Using Navigation Collections

This chapter provides an overview of Navigation Collections and discusses how to:

• Create and maintain Navigation Collections.

• Publish Navigation Collections.

Note. Examples of PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture pages and pagelets in this chapter were captured with the PeopleTools default style sheet applied. PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture pages and pagelets may display differently in your database depending on the applied style sheet. However, regardless of the style sheet applied, all page and pagelet elements displayed remain the same.

Common Elements Used in This Chapter

Describing Navigation Collections

Navigation Collections provide you with a flexible tool for building alternative taxonomies of the contents stored in your portal registry. These alternative taxonomies, or groupings of links to portal content, can then be deployed to different users or groups of users, creating navigation that specifically addresses your users' business needs.

To help understand Navigation Collections, consider the following analogy. An operating system contains a repository called a file system where all information about that operating system and its user files are stored. This file system is a rigid structure that contains information in different segments of the structure. Each piece of information is uniquely tagged and identified. The PeopleTools portal registry parallels this operating system's file system.

In a Microsoft Windows operating system, there are a number of ways to access a piece of information in the file system. For example, when you use Windows, you can use the File Explorer to navigate through a visual representation of the rigid file system. File Explorer enables you to perform different tasks with a file such as open the file, delete the file, view the properties of the file, and so forth.

You can also access this same file using a shortcut, which is a pointer to the actual file in the file system. This shortcut is stored on the file system and provides a method of file access that is an alternative to the rigid file system. As with the file itself, you can perform a variety of tasks related to the shortcut, such as create a shortcut, delete a shortcut, open a shortcut, and so forth.

The links in Navigation Collections provide an alternate method of accessing content in the portal registry. A Navigation Collection is a published compilation of these links. A link in a Navigation Collection is a pointer to a content reference or folder reference in the portal registry; however, it does not store the contents of the content reference or folder reference. Navigation Collection links store only the reference attributes needed to construct a URL at runtime to redirect output to the original content reference or folder reference. These attributes include the target portal, target folder reference, and target content reference.

Once created, a Navigation Collection can be published as a navigation page or navigation pagelet for use on a user home page.

Note. The option to publish or access a Navigation Collection as a navigation pagelet is available if you have licensed PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal or a Portal Pack.

When you define and save a Navigation Collection, the system automatically stores it in a hidden folder under Portal Objects in the portal registry.

You can choose to publish Navigation Collections as public content. If you do not choose to provide public access to a Navigation Collection, you can run the Sync Collection Security (synchronize collection security) process to apply content reference and folder security defined in the portal registry to the published navigation page or pagelet content reference. You can also allow manual maintenance the security access to published pages and pagelets by selecting the Do Not Allow Security Sync option for the publication on the Publish Collection page.

Navigation Collections allow you to distribute the creation and maintenance of collections to subject matter experts in your organization, such as functional administrators and business analysts. The subject matter experts creating Navigation Collections should understand the content their user communities need to access on a frequent basis. They should also know where to find links to this content, whether they are accessed by way of portal navigation or external URLs.

Navigation Collections can contain the following elements:

• Links to existing content references.

• Links to existing non-hidden folders in the menu.

  The Navigation Collection will contain all contents of the folder and its subfolders.

• Custom folders that can be used to group combinations of the elements listed above.

See Also

Publishing Navigation Collections

Synchronizing Collection Security

Describing Navigation Collection Publications

In this section, we provide overviews of Navigation Collections published as navigation pages and navigation pagelets.

Note. The option to publish or access a Navigation Collection as a navigation pagelet is available if you have licensed PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal or a Portal Pack.

The sample Navigation Collection publications provided in this section were created using the Navigation Collection definition shown in the following example.

The following example illustrates the appearance of a Navigation Collection published as a navigation page.

Top-level folders in the Navigation Collection may be transformed into bold and linked section headings that are used to organize the folders and content references they contain, as shown in these examples. However, the appearance of your published Navigation Collections is dependent on its assigned style sheet. The assigned style sheet must use style classes contained in the EOPP_SCSTYLEDEF style class definition. Selecting the top-level folder link accesses a page containing any folders and content references nested in the parent folder, as shown in the following example.

Select the Edit <Navigation Collection name> Collection link on the navigation page to access the Navigation Collection definition on the Maintain Collection page. This link displays only for users associated with the EOPP2050 permission list.

The following example illustrates the appearance of a Navigation Collection published as a navigation pagelet.

