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How does OracleAS Portal work with WebDAV?

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This topic is divided into the following sections:

What is WebDAV?

In any enterprise, documents are frequently spread across many different data sources. To make the information accessible and easy to find, the ideal solution is to save the data in one, central, content repository, such as the one provided by OracleAS Portal. But how do you move and publish distributed content into your portal? For simple, distributed, low-volume file transfer, you can map a Portal Repository as a Web folder.

OracleAS Portal supports the use of a Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol (WebDAV). Using a WebDAV client, such as Web Folders, you can manage your portal content via your computer’s file system. Drag and drop files between your desktop and your portal page groups. Move content between page groups. Move content between source repositories and the Portal Repository. For example, you can mount both the Oracle Files repository and the OracleAS Portal repository via a Web folder, and exchange files. Perform in-place opening, editing, and saving of portal content using WebDAV-compliant desktop applications, such as Microsoft Office 2000.

WebDAV also has Java clients (such as DAV Explorer), open source tools (such as Cadaver and Sitecopy), Apple GUI tools (such as Goliath), and commercial authoring tools (such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop). You can also use browsers such as Mozilla or Internet Explorer 5.5 to browse a portal's content in a hierarchical structure.

Setting up WebDAV requires some simple configuration on both the server side (in OracleAS Portal) and the client side.

Note: We recommend that any single user does not perform operations on a single item (or its sub-items) using a concurrent combination of WebDAV clients and the portal itself. For example, if a user locks a file explicitly or implicitly using a WebDAV client, that file is also checked out in OracleAS Portal. If the user checks the file back in through the portal user interface, rather than through the WebDAV client that checked it out (that is, locked it), there may be unexpected results.

Configuring OracleAS Portal for WebDAV

Similarly to the OracleAS Portal DAD configuration file, WebDAV has its own configuration file (oradav.conf) that contains the OraDAV parameters. When Oracle Application Server is installed, all required OraDAV parameters are set with values that enable access to Oracle database content through a Web browser or a WebDAV client. If necessary, the portal administrator can modify parameter values if the default values do not meet your portal's needs. If you are a portal administrator and would like detailed information about the oradav.conf file and how to modify OraDAV parameters, refer to the Oracle Application Server Portal Configuration Guide which is available from the Oracle Portal documentation page on the Oracle Technology Network.

Setting up a WebDAV client

The steps required to set up a WebDAV client to connect to OracleAS Portal vary depending on the client, but all clients eventually request a URL. The DAV URL for a portal is very similar to the URL you use to access the portal itself in your Web browser, and uses the following format:

http://<hostname>:<port>/<dav_location>

Where dav_location is the location as specified in the oradav.conf file. For example, the default DAV URL is:

http://<hostname>:<port>/dav_portal/portal

Where:

Portal administrators can also configure virtual hosts to provide a different, simpler, or easier to remember URL for WebDAV access, if need be.

You can directly access a particular page group or page by adding its name to the DAV URL. For example:

http://mymachine.mycompany.com:5000/dav_portal/portal/myportal/mypage

You connect to a portal in a WebDAV client using the same user name and password that you use to log in to the portal itself. If the portal is in a hosted environment, you also need to add your company information, as follows:

<username>@<company>

OracleAS Portal's Single Sign-On functionality does not apply for WebDAV clients. So, even if you are logged in to the portal itself, you must still explicitly log in from the client.

If the WebDAV client has no explicit log-out feature, you must log out from the operating system (like in Windows 2000 or NT) to log out from the portal.

Using a WebDAV client

OracleAS Portal supports the following set of actions using a WebDAV client:

Since not all WebDAV clients behave the same way, you might be allowed only a subset of these actions depending on the client you are using. For example, you can check items in and out only if your WebDAV client supports the WebDAV LOCK method (Web Folders does not currently support locking operations, Office 2000 clients support implicit locking operations, cadaver and Dreamweaver support explicit locking operations). Performing any of the following actions has the same effect as performing it in the portal itself, and any change you make from the WebDAV client is instantly visible in the portal, providing the change is not subject to an approval process. You may need to refresh the portal page to see the changes.

