6 Managing Folders and WebDAV

6.1.1 Folders Overview

Folders is an optional component that is automatically installed with Content Server. When enabled, it provides a hierarchical folder interface to content in Content Server in the form of "virtual folders" (also called "hierarchical folders"). Virtual folders enable you to create a multi-level folder structure. Figure 6-1 shows virtual folders as viewed from a content server web page.

Figure 6-1 Virtual Folders in Content Server Interface

Virtual folders provide the following benefits:

• Users can find content by drilling down through a familiar folder-type interface. Some of the fields in the My View search results are unavailable or not applicable when browsing through virtual folders.

• Users can apply default metadata to content items by checking them in through a particular folder.

• The system administrator can control the default metadata applied to content items by appropriately setting up folders.

• In turn, the preset default metadata is applied to content items when users check them in through a particular folder (set up by the system administrator).

6.1.2 Usage Scenarios

The main usage scenarios for the Folders functionality are as follows:

• Browsing: Users should be able to browser through folders to find sub-folders, and content items. Users should have a simple mechanism to get additional information about a folder, and to traverse back up the tree structure. Users should be able to view folders containing hundreds of items and sub-folders. In a folder containing a large number of sub-folders, the user should be able to easily view and browse through content items in that folder. Similarly, in a folder containing a large number of content items, a user should be able to easily view and browse through the sub-folders.

• Creating folders: In any given folder, users should be able to create new folders. Ideally, this process should involve only naming the folder. Additional information, such as folder metadata, default metadata, etc. should be accessible only if needed.

• Assigning folder metadata: A user should be able to assign metadata to folders. This action should be possible at folder creation time. A user should be able to assign folder metadata on existing folders as well. The process and steps for both should be same.

• Assigning default metadata for items: A user should be able to specify metadata that should be assigned to content created in or added to a folder. The user should be able to set this metadata at folder creation time or at a later time. In either case, the steps and process for setting metadata should be the same.

• Assigning a Content Profile to a folder: A user should be able to assign a content profile to a folder. This may be done at folder creation time or later. This will determine what metadata fields are available to be set as defaults for content items added to that folder.

• Creating new content in a folder: A user should be able to browse into a folder and create (check-in) a new item into it. If the folder specifies default metadata for new content, or a content profile, then the content check-in form should accurately reflect that.

• Adding existing content to a folder: A user should be able to browse into a folder and add a link/shortcut to an existing content item. That content item may exist in another folder, or may be in the content server and not in any folder. No metadata should be required at that time since the content item already exists in the server. If the destination folder contains items with the same name, the user should be asked to rename the new link/shortcut.

• Moving an item/folder from one folder to another: A user should be able to browse to a folder, select one or more sub-folders and content items, and move them into another folder. The user should not be able to move the folder/items into the child of a folder that is selected to be moved. No metadata should be required as these are existing items/folders. If the destination folder contains items with names the same as those that are being moved, the user should be asked if those items and folders should be overwritten or not.

• Copying an item/folder from one folder to another: A user should be able to browse to a folder, select one or more sub-folders and content items, and copy them to another folder. This action should create new copies of the selected folders and items (i.e. not links) into the destination folder. Metadata should be copied over and the user should not be prompted to ask for new metadata. If the destination folder contains folders and content items with names same as those being copied, the user should be asked if the destination files and folders should be overwritten or not.

• Deleting an item/folder: A user should be able to browse to a folder, select one or more sub-folders and content items, and delete them. The user should be prompted for confirmation of delete action. For items, with multiple revisions, user should be asked for all revisions should be deleted or only the latest revision. The user should have an option to apply their answer to all selected files.

• Renaming an item/folder: A user should be able to select a link/shortcut or sub-folder within a folder, and choose to rename it. The rename action should be allowed only on single items. If the new name is same as that of an existing item or folder, the user should be warned and required to change the name to be unique.

6.1.3 Folders Structure

The following structure is used for Folders:

• Each content server instance has a common set of virtual folders. Any change to the folders is applied system-wide.

• There is one default system-level folder, called Contribution Folders.

  • The Trash Bin function is enabled during installation with a system-level folder called Trash created.

• The system administrator can change the name of a system-level folder, but cannot delete it or add a custom system-level folder except through changes to the database. (Deleting a system-level folder disables it, but does not remove it from the system.)

• Each folder in the hierarchy contains content items that have the same numerical "Folder" value, which is assigned automatically upon creation of the folder. Changing the value of the Folder field for a content item places it in a different folder.

