18 Managing Subscriptions and Notifications

18.1.1 What You Should Know About Subscription Defaults

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 the WebCenter Spaces application (for more information, see the section, "Setting Application-Level Subscriptions," in the Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.)

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, Space membership management

• subscription-enabled—For specifying the default value for the preference option: true or false

  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 checked by default in the WebCenter Spaces Preferences dialog. If subscription-enabled="false", then the associated subscription option is not checked 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 panel in the WebCenter Spaces Preferences dialog (Figure 18-1).

Figure 18-1 General Subscriptions Tab on the Subscriptions Panel

Description of "Figure 18-1 General Subscriptions Tab on the Subscriptions Panel"

Table 18-1 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 checked by default in the WebCenter Spaces Preferences dialog. If subscription-enabled="false", then the associated subscription option is not checked by default in the dialog.

Table 18-2 lists the types of actions that can trigger an application-level notification and associates them with their related service ID.

18.1.2 Setting Subscription Defaults

To set defaults for application-level Subscription preferences:

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.

   Example 18-1 provides sample content for an application-wide subscription preferences setting file and an example of each required option.

   Example 18-1 Sample Subscriptions Settings XML File

   <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.

   See Also:

   For information about running WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands." For information about the importMetadata() command (and other WLST commands), see the section, "importMetadata," in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

   For example:

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

   Where:

   • application is the name that identifies your WebCenter Spaces application

   • serverName is the name of the server on which the WebCenter Spaces application 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.

Table 18-3 describes the effect of various combinations of settings for the service ID oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections.

^Footnote 1 This is the out-of-the-box default

Table 18-4 describes the effect of various combinations of settings for the service ID oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.wall.

Table 18-5 describes the effect of various combinations of settings for the service ID oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.kudos.

Table 18-6 describes the effect of various combinations of settings for the service ID oracle.webcenter.community.

18.1.3 Setting Subscriptions Preferences in WebCenter Spaces

Individual users set their own subscription preferences in the WebCenter Spaces Preferences dialog. Two Preferences panels are provided for this purpose:

• Subscriptions, where users subscribe to be notified about actions occurring with their Space memberships and the People Connections service (Connections, Message Board, and Feedback) and view and remove their Space- and object-level subscriptions

• Messaging, where users access controls for configuring their preferred messaging channels and filters (BPEL connection types only)

18.2.1 What You Should Know About Connection Types

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

Use one of two possible connection types:

• BPEL Server provides three messaging channel options to users: mail, texting (SMS), and Worklist

• Mail Server delivers notification messages exclusively through a mail server that is configured for the WebCenter Spaces application

Selection of a BPEL server presupposes that you have established a connection with a BPEL server in which the User Messaging Service (UMS) is available. For information about connecting to a BPEL server, see Chapter 22, "Managing the Worklist Service."

When the WebCenter Spaces application has setSpacesWorkFlowConnectionName set up, the Manage Configuration button becomes available on the Messaging panel in the WebCenter Spaces Preferences dialog.

Selection of a mail server presupposes that you have established a connection with 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 Chapter 17, "Managing the Mail Service."

When Mail Server is the selected connection type, the Manage Configuration button on the Messaging panel in the WebCenter Spaces Preferences dialog may or may not be grayed-out. This depends on whether you have set up spacesWorkFlowConnection. But, regardless, when Mail Server is the selected connection type, if clicking the Manage Configuration button for Messaging preferences opens User Messaging Preferences, any changes you make are ignored.

18.2.2 Notification Prerequisites

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

• Section 18.2.2.1, "Installation"

• Section 18.2.2.2, "Configuration"

• Section 18.2.2.3, "Security"

• Section 18.2.2.4, "Limitations"

18.2.3 Setting the Connection Type for Notifications Using Fusion Middleware Control

To specify a Notifications message connection type with Fusion Middleware Control:

1. Log in to Oracle Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for WebCenter Spaces.

   For more information, see Section 6.2, "Navigating to the Home Page for WebCenter Spaces."

2. From the WebCenter menu, choose Settings > Application Configuration.

3. On the Application Configuration page, scroll down to Notifications (at the bottom of the page), and select a connection type to use for outbound notifications: either BPEL Server or Mail Server.

4. The next step depends on the selected connection type:

   If you select BPEL Server:

   1. From the Connection Name list, select the name you provided for the BPEL server when you set up that connection.

   2. In the Sender Mail Address field, enter a mail address from which all Notifications messages are sent. The sender mail address must match at least one driver that is configured to send messages from a corresponding domain.

   3. In the Sender SMS Address field, enter the four- to six-digit number that is used by the User Messaging Server (UMS) as the driver from which all Notifications messages are sent. The sender SMS address must match at least one driver that is configured to send messages from a corresponding domain.

   If you select Mail Server, select a mail connection from the Connection Name list.

5. Save your changes.

6. Restart the managed server on which the portal application is deployed to make your configuration changes take effect.

18.2.4 Setting the Connection Type for Notifications Using WLST

Use the WLST command setNotificationsConfig to configure the connection type used for notifications. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "setNoticationsConfig," in the Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference. See also, "getNotificationConfig," in the same guide.

18.3.1 What You Should Know About Overwriting Default Notification Templates

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 and 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.

Example 18-2 and Example 18-3 illustrate the default content of notification message template files. You can use these to formulate your custom files.

<?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>

18.3.2 Overwriting a Default Notifications Template

To overwrite an existing xml file to customize notification message formats:

1. Create a custom XML file with the name defaultTemplate.xml (or defaultTemplate_rtl.xml, for right-to-left language template).

2. Populate the custom file with your revised version of one of these default files.

   See Also:

   Example 18-2 and Example 18-3 show default file content.

3. Overwrite the original file, placing the custom file where the absolute path to the file contains the namespace oracle/webcenter/notification/custom.

   For example:

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

4. Upload the custom file into the WebCenter MDS repository by running the importMetadata() WLST command.

   For example:

   importMetadata(application='webcenter', server='WC_Spaces',
      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, consider a file that is created under the following namespace:

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

   In such a case, the fromLocation is /tmp/repository because the remaining sub-directory consists of the namespace for the XML file. The namespace must have at least the path /oracle/webcenter/notification/custom.

   See Also:

   For information about the importMetadata() command (and other WLST commands), see the section, "importMetadata," in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

5. Restart the portal application.