When performing actions using WebDAV clients, you may encounter error messages that do not seem to be appropriate for the action. For example, in Web Folders when creating a new version of an item, you may get an error message that implies the item is being overwritten rather than a new version created. Also in Web Folders, you may get an error message when moving an item asking you to verify that you want to delete the file. This is due to the underlying behavior of the client and does not affect the actual action that is being performed.

Listing content

Once you connect to the portal, all the root pages for which you have at least the page privilege View are visible as folders (folders represent the root pages of the page groups). All authenticated users should see at least the Shared Objects page group. If you have a personal page in the Shared Objects page group, you should also be able to access your personal page via your WebDAV client.

Drill into a page group to list all the pages inside the page group as folders. Drill into a page to list the page's sub-pages and all items (and sub-items) of the following types:

To see items in a WebDAV client, you must have at least the page privilege View. The current version of the item displays in the page group's default language only (that is, the language in which the page group was originally created). Translations of items are not visible in WebDAV clients. You see only the primary document attribute associated with each item. Any other files (that is, secondary files or images) associated with the item (for example, the item image), are hidden in the WebDAV client. If you want to delete or change these files, you must do so in the portal itself. In WebDAV clients there is no differentiation between items and sub-items.

Unpublished items (that is, expired and hidden items, items with a future publish date, and deleted items that are still displayed on a page) are visible in WebDAV clients only to users with at least the page privilege Manage Content, and only when the page group setting Display Unpublished Items In Edit Mode is enabled. Expired items and items marked for deletion remain visible in WebDAV clients until they are purged from the database.

OracleAS Portal is case-sensitive for file and folder names (for example, aaa.htm and AAA.htm are treated as different items). If your WebDAV client is not case-sensitive (for example, Web Folders), aaa.htm and AAA.htm may not be accessible or the client may confuse one with the other. Therefore when using such clients, do not use a naming convention that relies on case.

Renaming a file with a WebDAV client affects the display name of the corresponding item only if the display name was previously the same (including the same case) as the file name. For example, if, in the OracleAS Portal user interface, the item’s Name is sample.txt, and its Display Name is also sample.txt, when you rename this file via a WebDAV client to realfile.txt, both the Name and Display Name are updated to realfile.txt. Conversely, if the item’s Name is sample.txt and its Display Name is Benefits Information, when you rename this file via a WebDAV client to benefits.txt, only the Name is updated in the portal; the Display Name continues to read Benefits Information. This holds true if the Name and Display Name are in different cases. For example, if the Name is sample.txt and the Display Name is Sample.txt, when you change the Name to benefits.txt in a WebDAV client, the Display Name remains Sample.txt.

Templates and tabs are not currently represented. Because these are not represented, their content is not represented. You are unable to see items that are contained within tabs or items that belong to templates. This also means that if you add a file to a tab in the portal itself, that item does not display in your WebDAV client. Consider avoiding the use of tabs in pages that are intended for use with WebDAV clients.

If a template's default item region does not allow users to add content, this setting is ignored by WebDAV. That is, when users add content via WebDAV to pages that are based on a template, that content is added to the default item region that was specified for the template, even if, on the template, the region is set not to allow the addition of content.

If a template is detached from a page, any items from the template are copied to the page itself and therefore become visible in your WebDAV client.

Viewing content

Most WebDAV clients allow you to view the content of a file by clicking on the name. In Windows 2000 or NT, the behavior is very similar to clicking a file on the local machine; the operating system opens it in the application associated with the file type.

Some desktop applications may have difficulty opening files that use special characters in the file name. Avoid using the following special characters:

, & # % \ / : * ? < > | "

Moving, copying, and editing content

To move, copy, or edit files, you must have at least the page privilege Manage Content.

With WebDAV-enabled desktop applications, such as Microsoft Office 2000, you can open a file, edit it directly, and then save it to the same location, using the same file name. With other applications, you can save the file to your local file system, edit it, and then drag and drop the updated file to OracleAS Portal. The next time the file is opened from OracleAS Portal, the updated version is displayed.

