Administrator-level Subscription preferences are set in a custom XML file that you create and then use to supersede the file that is provided for this purpose out of the box (notification-service-settings.xml). The settings in the custom XML file are analogous to the application-level subscriptions settings available to users through Subscription Preferences in WebCenter Portal (for more information, see Subscribing to the Application, to Portals, and to Objects in Using Portals in Oracle WebCenter Portal.)

Each setting provides three attributes:

• id—for specifying the service ID:

  • oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections, the Connections feature of the People Connections service

  • oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.wall, the Message Board feature of the People Connections service

  • oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.kudos, the Feedback feature of the People Connections service

  • oracle.connections. community, portal membership management

• subscription-enabled—for specifying the initial state of the preference option: true (enabled) or false(not enabled)

  Tip:

  Rather than enabling or disabling the entire subscription capability, the subscription-enabled attribute merely sets the initial state of the preference option. For example, if subscription-enabled="true", then the associated subscription option is selected by default in the WebCenter Portal's Preferences dialog. If subscription-enabled="false", then the associated subscription option is deselected by default in the dialog.

• end-user-configurable—for enabling users to change the established default or preventing users from doing so: true or false

These attributes work together to determine the initial state of the General Subscriptions tab on the Subscriptions page in Preferences.

Figure 15-1 Preferences - Subscriptions: General Subscriptions Page

Description of "Figure 15-1 Preferences - Subscriptions: General Subscriptions Page"

The following table illustrates the effect of custom administrator-level subscriptions settings on the appearance of the General Subscriptions tab.

^Footnote 1 Rather than enabling or disabling the entire subscription capability, the subscription-enabled attribute merely sets the initial state of the preference option. For example, if subscription-enabled="true", then the associated subscription option is selected by default in WebCenter Portal's Preferences. If subscription-enabled="false", then the associated subscription option is deselected by default.

1. Navigate to a directory with a path that contains /oracle/webcenter/notification, and create the folder custom.

   Tip:

   The directory structure can start or end with any directory or directories, as long as it has /oracle/webcenter/notification/custom in the path.

2. In the custom folder, or in any subdirectory under /oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/, create the file notification-service-settings.xml.
3. In the XML file, enter values for all application-level subscription options.

   The following example provides sample content for an application-wide subscription preferences setting file and an example of each required option.

   <notification-service_settings xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/webcenter/notification">
    <subscription-settings>
     <service id="oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections" subscription-enabled="true"
      end-user-configurable="false"/>
     <service id="oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.wall" subscription-enabled="false"
      end-user-configurable="true"/>
     <service id="oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.kudos" subscription-enabled="false"
      end-user-configurable="true"/>
     <service id="oracle.webcenter.community" subscription-enabled="true"
      end-user-configurable="true"/>
    </subscription-settings>
   </notification-service_settings>
   

   Note:

   If an option is not provided, the default values false/false are assigned for the service.

4. Run the WLST command importMetadata(), and import the directory content into your metadata store.

   For example:

   wls: /WC_Domain/serverConfig> importMetadata(application='webcenter',
    server='serverName', fromLocation='directoryPath', docs='/**')
   

   Where:

   • application is the name that identifies your WebCenter Portal deployment

   • serverName is the name of the server where WebCenter Portal is running

   • directoryPath is the directory path under which oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/<any_sub_dir_after_this>/notification-service-settings.xml is located.

     For example, if the directory path to notification-service-settings.xml is /scratch/mydir/oracle/webcenter/notification/custom, enter /scratch/mydir for directoryPath.

   • docs identifies the content to be imported, in this example, the path and files that fall under directoryPath.

   For information about the importMetadata WLST command, see importMetadata in WLST Command Reference for Infrastructure Components.

The Notifications connection type determines the messaging channels that are available to users when they configure their own messaging preferences for Notifications in WebCenter Portal.

Use one of two possible connection types:

• BPEL Server provides two messaging channel options to users: mail and texting (SMS).

• Mail Server delivers notification messages exclusively through a mail server that is configured for WebCenter Portal.

BPEL Server Connection Type

Selection of a BPEL server presupposes that you have established a connection to a BPEL server with the User Messaging Service (UMS) is available. For information about connecting to a BPEL server, see Managing the SOA Connection for WebCenter Portal Membership Workflows.

When WebCenter Portal has setSpacesWorkFlowConnectionName set up, the Manage Configuration button becomes available on the Messaging panel in WebCenter Portal's Preferences.

Mail Server Connection Type

Selection of a mail server presupposes that you have established a connection to a mail server. Additionally, the external application associated with the mail server connection must contain shared credentials. For information about connecting to a mail server, see Managing Mail.

