Enportal/old/creating content

Content is simply all of the information provided through enPortal. This can include existing web interfaces provides through enPortal Channels, or data visualization provided through AppBoard Stacks. This page provides instructions for creating individual frames of content (Channels) and collections of Channels (Folders) in enPortal.


Creating Folders

Users are grouped together into Roles in enPortal based on their job duties, the department they work in, their level in the company, and other factors that would have an impact on the information they need to access. These Roles are then given Folders based on the specific Role requirements. When a Folder is provisioned to a Role, it is provided in a tab to an enPortal User. Folders can have subfolders that contain more specific sets of related information, which helps organize the content and allows the enPortal Administrator to easily assign the exact content necessary for each Role.


Perform the following steps to create a Folder in enPortal:

  1. Log into enPortal as an administrator.
  2. Mouse over the Provisioning tab and select Content Management.
  3. In the Explorer panel to the left, right-click on Viewset and select New Subfolder.
  4. Provide a name for the new Folder and hit the Enter button.
  5. Click on the new Folder and options will be displayed for it in the right panel.
  6. Edit the following options for the Folder in the Display panel:
    • Display Name - Enter the name you would like to be displayed, if not the actual folder name. This name will be displayed if the Show Display Name box is checked.
    • Folder Type - There are three folder types you can choose from:
      1. Folder - The default folder type that displays the folder as a tab and its contents as part of a cascading menu when the tab is hovered over.
      2. Transparent - The folder is not shown as a tab in enPortal; instead, the folder's contents are displayed as part of the first non-transparent folder found going up from current folder. If all the current folder's parents are transparent as well, then the contents of the current folder will become tabs.
      3. Tiled - This option is only available when content has been added to the folder. The tab is displayed in the same way as the Folder type but the contents are displayed in the folder's page in different tiled windows. The following options are presented for only the Tiled folder type:
        • Show Item Header - Provides a header for each of the windows.
        • Show Item Border - Provides a border for the individual contents.
        • Allow Item Resize - Allows the user to resize each window as needed.
        • Allow Item Move - Allows the user to move each window freely throughout the page.
    • Cache On - Allows enPortal to create a cache. Setting the cache allows Folders that are not currently displayed to keep their states such that when the Folder is displayed again by the user it is not automatically refreshed (like it is when it is not cached).
  7. Click Save when finished to keep the changes.
  8. If Tiled is selected as the Folder Type, the Layout panel will be available. Click Layout and
    • Edit the following options:
      • Left (%) - The horizontal positioning of the window on the page.
      • Top (px) - The vertical positioning of the window on the page.
      • Width (%) - The width of the window.
      • Height (px) - The height of the window.
      • Maximize - The box shaped button in the right corner of the header bar. This expands the window to full size.
    • Or alternative, you can drag and drop individual window and resize it. You can also double click on the title bar of a window to force it to line-up and resize "nicely" with its neighboring window(s).
    • Click Repaint to adjust windows for the changes made.
    • Click Preview to view the page as it would be displayed with the current options.
  9. Click Save to finalize the changes.
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After creating a folder, the folder can be renamed and/or moved to a different location via the Explorer panel. When moving the folder, if adjacent folders are expanded, the moved folder can go into the adjacent folders. To have the moved folder reside outside of the adjacent folders, make sure the adjacent folders are collapsed. Lastly, when folders are renamed, they will move to the bottom of the list in the Explorer panel and will need to be moved back to the desired position.

Creating Channels

Folders are collections of Channels, which are the windows created in enPortal that display content. Channels can display many types of data and take many different forms. This sections details how to create a Channel in enPortal.