Note. The option to publish or access a Navigation Collection as a navigation pagelet is available if you have licensed PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal or a Portal Pack.

Folders and content references work in much the same way as they do for the navigation page publication.

See Also

Publishing Navigation Collections

Creating and Maintaining Navigation Collections

Describing Folder and Link Sequence on Navigation Pages

This section discusses the factors that determine the sequence in which folders and links display on the following types of navigation pages:

• Standard navigation pages

• Custom navigation pages

Standard Navigation Pages

These pages are accessed by selecting folders in the menu navigation and are automatically generated according to the contents of the selected menu navigation folder.

See Describing Standard Navigation Pages.

The sequence in which folders and links appear on standard navigation pages is defined in the Structure and Content component.

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, "Administering Portals," Administering Folders

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, "Administering Portals," Administering Content References

Although the contents of a standard navigation page correspond to that of the menu navigation folder selected to display it, the sequence of elements on the page may not be the same as the sequence in which they are displayed in the menu navigation. For example, notice the differences in the sequence of elements in the Requisitions menu navigation folder and the sequence of elements on the Requisitions standard navigation page:

As dictated by menu navigation functionality, folder elements are displayed before content reference links. The order of elements within these groupings is determined by the sequence numbers listed in the Structure and Content component. The following example provides the sequence numbers defined for the folders and content references in the Requisitions menu folder. You will notice that the sequence numbers correspond to the order of folders and content reference links in the Requisitions menu navigation folder.

Unlike the grouped elements in the menu navigation folder, you will notice that on the Requisitions standard navigation page, folder elements and content reference links intermingle. However, their overall sequence is also determined by the sequence numbers listed in the Structure and Content component.

For example, the Reconcile Requisitions folder (sequence 50) appears first in the Requisitions menu navigation folder because, as discussed earlier, folders are displayed first in menu navigation, and it has the lowest sequence number of the folders in its group.

However, on the Requisitions standard navigation page, the Reconcile Requisitions folder (sequence 50) does not appear until after the Add/Update Requisitions content reference (sequence 10), Approval Amounts content reference (sequence 12)...and Update Drop Shipments content reference (sequence 40). This is because folder and link sequence on standard navigation pages is determined strictly by sequence numbers in the Structure and Content component, and not on the type of element being displayed.

If a folder element and content reference link have the same sequence number, the folder is displayed before the content reference on the standard navigation page. For example, see the Review Requisition Information folder (sequence 100) and Approval Workflow content reference (sequence 100).

Custom Navigation Pages

These pages are accessed by clicking content reference links in the menu navigation and are built using the Navigation Collection component.

See Describing Custom Navigation Pages.

The sequence in which folders and links appear on custom navigation pages is defined by the Placement Properties set in the Navigation Collection definition for the custom navigation page.

See Editing a Folder.

See Editing a Link.

Once the folder and link sequences for a custom navigation page are registered, their sequence numbers are propagated to the registry and are available in the Structure and Content component. However, you should not modify custom navigation pages using the Structure and Content component. You should only modify sequences using the Placement Properties in the Navigation Collection definition for the customer navigation page.

When you save the Navigation Collection, these modifications to the Placement Properties sequences will be updated to the registry.

Describing Navigation Collection Images

In this section, we discuss how the images you define for your Navigation Collections are published and displayed on Navigation Collection publications. You can associate images with Navigation Collections themselves, as well as with Navigation Collection folders and content references. You can define these images at the system, registry, source, and individual Navigation Collection levels.

See Describing the Navigation Collection Option Default Hierarchy.

The following example Navigation Collection page publication displays the different ways in which images can display.

For our example Navigation Collection above, let's say that the following images have been defined for the different image types.

While large (parent) images can be set at the system or registry default levels, and overridden with unique images defined at the source reference or Navigation Collection levels, small (child) images can be defined only at the system and registry default levels. This means that the small images displayed on Navigation Collection publications will always be the default small image defined at the system or registry level.

If the Navigation Collection content, folder, or Navigation Collection reference for which a small image is displayed has a unique image defined at the source reference or Navigation Collection level, this unique large image does not display until the element is accessed as a top- or parent-level element on a Navigation Collection page.

For example, while the Expenses Center is displayed with its default small image, when you access the Example for Small Images navigation page, the Expenses Center displays with its unique large image.

Creating and Maintaining Navigation Collections

In this section, we discuss how to:

• Search for a Navigation Collection.