When you move or copy a file, the whole item associated with that file is moved or copied, including associated files (for example, the item image) and any sub-items. If you select multiple files for moving, including items and sub-items, you may encounter error messages and all the files may not be moved. This is because the WebDAV client attempts to move each item in turn. If the parent item is moved first, all of its sub-items are also moved. When the client attempts to move the sub-items, they no longer exist in the source folder, so an error is displayed. Similarly, if the sub-item is moved first, when the client attempts to move the parent item, it displays an error message because it cannot find the sub-item. When you copy a sub-item, the copy is created as a top-level item.

Item types and attribution

The page designer can specify what item types to use for new files published to the portal via WebDAV. For example, the page designer might want any zip files published to the portal to be uploaded as Zip File items, so that their contents can be extracted into the page group. If the default item type includes the Category attribute, new items added via WebDAV clients are assigned to the General category.

Default WebDAV Types can be specified on a page-by-page basis, although the default for sub-pages is to inherit settings from the parent page. On a page group’s root page, the default value is File, for regular files, Zip File, for Zip files, and Image for image files.

When you edit or move an existing item using WebDAV, that item retains its original item type and attribute settings. Similarly, when you copy an item using WebDAV, the copy uses the item type and attribute settings of the original item. You cannot edit an item's attributes in OracleAS Portal's DAV server. To do this you must edit the item in the portal itself.

Versioning support

OracleAS Portal's WebDAV server supports Audit versioning. If a page uses Audit versioning, when you use a WebDAV client to edit an item on the page, a new version of the item is created. The new version is always set to the current version. To overwrite the previous version of the item or to set the current version to some other version, you must edit the item in the portal itself.

In some clients (for example, Windows 2000), the message you receive when you add a new version of an item may imply that you are overwriting the file rather than adding a new version. This is a limitation of the client's messaging. If Simple or Audit versioning is enabled for the page, replacing a file in the WebDAV client always creates a new version.

Approvals support

OracleAS Portal's DAV server also supports approvals. When you have the page privilege Manage Items With Approval and you add an item to the page using a WebDAV client, the approval process for the page or page group is triggered. The content of the item does not become visible to other users until it has been approved. Other users may be able to see the item listed as a zero-byte file before it has been approved, but they cannot see the content of the item until is has been approved. This prevents other users from creating items with the same file name, potentially overwriting a pending item. The item cannot be updated in the WebDAV client until it has been approved or rejected. You cannot add an item with the same name as a pending item using a WebDAV client because this is seen as trying to edit the pending item. You can add an item with the same name as a pending item through the portal because this is seen as adding a different item. The item is created with a unique file name.

When approvals are enabled, if you update an item using a WebDAV client, other users continue to see the non-updated item until the updates are approved. You (as the user who updated the item) see the updated item, even before it is approved. This differs from when you perform the same action in the portal itself, where all users (including yourself) see the non-updated item in the WebDAV client until the updated item is approved.

Note: The point at which the approval process is triggered depends upon the WebDAV client you are using. For example, in Microsoft Word, when you open a file it is automatically locked. The approval process is not triggered until the file is unlocked (that is, when you close the file). Therefore, simply saving the file does not trigger the approval process; you must perform the action that causes the client to unlock the file, thus triggering the approval process.

Additional tips for moving, copying, and editing content

Deleting content

When you delete a file in a WebDAV client, the whole item associated with that file is deleted from the portal. This means that any other files that are associated with the item (for example, the item image) are also deleted, as well as all sub-items, versions, and translations of the item.

If you mark an item for deletion in the portal itself but it is not yet deleted from the database, the item is not visible in a WebDAV client. If you delete an item using a WebDAV client, the item is permanently deleted, even if the page group setting is set to retain and display deleted items.

If you delete an item type from your portal, and that type was one of the Default WebDAV Types selected on the Items tab of page properties, the option that used that type (either Default Regular Files, Default Zip Files, or Default Image Files) is reset to Inherit from Parent Page - [File/Zip File/Image].

