (PL/SQL).
Portlet Repository
A special page group that contains the portlets available from the local providers and any registered remote providers. When you register a provider, the provider and its portlets are added to the Portlet Repository.
PPC
Partial Page Caching. A feature that enables Oracle Application Server Web Cache to independently cache and manage fragments of HTML documents. A template page is configured with Edge Side Includes (ESI) markup tags that tell Oracle Application Server Web Cache to fetch and include the HTML fragments. The fragments themselves are HTML files containing discrete text or other objects.
PPE
Parallel Page Engine. A multi-threaded servlet engine that runs in the OC4J container and services page requests. The PPE reads page metadata, calls providers for portlet content, accepts provider responses, and assembles the requested page in the specified page layout. The Parallel Page Engine is part of the Portal Services, which run on the Oracle Application Server middle tier.
Preview mode
An optional portlet Show mode that provides users with a preview of the portlet before they add it to a page.
primary key
One or more columns in a database table that, in combination, uniquely identify a row in a table.
privilege
In OracleAS Portal, the right to perform an action. Privileges are either global (set through in the User or Group Profile) or specific to particular objects (usually set through the object's Access tab). When building applications, access can also be granted to database objects, shared portlets, portlets, and applications.
profile
The information stored about an OracleAS Portal user or group, such as password, user ID, and privileges.
property sheet
A built-in attribute that displays a summary of an item's attributes or a page's properties.
provider
The communication link between OracleAS Portal and a portlet. There are two types of providers: Web providers and database providers. Web providers may reside anywhere on the network and are addressed through SOAP. Web providers may be implemented using any Web technology. You can build your own Web providers by using the PDK-Java and the PDK-URL Services. Database providers reside within an Oracle database and manage portlets while performing data-intensive operations.
Providers act as containers for portlets; each portlet communicates with OracleAS Portal through its provider. Providers also manage the portlets they contain.
provider definition
A declarative, XML-based configuration file (provider.xml) that describes a Web provider, its portlets, and the location of the content to be displayed in the portlets. This configuration file also describes the behavior of the provider and its portlets.
provider group
A logical collection of Web providers defined by a provider group service. A portal administrator can register provider groups for use with their portal. Once registered, a provider group simplifies the process of registering individual providers in the group. This enables organizations that create Web providers to publish registration details of their providers and facilitate automatic registration with any OracleAS Portal instance. The only information that must be given to the portal administrator is the name and location of the provider group.
See also local provider group and remote provider group.
provider record
The record returned by a database provider containing specified information about a portlet.
proxy server
A proxy server typically sits on a network firewall and enables clients behind the firewall to access Web resources. All requests from clients go to the proxy server rather than directly to the destination server. The proxy server forwards the request to the destination server and passes the received information back to the client. The proxy server channels all Web traffic at a site through a single, secure port; this enables an organization to create a secure firewall by preventing Internet access to internal machines, while allowing Web access.
ptlconfig
The Portal Dependency Settings Tool, used to update the OracleAS Portal schema in the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository with settings specified in the iasconfig.xml file.
public page
Any page in a page group that is viewable by public users (users who are not logged onto OracleAS Portal). The page designer or page group administrator must explicitly designate a page as public.
public user
A user who can access, but is not logged onto, OracleAS Portal. When users first access OracleAS Portal, they do so as public users, whether or not they have the ability to log on. A public user can view any page that has been marked as public, but cannot personalize or edit any content, or view pages that have any form of access control.
Contrast with authenticated user.
query
A SQL SELECT statement that specifies which data to retrieve from one or more tables or views in a database.
quota
The amount of space provided in a page group or in the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository to store uploaded documents.
recent object
A portal object, such as a page or portlet, that has recently been displayed or edited. Each authenticated user has his or her own Recent Objects portlet that provides links to the last n objects accessed.
referenced object
An object which is directly or indirectly referenced by an explicit object.
See also manifest.
reference path
The path that uniquely identifies a portlet instance on a page. A reference path can be used to target parameters to individual portlets on a given page.
region
A carved-out area on a standard page used to define the page layout, define page content (portlets and items), and control the style and attributes for content displayed in a region. A standard page can have one or multiple regions. Regions can be created above, beneath, or beside other regions.
You can create the following types of regions:
Undefined regions are regions that have not been assigned a particular type.
Item regions allow you to add items such as text, images, files, and so forth.
Portlet regions allow you to include portlets in a region.