When Mail Server is the selected connection type, the Manage Configuration button on the Messaging panel in WebCenter Portal's Preferences might or might not be grayed-out. This depends on whether you have set up spacesWorkFlowConnection. Regardless, when Mail Server is the selected connection type, and you click the Manage Configuration button for Messaging preferences to open User Messaging Preferences, any changes you make are ignored.

Before you can define a connection type for Notifications, you must take the steps and consider the information provided in the following subsections:

• Installation

• Configuration

• Security

• Limitations

1. At the WLST command prompt, connect to the Administration Server for WebCenter Portal.

   connect('admin_user','mypassword','<servername>:7001')
   

2. Create an external application connection:

   createExtAppConnection(appName='webcenter', name='NotificationSharedApp', displayName= 'NotificationSharedApp')
   

   This command creates the connection named NotificationSharedApp.

3. Configure shared credentials for the external application, NotificationSharedApp:

   addExtAppCredential(appName='webcenter', name='NotificationSharedApp', 
   type='SHARED', username='john.doe@example.com', password='sharedpassword')
   

   Where username refers to the mail account from which mail notifications will be sent. This must be in the format <user>@<domain of the mail server>.

   Optionally, you may add the following fields to use while sending out the mail notification.

   addExtAppField(appName='webcenter',name='NotificationSharedApp',fieldName='Email Address',fieldValue='sender's_email_address',displayToUser=false)
   addExtAppField(appName='webcenter',name='NotificationSharedApp',fieldName='Your Name',fieldValue='sender's_display_name',displayToUser=false)
   

4. Create a Mail connection:

   createMailConnection(appName='webcenter',name='NotificationSharedConn',
            imapHost='<mailserver>',imapPort=143,
            smtpHost='<mailserver>',smtpPort=25,
            imapSecured=false,smtpSecured=false,
            appId='NotificationSharedApp',default=1)
   

   This creates a mail connection named NotificationSharedConn.

5. Set Mail as the notifications channel:

      setNotificationsConfig(appName='webcenter', type='MAIL',
                             name='NotificationSharedConn')
   

   This sets NotificationSharedConn as the mail connection to use when sending notifications.

6. For the changes to take effect, restart the managed server where WebCenter Portal is deployed (WC_Portal by default).
7. Log in to WebCenter Portal, navigate to the About tab of the Profile page, and verify that your e-mail address is set in the Email field. This is to ensure that notifications are sent to the required e-mail address.

   If the e-mail address is not set, click Edit, then in the Email field, specify your e-mail address, and click Save.

8. Subscribe to the activities for which to receive notifications. For example, navigate to the Preferences page, click Subscriptions, and then select Portal Management to get notified about any membership or role changes.
9. Test your configuration by performing a subscribed activity. For example, change your role from Portal Manager to another custom role to trigger a notification.

You can go through MDS using WLST commands to customize the layout and content of subscription-based notification messages by overwriting the files defaultTemplate.xml (or defaultTemplate_rtl.xml—when right-to-left language support is required).

You can create your own version of these xml files, editing the CSS styles for tables (label, value, background) and footers (note). You can move such tags as <payload> and <group-space-footer> to change the layout. To modify the content of these tags, you can edit the CDATA section within <html-format>.

Note that the tag <text-format/> should always be present and empty. You can use the tag <custom> to add additional content, where the enclosed <html-format> with CDATA contains the new HTML content and <text-format/> remains empty.

The following example illustrates the default content of notification message template files. You can use this to formulate your custom files.

Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<notification-template xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/webcenter/notification">
   <!-- The CSS Style of the Notification -->
      <style>
         <text-format/>
         <html-format>
            <![CDATA[
               <style type="text/css">
                  .title  {font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;
                     white-space:nowrap;}
                  .label  {text-align:right; margin-left:30px;
                     padding-right:10px; white-space:nowrap;}
                  .value  {text-align:left; margin-right:20px;
                     padding-left:10px; white-space:nowrap;
                     width:100%;}
                  .note   {font-size:0.8em; color:#999999}
                  .background {background-color:#fcfcfc}
               </style>
            ]]>
         </html-format>
      </style>


   <!-- The Subject line of the Notification -->
   <subject>
      <message-key>NOTIFICATION_SUBJECT</message-key>
   </subject>
   <group-space-subject>
      <message-key>GROUP_SPACE_SUBJECT_SUFFIX</message-key>
   </group-space-subject>
   <!-- Actual srvc-specific data. Provided/Overridden by srvc template -->
   <payload>
      <text-format/>
      <html-format/>
   </payload>