• The maximum number of folders and content items in each folder can be limited so that browsing through virtual folder does not affect system performance.

6.1.4 Naming Folders

The Folders component mimics the Windows file system. Therefore, when you create a folder, you are not allowed to use double quotes in the name (for example, "doublequotedfolder"). Using double quotes will cause an error. You must use the standard naming conventions for Windows when creating folders.

6.1.5 Folders Component Security

The Folders component applies security at two levels:

• Content item level

• Folder level

6.1.6 Folder Metadata Inheritance

When you create a new folder, the metadata from the parent folder will populate the fields for the new folder. This allows the folder to initially “inherit” metadata, but allows you to make changes to the new folder.

Subsequent changes to a parent folder's metadata do not affect the metadata for existing subfolders. If you want to apply a parent folder's metadata to subfolders and content items, you can use the Metadata Propagation feature.

6.1.7 Trash Bin

The Trash Bin function is an optional feature that sends deleted items to a Trash folder, rather than permanently deleting the items. Items in the Trash folder can then be permanently deleted or restored to their original location in the folder hierarchy. This enables users to recover files and folders that have been mistakenly deleted.

Please note the following considerations with regard to the Trash Bin feature:

• Deleting a revision from the Repository Manager bypasses the Trash folder and permanently deletes the revision.

• The Trash Bin function can be enabled and disabled using System Folder Configuration after installation.

• If you are using folders to contribute content to a Site Studio website, you may want to disable the Trash Bin feature. Otherwise, any deleted content items (i.e., moved to Trash Bin) will still show up in your tables of contents (dynamic lists) on the website. To get rid of the content items, you need to go into the Trash Bin in WebDAV and explicitly delete the documents from there, too.

6.1.8 Metadata Propagation

The metadata propagation function enables contributors to copy default metadata values from a folder to its subfolders and content items. Typical uses for this function include:

• After moving a large number of content items to a new folder structure, you want to apply the top-level folder's default metadata to all subfolders and content items.

• You revised the default metadata for a folder, and you want to apply it to subfolders and content items within that folder.

Note the following considerations with regard to metadata propagation:

• The propagation function applies each folder's metadata to all "uninhibited" subfolders and content items within those folders. This means that each uninhibited subfolder and content item will inherit the metadata of the folder from which propagation was launched.

• When you inhibit a folder, it is not affected by metadata propagation from a higher-level folder. However, you can still launch metadata propagation from an inhibited folder.

• The system administrator selects which metadata fields are included in propagation. (This is a system-wide setting.) By default, no metadata fields are included until they are selected on the Information Field Inherit Configuration Page.

• If a folder metadata field does not have a value defined, subfolders and content items within that folder may not inherit the "blank" value during propagation and any existing metadata values may stay intact for these items. This depends on the value of the CollectionPropagateEmptyValues configuration variable, which controls whether empty field values are propagated.

• When you launch metadata propagation, only folders and content items for which you have Write permission to the security group will be affected.

6.1.9 Folder Content Item Revisions

When documents are edited and checked into the content server, the revised document must undergo a process that involves being converted, indexed, and released. Before this process is complete, the system considers the revised document to be the "latest" version. After the process is complete, the system considers the revised document to be the "latest released” version.

Depending on how the version release configuration variable CollectionReleasedOnly is set, users with read access to the content item will see either the latest version or nothing if the item is not released. Authors, however, will always see the latest version. By default, this variable is enabled and displays the latest version to all users with read access.

• Latest Version: If the CollectionReleasedOnly configuration variable is set to false, the visibility of content items is based on the item version rather than the release state. In this case, when a new revision of an existing content item is checked into a folder, the author and all users with read access to the content item are allowed to view the latest version of the revised document.

  In the latest version visibility mode, the author and users with read access can view revised items before and after they are converted, indexed, and released. In fact, even if the revised content item fails conversion or indexing, it will still be visible to the author and all users with read access. Additionally, if the release date of the new revision is set to a future date, the revised content item will also be visible to the author and all other users with read access.

• Latest Released Version: If the CollectionReleasedOnly configuration variable is set to true, the visibility of content items is based on the release state rather than the item version. In this case, when a new revision of an existing content item is checked into a folder, the new revision is only visible to the author. The new revision will not become visible to all other users with read access to that content item until it is converted, indexed, and released. This means that until the content item is released, nothing is displayed for non-authoring users. Also, if the release date of the of the new revision is set to a future date, the revised content item will not be visible to other users until that point in time.

