20 Managing the RSS Service

This chapter describes how to configure and manage the RSS service for WebCenter Spaces and the WebCenter Portal applications deployed to Oracle WebLogic Server.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 20.1, "What You Should Know About the RSS Service"
Section 20.2, "RSS Prerequisites"
Section 20.3, "Setting Up a Proxy Server for External RSS News Feeds"
Section 20.4, "Testing External RSS News Feed Connections"

Audience

The content of this chapter is intended for Fusion Middleware administrators (users granted the Admin or Operator role through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console). See also, Section 1.8, "Understanding Administrative Operations, Roles, and Tools."

20.1 What You Should Know About the RSS Service

The RSS service encompasses the RSS Viewer and the service to show news feeds from various WebCenter services. The RSS Viewer enables users to view external news feeds from different web sites from within WebCenter applications. The RSS service delivers content update information from the following Oracle WebCenter services: Recent Activities, Discussions, Lists, and Announcements.

20.2 RSS Prerequisites

The RSS service does not require any back-end server. You do not need to set up a connection to use this service. However, depending on your network configuration, you may need to set up a proxy server to enable your WebCenter applications to display content from external RSS news feeds.

20.3 Setting Up a Proxy Server for External RSS News Feeds

To enable external RSS news feeds in your WebCenter applications, you can set up a proxy server by using Fusion Middleware Control or WLST.

20.3.1 Setting Up a Proxy Server Using Fusion Middleware Control

To set up the proxy server for the RSS service:

Log on to Fusion Middleware Control and navigate to the home page for WebCenter Spaces or WebCenter Portal applications. For more information, see:
- Section 6.2, "Navigating to the Home Page for WebCenter Spaces"
- Section 6.3, "Navigating to the Home Page for WebCenter Portal Applications"
Do one of the following:
- For WebCenter Spaces - From the WebCenter menu, choose Settings > Application Configuration.
- For WebCenter Portal applications - From the Application Deployment menu, choose WebCenter > Application Configuration.
In the Proxy Server for RSS News Feeds section, enter the host name and the port number of the proxy server. For details, see Table 20-1.

Table 20-1 RSS Proxy Server Details

Field Description

Proxy Host

Enter the host name of the proxy server.

Proxy Port

Enter the port number on which the proxy server is running.
Click Apply to save this connection.
To start using the proxy server, you must restart the managed server on which your WebCenter applications are deployed. For more information, see Section 8.2, "Starting and Stopping Managed Servers for WebCenter Application Deployments."

Field	Description
Proxy Host	Enter the host name of the proxy server.
Proxy Port	Enter the port number on which the proxy server is running.

20.3.2 Setting Up a Proxy Server Using WLST

Use the WLST command setRssProxyConfig to specify the proxy host and port used by the RSS service. For command syntax and examples, see the section, "setRssProxyConfig" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

For information about how to run WLST commands, see Section 1.13.3.1, "Running Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) Commands."

Note:

To start using the new proxy details, you must restart the managed server to which your WebCenter applications are deployed. For more information, see the section, "Starting and Stopping WebLogic Managed Servers Using the Command Line" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

You can use the getRssProxyConfig command to know about the proxy host and port used by the RSS service. If you want to delete the current proxy host and port settings, use the unsetRssProxyConfig command. For more information, see the section "RSS News Feeds" in Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

20.4 Testing External RSS News Feed Connections

After setting up the proxy server for the RSS Viewer of the RSS service, you can test the connection to make sure you can access external RSS feeds.

To ensure the proxy server is accurately configured for the RSS Viewer:

In WebCenter Spaces, drag the RSS Viewer task flow to a page.
Edit the RSS Viewer task flow and set the URL to an external RSS feed. For example:

http://www.oracle.com/rss/rss_ocom_pr.xml

If the RSS feed renders correctly, it confirms that the proxy configuration is set up properly.

For information about adding the RSS Viewer task flow, see the chapter, "Working with the RSS Service" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.