   <!-- Any generic/common footer to appear after service-specific payload -->
   <!-- Group Space footer - if applicable -->
   <group-space-footer>
      <text-format/>
      <html-format>
         <![CDATA[
            <p>
               <a href="<token>groupSpaceUrl</token>" target="_blank">
                  <message-key>GO_TO_SPACE</message-key>&nbsp;<token>
                     groupSpaceName</token>
               </a>
            </p>
         ]]>
      </html-format>
   </group-space-footer>


   <!-- Unsubscribe footers -->
   <unsubscribe-footer>
      <text-format/>
      <html-format>
         <![CDATA[
            <hr/>
            <p class="note">
               <token>unsubscribeMessage</token>
            </p>
         ]]>
      </html-format>
   </unsubscribe-footer>
</notification-template>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<notification-template xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/webcenter/notification">
   <!-- The CSS Style of the Notification -->
      <style>
         <text-format/>
         <html-format>
            <![CDATA[
               <style type="text/css">
                  .title  {font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;
                     white-space:nowrap;}
                  .label  {text-align:left; margin-right:30px;
                     padding-left:10px; white-space:nowrap;}
                  .value  {text-align:right; margin-left:20px;
                     padding-right:10px; white-space:nowrap;
                     width:100%;}
                  .note   {font-size:0.8em; color:#999999}
                  .background {background-color:#fcfcfc}
               </style>
            ]]>
         </html-format>
      </style>


   <!-- The Subject line of the Notification -->
   <subject>
      <message-key>NOTIFICATION_SUBJECT</message-key>
   </subject>
   <group-space-subject>
      <message-key>GROUP_SPACE_SUBJECT_SUFFIX</message-key>
   </group-space-subject>
   <!-- Actual srvc-specific data. Provided/Overridden by srvc template -->
   <payload>
      <text-format/>
      <html-format/>
   </payload>


   <!-- Any generic/common footer to appear after service-specific payload -->
   <!-- Group Space footer - if applicable -->
   <group-space-footer>
      <text-format/>
      <html-format>
         <![CDATA[
            <p>
               <a href="<token>groupSpaceUrl</token>" target="_blank">
                  <message-key>GO_TO_SPACE</message-key>&nbsp;<token>
                     groupSpaceName</token>
               </a>
            </p>
         ]]>
      </html-format>
   </group-space-footer>


   <!-- Unsubscribe footers -->
   <unsubscribe-footer>
      <text-format/>
      <html-format>
         <![CDATA[
            <hr/>
            <p class="note">
               <token>unsubscribeMessage</token>
            </p>
         ]]>
      </html-format>
   </unsubscribe-footer>
</notification-template>

1. Create a directory in the format of: /tmp/repository/oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/template

   This will later be used to import the files into the MDS and override the original application file.

2. Inside the directory you created, create a custom XML file with the name defaultTemplate.xml (or defaultTemplate_rtl.xml, for a right-to-left language template).
3. Populate the custom file with your revised version of one of these default files.
4. Upload the custom file into WebCenter Portal's MDS repository using the importMetadata() WLST command. Overwrite the original file, placing the custom file where the absolute path to the file contains the namespace oracle/webcenter/notification/custom.

   For example:

   importMetadata(application='webcenter', server='WC_Portal', fromLocation='template-file-location', docs='/oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/template/defaultTemplate.xml')

   The template-file-location points to the directory under which the fully qualified custom file is located. The fully qualified custom file is typically placed under the directory structure equivalent to its namespace, inside the MDS repository. For example, for a file created under the following namespace:

   /tmp/repository/oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/template/defaultTemplate.xml

5. Upload the custom file into WebCenter Portal's MDS repository by running the importMetadata() WLST command.

   For example:

   importMetadata(application='webcenter', server='WC_Portal',
      fromLocation='template-file-location',
      docs='/oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/template/defaultTemplate.xml')
   

   The template-file-location points to the directory under which the fully qualified custom file is located. The fully qualified custom file is typically placed under the directory structure equivalent to its namespace.

   For example, for a file that is created under the following namespace:

   /tmp/repository/oracle/webcenter/notification/custom/template/defaultTemplate.xml
   

   The fromLocation is /tmp/repository since the remaining sub-directory consists of the namespace for the XML file. The namespace must have at least the path /oracle/webcenter/notification/custom.

6. Restart WebCenter Portal.

   Note:

   For information about the importMetada and exportMetada WLST commands, see Application Metadata Management Commands in WLST Command Reference for Infrastructure Components.