6.1.10 Default Metadata Values

When a file is checked into the content server through a virtual folder, default metadata values are entered on the content check-in form automatically. Default metadata values are evaluated in the following order:

1. Virtual folder default values: When you check in a new content item from an Exploring page, any content default metadata values defined for that virtual folder are entered on the content check-in form. These values are defined on the Add/Edit Hierarchy Folder Configuration page.

2. User default metadata values: If any content metadata defaults are not defined for the virtual folder, the user's default metadata values are applied. These values are defined by each user for new content items on their Default Information Field Configuration page, and for revised content items on their Revision Information Field Configuration page.

   User default metadata values are only applicable when creating new content items using WebDAV. They are not applicable when using the Content Server web interface.

3. System default metadata values: The system default values are applied to any fields that are not defined by the virtual folder or the user's default metadata. These values are defined by the system administrator.

   System default metadata values are only applicable when creating new content items using WebDAV. They are not applicable when using the Content Server web interface.

4. None: A metadata field can be blank as long as it is not a required field. If a required field is left blank, an error will occur and the content item will not be checked in.

6.1.11 Local Folders

The local folders function enables you to map a contribution folder structure to a local file system. Changes to the folder, its subfolders, and content items in the content server are reflected in the local directory.

One possible use for this function is to manage a website in the content server but then replicate its structure to a local drive so that hyperlinks are not broken. Because individual files are stored in the content server according to security groups and content types, hyperlinks between web pages would be broken if users attempted to navigate directly from the content items. Also, users would be required to log in and have the appropriate permissions to view each web page.

The following scenario describes how this function could be used to manage a website:

1. A web designer creates a website that contains several web pages with internal hyperlinking in a multi-level directory structure.

2. Through a WebDAV client, the designer copies the entire website structure to a contribution folder called WebSite.

3. On the content server's Local Folders Page, the WebSite folder is mapped to a directory on a shared drive, Z:\Intranet.

4. The \Intranet directory is set up as a web server virtual directory.

5. Users can access the website from the Z:\Intranet directory without logging in to the content server. Web pages can be updated in the content server, and they will be replicated to the local directory automatically.

Note the following considerations with regard to local folders:

• Content server security does not apply to folders or content items in the local directory.

• Only content items with a status of “Released” will appear in the local directory. Items that fail conversion, are still being indexed, are in a workflow, or have a future release date will not be available in the local directory.

• Only the latest revision of a content item will be available in the local directory.

• Modifying directories or files directly in the local file system can cause problems with the local folder mapping. All changes should be made through the content server Folders interface.

• If you want only users who belong to a specific security group to access specific files, you can point local directories to /weblayout secured directories.

6.1.12 Folder Archiving

Folders structure and content cannot be archived from one content server to another using the Archiver application. However, you can export and import the folder hierarchy structure directly from the Folders administration interface. You can archive content items separately using Archiver.

Please note the following with regard to folder archiving:

• Content items must be exported and imported separately using Archiver.

• When you export the folder hierarchy, the entire structure is exported; you cannot specify a particular folder.

• The folder hierarchy is exported to a text file that is in HDA format, which can be read by the content server.

6.1.13 Folder Searching

If the Folders CollectionSearchRecursiveContent configuration parameter is set to true, then when users click Search on the Content Server interface, a Browse button and field will be displayed in the Results Options section of the Search page. The Browse button can be used to find and select a folder, including its subfolders, to be searched.

6.1.14 URL-Mapped Folders

To map a URL to a folder, select Administration then Folder Configuration from the Main menu. Select the Web Url Mapped Folders option. Select a folder and URL for it from the provided list. For more details about mapping Web URLs, see "Mapping URLs with WebUrlMapPlugin" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Administrator's Guide for Content Server.

6.2.1 About WebDAV

WebDAV (Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is automatically installed with Content Server and when enabled, it provides a way to remotely author and manage your Oracle content using clients that support the WebDAV protocol. For example, you can use Windows Explorer or Microsoft Office products to check in, check out, and modify content in the Oracle repository rather than using Oracle's web browser interface. WebDAV can be used with Content Server.

In Content Server, the WebDAV interface is based on the hierarchical Folders interface. See "About Folders" for more information.

Folders and WebDAV setup and administration are closely interrelated. The information in this document applies to both products, unless stated otherwise.

6.2.2 What is WebDAV?

WebDAV is an extension to the HTTP/1.1 protocol that allows clients to perform remote web content authoring operations. The WebDAV protocol is specified by RFC 2518.0. See the WebDAV Resources Page at http://www.webdav.org for more information.