Perform the following steps to create a Channel:

  1. Log into enPortal as an administrator.
  2. Mouse over the Provisioning tab and select Content Management.
  3. In the Explorer panel to the left, right-click on a folder you would like to add a Channel to and select New Channel.
  4. Edit the following options for the new Channel:
    • Channel Name - Provide a name for the Channel. You can use any characters in a Channel name except: &, ?, \, +, ‘, “, %, <, >, #, ~, =, *, /.
    • Channel Types - Select one of the following Channel types:
      1. 3rd Party "Pims" - To see this option, you must first have installed a PIM. These are 3rd Party applications that you can integrate with enPortal. The following options will be displayed on selection of 3rd Party "Pims" under Type of Pim:
        • Pim - The name of the installed PIM to be used for this Channel.
        • Class - The type of Channel that you want to create. See the page specific to your PIM for more information on Class types. Each PIM provides a unique set of available Channel Types.
        • Target - Contains a drop-down list of the existing targets in the system.
      2. AppBoard - Add a Channel that is an AppBoard Stack (dashboard).
      3. Web/Generic URL - A Channel created to mirror the contents of a specific URL. The following option will be displayed on selection of Web/Generic URL under Type of Web/Generic URL:
        • Class - Select one of the following:
          1. Direct - A Channel that is a direct link to the URL that represents this channel. This is equivalent to directly typing the Channel URL in your browser. The resulting connection is made directly to that URL, and does not pass through the enPortal proxy engine.
          2. Proxy - This Channel does not directly communicate with the URL that represents it. The communication first passes through the enPortal host and is proxied to the URL. This is necessary for URLs that need to be filtered. This is the default Channel class.
  5. Click Next after filling in the required information.

Editing Channels

After creating a Channel, there are still many options available to the user to modify the Channel. These options vary for different types of Channels. Access these options by selecting the appropriate Channel or by right-clicking the Channel name in the Explorer and selecting Edit.

Below are details for the options in each of the sections provided for each type of Channel.


3rd Party "Pims"

  • Cache On - Setting the cache allows Channels that are not currently displayed to keep their states, such that when the Channel is displayed again by the user it is not automatically refreshed (like it is when it is not cached).


In the General section, edit the following options:

  1. Title - Enter a title for the Channel here. While the Channel already has a unique name and path, the Title can be used as the display name in the Folder.
  2. Use Title in Display of Channel? - Check the box if you would like the Channel title bar to display the value in the Title field. If you do not select this check box, then the Channel's name will be displayed in the title bar.
  3. Description - Enter an brief description of the Channel's content, purpose, function, or notes.
  4. Refresh - The refresh interval for this channel in seconds.


A parameter is an optional extension that can be appended to a URL as needed in certain situation. To create a parameter for a Channel, in the Parameters section, perform the following steps:

  1. Click New to add a new Parameter. Edit the following options:
    • Name - Provide a name for the Parameter.
    • Value - Enter a default parameter value for the channel parameter. This value will be appended to the URL you entered in the URL field under the general Channel settings configuration tab.
    • Receivable - Select "yes" or "no" to indicate whether or not the user/application can specify a different parameter's value.
  2. Select a Parameter and click Delete to delete a Parameter.
  3. Click Save to save the parameter settings.


If you are configuring a Channel for a particular PIM, information in the remaining section(s) will differ between the various PIMs. For more information on your PIM and the remaining Channel configuration options, consult the PIM documentation under Product Integrations page.

AppBoard

This section provides instructions for adding AppBoard content into enPortal. In this case, AppBoard is treated similar to any other application, with better understanding of parameters and the advantage of sharing users and a session. enPortal Channels must be used to present individual AppBoard Stacks to the enPortal User. You would only create an AppBoard/Web channel in enPortal if you wanted to access one or more AppBoard boards when accessing the system using the enPortal HTML rendering (/enportal/home).


For information on the opposite concept, using AppBoard to display enPortal content, see the page on creating enPortal content in AppBoard. In cases where both enPortal content (PIMs, channels, ...) and AppBoard content (Boards, Widgets, ...) are to be provided to the end-user, occasionally the system designer will need to consider whether it is better to render the content using the AppBoard display ("Stacks") or the enPortal display ("Folders"). In general, the AppBoard display is preferable because displaying AppBoard (Flash) content in enPortal can cause the Flash client to reload when a user switches tabs in enPortal, and multiple Flash clients can get loaded which is not optimal for use of memory and CPU processing.