Checking content out and in

If the WebDAV client supports locking and unlocking (for example, Dreamweaver), you can lock a file, which in turn checks out the item that is attached to the file. This is the OracleAS Portal equivalent of the WebDAV LOCK method. Once you lock an item from a WebDAV client, no-one else can make changes to it until it is checked back in using the same WebDAV client. Even you (the user who locked the item) cannot make changes to the file using a different WebDAV client or the portal itself. Some clients (for example, Microsoft Office) implicitly lock files when you open them. This means that when other users are merely reading the file, the author may be prohibited from editing it. In other clients (for example, Dreamweaver) you must explicitly lock files if you want to prevent other users from being able to make changes while you work on them. The unlock token is owned by the client that locked the file, so the file must be unlocked by the same WebDAV client (on the same machine) that locked the file.

After you have made the required changes to the file, you can unlock it, which in turn checks in the item that is attached to the document. This is the OracleAS Portal equivalent of the WebDAV UNLOCK method. Other users are now able to make their own changes to the file.

You cannot check folders in or out, or recursively check out the contents of a folder. You cannot move, copy, or delete a page if a WebDAV-supported item (file, image, and so on) in that page, or in one of its sub-pages, has been locked via a WebDAV client or by another user. In addition, these operations can be performed only using the same WebDAV client that locked the item. If you lock a file attached to a sub-item, other users are able to use a WebDAV client to delete the parent item (and thus the sub-item), even though they do not own the unlock token for the sub-item. This is because WebDAV clients do not support the OracleAS Portal item hierarchy.

If you check an item out in the portal itself, even you (the user that checked the item out) are not able to update the item in a WebDAV client. This is because OracleAS Portal uses a different locking model from WebDAV. OracleAS Portal locks items based on user names, whereas WebDAV locks resources based on specific lock-keys. When you check out an item in the portal, it is locked in the WebDAV domain with a specific key. Only the portal itself (not the individual user) has the key to unlock the item. Even you (the user who checked the item out) must check the item in again before you can operate on it using a WebDAV client.

For example, when Scott checks out File1 in the portal itself, the portal keeps a record that Scott has checked out File1 and the OracleAS Portal WebDAV server locks File1 and holds onto the related lock token. Scott can log on to the portal using any Web browser and check File1 back in but he cannot use a WebDAV client to unlock the item because the OracleAS Portal WebDAV server (not Scott's WebDAV client) has the lock token.

Some clients, for example, Cadaver and Xythos, provide the ability to explicitly or implicitly steal a lock token and unlock a file that has been locked by another user or client. We strongly advise users never to steal locks. It can lead to confusing behavior in the locked files, particularly when users steal locks created by other users.

If you want to reserve a particular file name, you can do so using some WebDAV clients (for example, cadaver) by locking a non-existent file. When you do this, a file with the specified file name is created and locked. This prevents other users from creating a file with the same name.

Creating portal pages and sub-pages

Using a WebDAV client, you can create and delete pages within existing page groups on which you have the appropriate privileges. For example, in Web Folders, in the folder for the page where you want to create a sub-page, right-click the mouse and choose New>Folder from the resulting menu. All new pages created via WebDAV clients are Standard pages and contain an item region.

Page names can contain any alphanumeric character (A to Z, a to z, and 0 to 9), spaces, and any other characters except the following:

, & # % \ / : * ? < > | "

Consequently, to paste a folder from the file system into the portal, it and all sub-folders that it contains must use the characters that fall within these parameters.

Because page groups are considered to be mount points like drives, you cannot create, edit, or delete page groups via WebDAV. These actions must be performed in the portal itself.

You cannot create tabs via WebDAV.

To edit a page via WebDAV, you must have at least the page privilege Manage.

Viewing errors

Any errors that occur when you perform actions on portal content using a WebDAV client are recorded in an error log that is created in your personal page (as an item titled My Error Log) the first time an OracleAS Portal related WebDAV error occurs. This can be very helpful for interpreting the error messages reported in WebDAV clients, such as the message 'An error has occurred while trying to complete this operation' that is often displayed in Web Folders, or HTTP error numbers reported in cadaver.

All errors are also recorded in the Apache error log file (ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs), so if you do not have a personal page, or you are a public user, the errors can still be examined. For more information, refer to the Oracle Application Server Portal Configuration Guide which is available from the Oracle Portal documentation page on the Oracle Technology Network.

Tip: The error log is not truncated and may become quite a large file. Delete this file periodically. The next time an error is encountered a new file is created.

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