WebDAV provides support for the following authoring and versioning functions:

• Version management

• Locking for overwrite protection

• Web page properties

• Collections of Web resources

• Name space management (copy/move pages on a web server)

• Access control

When WebDAV is used with a content management system such as Content Server, the WebDAV client provides as an alternate user interface to the native files in the content repository. The same versioning and security controls apply, whether an author uses the Oracle web browser interface or a WebDAV client.

In Content Server, the WebDAV interface is based on the hierarchical folder interface provided by the Folders component.

6.2.3 WebDAV Clients

A WebDAV client is an application that can send requests and receive responses using the WebDAV protocol. Content Server currently supports the following WebDAV clients:

• Microsoft Windows Explorer

• Microsoft Word 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003, and 2007

• Microsoft Excel 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003, and 2007

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003, and 2007

You can use WebDAV virtual folders in Windows Explorer to manage files that were created in a non-WebDAV client, but you cannot use the native application to check content in to and out of the content server repository.

This guide uses the term WebDAV clients, which are applications that can send requests and receive responses using the WebDAV protocol, such as Microsoft Windows Explorer or Microsoft Office programs. This is not the same as Oracle WebDAV Client, which is a separate Oracle product that enhances the WebDAV interface to the content server.

Oracle also offers the Desktop Integration Suite, which can enhance your WebDAV client environment by offering integrations into Windows Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, and other applications.

6.2.4 WebDAV Architecture

WebDAV support is implemented in the content server through a component, which handles WebDAV requests directly. A WebDAV request to the content server follows the following process (as illustrated in Figure 6-2:

1. The WebDAV client makes a request to the content server.

2. The message is processed by the web server through a custom filter.

3. On the content server, the WebDAV component performs the following functions:

   • It recognizes the client request as WebDAV.

   • It maps the client request to the appropriate WebDAV service call on the content server.

   • It converts the client request from a WebDAV request to the appropriate content server request.

   • It connects to the core content server and executes the content server request.

4. The WebDAV component converts the content server response into a WebDAV response and returns it to the WebDAV client.

Figure 6-2 WebDAV Process

6.2.5 Security

The following security features are included in WebDAV functionality:

• Access

• Login Cookie

• Windows Explorer

• Session Timeout

6.3.1 Configuring Folders

This section covers the following topics:

• "Setting Folder and File Limits"

• "Disabling System Folders"

• "Enabling System Folders"

• "Disabling the Trash Bin"

• "Defining System Default Metadata"

• "Configuring Metadata Propagation"

• "Preventing Folder Static Inheritance for Specific Metadata Fields"

• "Hiding Metadata Fields Globally Except for Specific Folders"

6.3.2 Working With Local Folders

This section covers the following topics:

• "Specifying Local Folders"

• "Rebuilding Local Folders"

• "Removing Local Folders"

See "Local Folders" for details about local folders.

6.3.3 Archiving Folders

This section covers the following topics:

• "Exporting an Archive"

• "Importing an Archive"

See "Folder Archiving" for more details on archiving folders.

6.3.4 Optimizing System Performance

Folders performance depends on many different factors. This section provides some guidelines and configuration parameters that can improve content server performance with Folders and WebDAV enabled:

• Limit the number of virtual folders, especially unused ones. The more folders you use, the more RAM is required by the folder cache. Therefore, avoid setting up large numbers of folders, especially unused ones. If you must set up a large number of folders, you should increase the memory available to Content Server. To allocate more memory, you should set the -Xmx JAVA_OPTIONS parameter to a high enough value to accommodate the memory requirements and avoid getting errors.

• Limit the number of folders and content items in virtual folders. If the number of folders and/or content items in a virtual folder is too high, this may affect content server performance. When you browse through folders, each item in a folder is processed by the server, the network, and the client browser. Each item takes a bit of time and resources at each of these steps. The amount of time is dependent on many factors. A fair rule of thumb is that each item will add a few milliseconds to browsing response time and a few kilobytes to the size of the page being displayed in the browser. Please note that the number of items in a folder only affects browsing, not searching.

  High numbers of folders and/or content items in a virtual folder also affect the user experience. Users may have a harder time finding things in folders that have a large number of items in them, since they need to browse through a very large list.

  It is therefore recommended that you limit the number of folders and content items per virtual folder. The recommended maximum number for both folders and content items per folder is 1,000. You are prompted to specify these limits during the Folders/WebDAV software installation, but you can also modify them afterwards (see "Setting Folder and File Limits" for details).