Sub-Page Links regions allow you to display a list of the current page's sub-pages in a region.
Tab regions allow you to include tabs in a region.
region banner
A colored, horizontal bar with a title displayed in a region of a portal page. A banner breaks up the visual flow of a page and groups related items that appear beneath it.
remote database
A database running on a separate machine that can be accessed over the network through a connect string or database link.
remote provider group
The collection of providers that are defined outside of your local instance of OracleAS Portal.
See provider group. Contrast with local provider group.
Replace on Import mode
An import mode. When this option is selected, if the object exists on the target, then it is replaced. If the object does not exist then it is created. When this option is not selected, if the object exists on the target, it is referenced. If it does not exist on the target, it is created.
report
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays the results of a SQL query in a tabular format.
rich text editor
A WYSIWIG editor that enables content contributors to easily apply formatting to text items.
rich text item
One of the available items in Oracle Instant Portal, designed for smaller blocks of text. A rich text item appears on the page as a title, a summary, and the full text of the item. Compare to expandable rich text item, in which the text is hidden until the user clicks an icon. Both expandable rich text and rich text items may contain images, hyperlinks, and tables, as well as any valid HTML code.
root page
The top level of the page hierarchy in a page group; it contains all other sub-pages in the page group. Also known as the page group's home page.
routing method
A mechanism for organizing an approval process. OracleAS Portal provides three approval routing methods:
All, Parallel enables OracleAS Portal to send the approval to recipients in the step all at the same time. All of the recipients must respond to the approval before the item approval can move to the next step.
All, Serial enables OracleAS Portal to send the approval to recipients in the step one at a time in the sequence specified. All of the recipients must respond to the approval before the item approval can move to the next step.
Any, Parallel enables OracleAS Portal to send the approval to recipients in the step all at the same time. However, only one of the recipients must respond to the approval before the item approval can move to the next step.
row
A set of values in a table; for example, the values representing one employee in the SCOTT.EMP table.
saved search
A mechanism for saving search criteria under a single name. This feature enables you to repeat the search quickly, by choosing the saved search name rather than re-entering the criteria manually. You can save the results of a basic search, advanced search, or custom search. The Saved Searches portlet lists all the saved searches in a page group.
schema
A collection of database objects, including logical structures such as tables, views, sequences, stored procedures, synonyms, indexes, clusters, and database links. A schema has the name of the user who controls it.
search portlet
A portlet that enables users to search for pages and content within the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. Users can also search based on text strings, categories, perspectives, and attributes, and using operators such as CONTAINS, GREATER THAN, LESS THAN, and EQUAL TO.
Contrast with Oracle Ultra Search.
self registration
A mechanism that allows users to create new accounts for themselves through a link in the Login portlet.
servlet
A Java program that usually runs on a Web server, extending the Web server's functionality. HTTP servlets take client HTTP requests, generate dynamic content (such as through querying a database), and provide an HTTP response.
shared object
A portal object such as a personal page, navigation page, style, Portal Template, perspective, category, or custom type that can be shared across page groups.
shared portlet
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that is shared between other Portlet Builder portlets. Each shared portlet can be displayed on multiple pages with the same personalization.
Shared Screen mode
A portlet Show mode that renders the body of the portlet. Every portlet must have at least a Shared Screen mode.
simple file item
Similar to a file item except with fewer attributes, which makes it quicker and easier to create.
simple image item
Similar to an image item except with fewer attributes, which makes it quicker and easier to create.
simple page link item
Similar to a page link item except with fewer attributes, which makes it quicker and easier to create.
simple PL/SQL item
Similar to a PL/SQL item except with fewer attributes, which makes it quicker and easier to create.
simple text item
Similar to a text item except with fewer attributes, which makes it quicker and easier to create.
simple URL item
Similar to a URL item except with fewer attributes, which makes it quicker and easier to create.
smart link item
A type of navigation item that is self-configuring. For example, if you add a Home smart link to a navigation page, when a user clicks the Home link, he or she is automatically taken to his or her home page.
smart text item
A type of navigation item that is self-configuring. For example, if you add a Current Date smart text item to a navigation page, the current date is automatically pulled from the server and does not need to be specified (through complex coding) by you.
snapshot
A table that contains the results of a query on one or more tables, called master tables, in a remote database.
snapshot log
A table associated with the master table of a snapshot tracking changes to the master table.
SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol. A lightweight, XML-based protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized, distributed environment. SOAP supports different styles of information exchange, including: Remote Procedure Call style (RPC) and Message-oriented exchange. RPC style information exchange allows for request-response processing, where an endpoint receives a procedure-oriented message and replies with a correlated response message. Message-oriented information exchange supports organizations and applications that need to exchange business or other types of documents where a message is sent but the sender may not expect or wait for an immediate response.
SSL accelerator card
A hardware device that handles traffic much faster than regular SSL software.
See also LBR.
structured UI template
A shared portlet that controls the look and feel of Portlet Builder portlets and runs in standalone mode. Structured UI templates display the same image and text in the same location around every portlet that uses the template.
See user interface (UI) template. Contrast with unstructured UI template.
style
A set of values and parameters that controls the colors and fonts of pages and regions. Style settings include font style, size, color, alignment, and background color. Styles can be created for a specific page group or as a shared object that is used by pages within multiple page groups.
sub-category
A category that appears hierarchically beneath another (parent) category. This provides a way of grouping closely related categories together.
sub-item
An item that appears hierarchically beneath another (parent) item. This provides a way of grouping closely related items together, for example, the spreadsheet that is used by a particular HTML file item could be added as a sub-item of the HTML file item.
sub-page
A page that appears hierarchically beneath another (parent) page. Every page in a page group (except the root page) is a sub-page.
sub-perspective
A perspective that appears hierarchically beneath another (parent) perspective. This provides a way of grouping closely related perspectives together.
subscriber
In the context of hosted portals, a subscriber is a company that signs up with an ASP and receives a stripe on a hosted OracleAS Portal.
subscription notification
A method by which end users can subscribe to a particular page or item so that they are notified (through the My Notifications portlet) when that page or item is updated. The page designer must include a Subscribe Portal smart link item for users to be able to subscribe to a page, and must display the Subscribe attribute for users to be able to subscribe to items. Additionally, the page group administrator must enable approvals and notifications for the page group.
substitution tag
A special portal tag used within HTML Templates and unstructured UI templates to dynamically embed titles, headings, and other elements into the template.
survey
A set of questions used to find out information from users. Surveys can redirect users to different sections of the survey depending on their answers to particular questions.
system level caching
A caching method where a single copy of an item is stored in the cache (on the middle tier) for all users. Consequently, such items cannot be user specific. All users see the same content for the item.
Contrast with user level caching.
system purge
A process that deletes all items in a page group from the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository that are marked as deleted or expired. System purges are performed by the page group administrator or portal administrator.
tab
An area on a page used to increase the amount of content that the page can display by effectively doubling (or tripling, quadrupling, and so on) the amount of real estate available. Tabs also allow you to group content that is common to a subject area, organization, specific role, and so forth.
temporary tablespace
The allocation of space in the database used for the creation of temporary table segments for operations such as sorting table rows.
test
A set of questions used to assess a user's understanding of a particular subject or subjects. You can provide the correct answer for questions and assign each question a score. You can also hand score essay-type answers.
text item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. When you create a text item, you enter text (up to 32KB) in the Item Wizard. The text block is then stored in the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository.
theme
A snapshot generated by Oracle Text that describes a document. Rather than searching for documents that contain specific words or phrases, users can use Oracle Text to search for documents that are about a certain subject, even if that subject is not mentioned explicitly in the document.
top-level page
An Oracle Instant Portal page represented by a tab in the portal's tab set. May contain one or more child pages. Page privileges applied to a top-level page are also applied to all its child pages.
translation
A page group rendered in another language. When a page group administrator creates a translation, content contributors can add content in that language. Page group users can also view the translated content by setting their language to one of the supported languages.
transport set
A collection of portal objects for export or import. It can contain more than one object of a particular type, such as multiple page groups and multiple pages.
trigger
A database object associated with a table. It executes before or after one or more specified events.
unstructured UI template
A shared portlet that is used to insert content and HTML code to control the look and feel of Portlet Builder portlets. Unstructured UI templates are based on HTML code that, when executed, dynamically embeds titles, headings, and other elements that make up a page.
See also substitution tag and user interface (UI) template. Contrast with structured UI template.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. A compact string representation of the location for a resource that is available through the Internet. It is also the format Web clients use to encode requests to Oracle Application Server.
URL item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. A URL item, when clicked, provides a route to another Web page. When a user clicks the URL item's display name, the Web page referenced by the URL displays.
