7 Customizing Services

7.1 About Customizing Services

Content Server services are functions or procedures performed by Oracle WebCenter Content Server. Calling an Oracle WebCenter Content Server service (making a service request) is the only way to communicate with Oracle WebCenter Content Server or to access the database.

Any service can be called externally (from outside Oracle WebCenter Content Server) or internally (from within Oracle WebCenter Content Server). Client services are usually called externally while administrative services are called internally. The service uses its own attributes and actions to execute the request, based on any parameters passed to the service.

The standard Oracle WebCenter Content Server services are defined in the StandardServices table in DomainHome/resources/core/tables/std_services.htm. A service definition contains three main elements:

• The service name.

• The service attributes, which define the following aspects of the service:

  • service class, which specifies which Java class the service has access to. This determines what actions can be performed by the service.

  • access level, which assigns a user permission level to the service.

  • template page, which specifies the template that displays the results of the service

  • service type, which specifies if the service is to be executed as a subservice inside another service

  • subjects notified, which specifies the subsystems to be notified by the service.

  • error message, which is returned by the service if no action error message overrides it

• The service action, which is a colon-separated list that defines the following aspects of the action:

  • Action type

  • Action name

  • Action parameters

  • Action control mask

  • Action error message

Understanding and using services is an integral part of creating components and customizing Oracle WebCenter Content Server. For more information, see Chapter 18, "Getting Started with Integrating WebCenter Content into Your Environment."

7.2 Customizing Services for Communicating with Content Server

Clients use services to communicate with Content Server. A service call can be performed from either the client or server side, so services can be performed on behalf of the web browser client or within the system itself.

For more information about services, see Section 15.2.7, "Services."

For more information about customizing services, see "Customizing Services" in the Oracle WebCenter Content Services Reference Guide.

7.3 Customizing Services for Accessing the Database

Clients use services to access the Oracle WebCenter Content database. Any program or HTML page can use services to request information from Content Server.

For more information about services, see Section 15.2.7, "Services."

For more information about customizing services, see "Customizing Services" in the Oracle WebCenter Content Services Reference Guide.