• Perform regular database maintenance. When there are large numbers of content items and folders in a system, Folders performance is strongly affected by the RDBMS performance. It is helpful to perform periodic (say, monthly) maintenance on the database to make sure there is enough RAM, the database indexes are optimized, and the database is not too fragmented.

• Relax security to allow users without the appropriate access privileges to see (but not access!) secure content or folders. The configuration variables CollectionContentSecurity and CollectionFolderSecurity control whether users can see secure content or folders on Exploring pages if they have no access privileges to the secure content or folders. If these variables are set to 'false' (which is not the default), then users with no access privileges to secure content items or folders will see them on Exploring pages. However, if they try to view the content, an "access-denied" error is displayed. This setting speeds up browsing performance as it simplifies the queries that need to be executed (less filtering), but it does allow users to see some information about secure content that they do not have access to.

• Limit the number of items and folders that are displayed on Exploring pages. You can set the configuration variable CollectionDisplayResultSetSize to control the maximum number of items that are displayed on Exploring pages. If the number of items in the result set exceeds the specified number, the results are truncated and spread out over multiple pages. Navigation links are then provided to move between pages. This setting can be useful to prevent extremely large pages from being generated if there are many items to display.

• Remove certain options from the Actions popup menu for items on Exploring pages. There are a number of configuration variables that remove certain menu options from the Actions popup menu next to the Info icons on Exploring pages. They include:

  • CollectionInfoEnabled:actionPopup (Folder Information and Content Information options)

  • CollectionLinkEnabled:actionPopup (Create Shortcut option)

  • CollectionMoveEnabled:actionPopup (Move option),

  • CollectionDeleteEnabled:actionPopup (Delete option).

6.4.1 Virtual Folders

The WebDAV interface in Content Server is based on the hierarchical Folders interface. See "About Folders" for more information.The WebDAV interface to a content server repository is set up as "virtual folders." Each folder contains the content items that have the same numerical "Folder" value, which is assigned automatically upon creation of the folder.

You can work with content items and virtual folders in much the same way you would work with files and folders in a file system. However, typical tasks you perform on files in a file system may have a different effect when you perform them on files in a WebDAV virtual folder. For example, opening a file from a WebDAV virtual folder also checks the content item out of the content server.

The user logins and security controls in Content Server and the Folders component also apply to content that is managed using WebDAV clients. For example, if you have Read permission for a content item, you will be able to view the file, but you will not be able to check in a revision to the file.

Figure 6-3 shows how a typical set of WebDAV virtual folders would look in Windows Explorer:

Figure 6-3 WebDAV Virtual Folders in Windows Explorer

6.4.2 Configuring WebDAV

After you have installed WebDAV functionality on your content server, most of the WebDAV system administration tasks are performed from Folders component web pages. See "Administering Folders" for further details.

6.4.3 Multiple Concurrent Language Support

This section describes the requirements for those who wish to have multiple concurrent language support (for example, both English and Japanese).

To support multiple concurrent languages, certain WebDAV properties (metadata fields) must not contain non-ASCII characters. If non-ASCII characters are used, WebDAV clients may not be able to list folders containing these characters. For example, an English desktop would have trouble displaying Japanese characters.

The specific fields that must not use non-ASCII character sets vary by WebDAV client. This is a listing of the different clients and the metadata fields that must not contain non-ASCII characters:

Microsoft Web Folders

The following fields must not contain non-ASCII characters:

• the content name (dDocName)

• the original content name (dOriginalName)

• the content title (dDocTitle)

• the folder names

Desktop Integration Suite

The following fields must not contain non-ASCII characters:

• the content name (dDocName)

• the original content name (dOriginalName)

• the content title (dDocTitle)

• the content type (dDocType)

• the content item author (dDocAuthor)

• the security group (dSecurityGroup)

• the folder names

6.4.4 WebDAV Troubleshooting

This section describes problems that may occur when using WebDAV and offers possible solutions.

• Zero-Byte Files

• No Connection to WebDAV Virtual Folder

• Double-Byte Characters in File Name

• Number Sign in Virtual Folder Name or File Name

• ExtranetLook Component Problem

• Content Item "Stuck" in Auto-Contribution Workflow Step

• Deleting Content From Contribution Folders for Site Studio Website

• WebDAV Drag and Drop Does not Work With Windows 2000

• Profile Rule for All WebDAV Requests

  Tip:

  See the content server logs for error messages and detailed information about the operation of the WebDAV component.

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<$dprDerivedValue=dateCurrent(30)$> 
<$endif$>