In Oracle Instant Portal, a URL item is represented on the page by a globe and, optionally, a title and summary. When the user clicks the globe, the location specified in the item opens in a secondary browser window.
URL page
A type of page that provides a route to another Web page, identified by its URL. When a user clicks the page link, the Web page referenced by the link is displayed.
URL portlet
A portlet created with the Portlet Builder that displays the contents of a Web page specified by a URL.
user interface (UI) template
A shared portlet that controls the look and feel of Portlet Builder portlets in full page display mode. Selecting a UI template when you are building a portlet automatically selects a title on the page where the portlet is displayed, a title background, links to other Web pages, and background colors and images.
See also structured UI template and unstructured UI template. Contrast with HTML Template and Portal Template.
user level caching
A caching method where a copy of an item is stored in the cache (on the middle tier) for each user. Consequently, users may see different content for the same item.
Contrast with system level caching.
validation-based caching
A caching method that uses a validation check to determine if the cached item is still valid. This is the caching method used by the portal cache. Before an item in the portal cache is used, the PPE contacts the portal repository or the provider that the content came from to determine if the cached item is still valid.
Contrast with expiry-based caching and invalidation-based caching.
versioning
A mechanism that allows multiple versions of an item to simultaneously exist in the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. This feature is useful for tracking document changes from one version to the next or for reverting to a previous version if necessary.
view
A virtual table whose rows do not actually exist in the database, but which is based on a table that is physically stored in the database.
View privileges
A privilege level on an Oracle Instant Portal page that allows the user to view content on the page. All users may navigate pages, select items for the Favorite Content area of the home page, and search for content.
virtual private portal
Features for hosting multiple companies or multiple organizations securely within the same portal instance.
VPD
Virtual Private Database. A feature for ASPs that want to leverage the Oracle database to host their customers. Essentially, it uses one physical database instance for all customers, but to each customer it looks as if they have their own database. Users cannot see any information that is not meant for them and complete customer isolation is achieved. It requires little to no changes in the core application to take effect as most of the work is done at the database level. Implementing VPD basically requires two key steps: adding a context column (for example, company name) to all the database tables, and implementing a policy to restrict queries on each table based on the context of the logged in user. VPD provides highly secure, full subscriber isolation using this method.
WAP
Wireless Application Protocol. A set of open, global protocols for developing applications and services that use wireless networks.
Web clipping
A feature that enables page designers to collect Web content into a single centralized portal. It can be used to consolidate content from hundreds of different Web sites scattered throughout a large organization.
WebDAV
Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. A protocol extension to HTTP 1.1 that supports distributed authoring and versioning. With WebDAV, the Internet becomes a transparent read and write medium, where content can be checked out, edited, and checked in to a URL address.
Web provider
An entity that is called, using an HTTP request, by OracleAS Portal and returns portlet content in HTML, XML, or WSRP. A Web provider acts as a proxy for one or more portlets that are defined within a particular application environment (for example, Java, ASP, or Perl) and executed as applications external to OracleAS Portal. Web providers are particularly appropriate for Web-accessible information sources.
See also provider. Contrast with database provider.
wireless portal
A portal accessible from wireless devices, such as cellular telephones.
See also Oracle Application Server Wireless.
wizard
A graphical interface that guides a user step-by-step through a process. In OracleAS Portal, wizards are used for creating database providers, portlets, database objects, pages, page groups, and items.
WML
Wireless Markup Language. An XML-based markup language used to define hypertext-like content and applications for handheld devices.
WSRP
Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP). A Web services standard that allows the plug-and-play of visual, user-facing Web services with portals or other intermediary Web applications. Being a standard, WSRP enables interoperability between a standards-enabled container based on a particular language (such as JSR 168, .NET, Perl) and any WSRP portal. So, a portlet (regardless of language) deployed to a WSRP-enabled container can be rendered on any portal that supports this standard.
XML
Extensible Markup Language. An open standard for describing data using a subset of the SGML syntax.
XML portlet
An OracleAS Portal portlet that displays the executed results of XML code. To create the portlet, you either specify XML code or a URL that points to the XML code.
XSL
Extensible Stylesheet Language. The language used within stylesheets to transform or render XML documents.
zip file item
A type of item that a user can add to a page. Zip file items enable you to upload many files in a single operation. You can use them to migrate the contents of a file system or Web site into the OracleAS Portal schema of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. When you upload a zip file to OracleAS Portal, then unzip the uploaded file, a page is created for each directory and an item is created for each file. The items are published in the target page.