If you plan to access the system with the AppBoard Flash rendering (/enportal/ab/home) and still access a proxied web application, you would need to first configure the PIM for that application to reach it inside enPortal, then reference the URL (/enportal/vdir/<pathToContent>?<params>) as the URL for a web widget or the URL for a web launch action in AppBoard.


In the AppBoard Settings section, edit the following options:

  1. Stack Navigation - Select one of the following:
    • Button - This navigation option displays a button bar without a banner for selecting the stack (if more than one) at runtime.
    • Tab - This navigation option displays a banner with tabs for selecting the stack.
  2. Viewer URI - The value that when appended to the Base URL (e.g. http://myhost:8080) will form the full URL of the AppBoard Viewer to be used to display the AppBoard Channel.
  3. Select AppBoard Stacks to be Displayed - Provides a list of the Stacks available to the user in AppBoard. Check one or more boxes in the Display column to control which Stacks will be displayed in this Channel. You can change the order of the Stacks by dragging the rows to your desired position in the table.


In the Portal Settings section, the following options can be modified:

  1. Title - Enter a title for the Channel here. While the Channel already has a unique name and path, the Title can be used as the display name in the Folder.
  2. Use Title in Display of Channel? - Check the box if you would like the Channel title bar to display the value in the Title field. If you do not select this check box, then the Channel's name will be displayed in the title bar.
  3. Cache On - Setting the cache allows Channels that are not currently displayed to keep their states such that when the Channel is displayed again by the user it is not automatically refreshed (like it is when it is not cached).

Web/Generic URL

In the PWTHTTPChannel or PWTHTTPProxyChannel section, edit the following:

  • URL - The Base URL for the resource. This is typically what one would enter in a browser address bar if accessing the resource directly, in the standard protocol://host/location:port format (for example, http://www.google.com).


The PWTHTTPProxyChannel section also allows you to edit the following:

  1. Access Control - Select the appropriate option to restrict which resources can be accessed by the Channel. For instructions on using this option, see Access Control.
  2. CRS File Name(s) - Enter the name of the CRS rules file(s) to be associated with this Channel.
  3. Cookie Manager Mode - Select one of the following:
    • none - Cookie Manager will not be used.
    • session - Cookie Manager will store data by each session.
    • channel - Cookie Manager will store data by each channel.


In the General section, edit the following options:

  1. Title - Enter a title for the Channel here. While the Channel already has a unique name and path, the Title can be used as the display name in the Folder.
  2. Use Title in Display of Channel? - Check the box if you would like the Channel title bar to display the value in the Title field. If you do not select this check box, then the Channel's name will be displayed in the title bar.
  3. Description - Enter an brief description of the Channel's content, purpose, function, or notes.
  4. Refresh - The refresh interval for this channel in seconds.


A parameter is an optional extension that can be appended to a URL as needed in certain situation. To create a parameter for a Channel, in the Parameters section, perform the following steps:

  1. Click New to add a new Parameter. Edit the following options:
    • Name - Provide a name for the Parameter.
    • Value - Enter a parameter value for the channel parameter. This value will be appended to the URL you entered in the URL field under the general Channel settings configuration tab.
    • Receivable - Select "yes" or "no" to indicate whether or not the browser client can specify the parameter's value.
  2. Select a Parameter and click Delete to delete a Parameter.
  3. Click Save to save the parameter settings.

Add Existing Content

Sometimes when adding content to a Folder, there will be existing content that you wish to add. Perform the following steps in the Content Management tab to add existing content to a Folder:

  1. Log into enPortal as an administrator.
  2. Mouse over the Provisioning tab and select Content Management.
  3. In the Explorer panel to the left, find and right-click the Folder you wish to add content to. Select Add Existing Content.
  4. In the Items Selection window that is displayed, navigate through the folders and select one or more Channels that you wish to add. You can select more than one Channel by holding down the Control key.
  5. Click Apply to add the channels to the selected Folder.
  6. Click Ok to save the changes made to the Folder and exit the Items Selection window.
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