• Create or edit a Navigation Collection.

• Add a Navigation Collection folder.

• Select a source folder.

• Select Navigation Collection images.

• Edit a Navigation Collection folder.

• Add a Navigation Collection link.

• Select a source link.

• Edit a Navigation Collection link.

Pages Used to Create and Maintain Navigation Collections

Searching for a Navigation Collection

Access the Find an Existing Collection page.

Search by	Description. Select to conduct your search based on Navigation Collection description text. Name. Select to conduct your search based on Navigation Collection name text. Use the begins with and contains options to limit your search results.
Add Collection	Select to access the Maintain Collection page, where you can define a new Navigation Collection.

Search Results

Creating or Editing a Navigation Collection

Access the Maintain Collection page.

Note. If you modify a Navigation Collection that has already been published, you do not need to republish the collection using the Publish Collection page. Saving your edits on the Maintain Collection page is sufficient because Navigation Collection publications are dynamically generated for display based on their saved Navigation Collection definitions.

Collection Properties

Override Default Options

The Override Default Options group box enables you to enter values that override any Navigation Collection defaults defined at the system, registry, and source reference levels and which apply to only the Navigation Collection you are creating. Leave fields clear if you don't want to override any default values.

See Describing the Navigation Collection Option Default Hierarchy.

The Navigation Collection you define is displayed as a tree hierarchy of nodes at the bottom of the page.

The Name value you entered for the Navigation Collection displays as a root node link at the top of the hierarchy. Each node below the Navigation Collection name is either a folder or content reference link you defined using the following options and their associated pages.

A Navigation Collection may be composed of a series of individual content reference links, a series of folders containing content reference links, or a combination of individual content reference links and folders.

Adding a Folder

Access the Add Folder page.

Folder Type	Menu Folder. Creates a reference to an existing folder in the portal registry. The reference automatically inherits all of the content and folder references registered in the selected menu folder. User Defined Folder. Creates a user-defined folder, enabling you to specify the folder label, description, and valid from and to dates for the folder.
Source Portal	This field displays when the Folder Type value is set to Menu Folder. Select the portal registry from which you want to select a folder to reference. The current portal is selected by default. Available source portal values include all portals defined in the PeopleSoft databases, as well as a special Local Portal value. The Local Portal option is useful for cases when a Navigation Collection will be moved between portals, and the folder reference you are defining should automatically refer to the current portal. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, "Administering Portals"
Source Folder	This field displays when the Folder Type value is set to Menu Folder. Select a folder to reference. Click the Browse Portal Registry button to access the Select Source Folder page, where you can view a graphical display of the selected portal registry and select the folder you want to reference.
Label	If you are adding a menu-based folder, the label on the source populates this field, but can be overridden in the Override Label field. This text appears as link text for the folder on the Maintain Collection page, as well as on the Navigation Collection publication.
Description	If you are adding a menu-based folder, the description on the source populates this field, but can be overridden in the Override Description field. This text displays as hover text for a folder link, as well as descriptive text beneath the folder link on the Navigation Collection publication.

Override Options

Selecting a Source Folder

Access the Select Source Folder page.

Source Portal

Select the portal registry from which you want to select a folder to reference. The portal designated on your originating page is selected by default. Available source portal values include all portals defined in the PeopleSoft databases, as well as a special Local Portal value. The Local Portal option is useful for cases when a Navigation Collection will be moved between portals, and the folder reference you are defining should automatically refer to the current portal. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, "Administering Portals"

Search

Search Results

Once you have located your desired folder, click the folder link in the hierarchy to select the folder and return to your originating page.

Selecting Navigation Collection Images

Access the Browse Image Catalog page.

Search by

Name. Select to conduct your search based on the image file name. Description. Select to conduct your search based on image description text. You can further refine your search by selecting the adjacent begins with or contains option. This search is not case sensitive. You can perform partial match searches. For example, doing a search on "source" using the Description and contains options may not return any "source" hits, but may return hits on "resource." Once you have located the desired image, select the radio button for the image and click OK.

Editing a Folder

Access the Edit Folder page.

With the exception of the Placement Properties group box, which is discussed below, all other options on this page are available on and documented as a part of the Add Folder page.

See Adding a Folder.

Placement Properties

Adding a Link

Access the Add Link page.

Source Portal	Select the portal registry from which you want to select a content reference. The current portal is selected by default. Available source portal values include all portals defined in the PeopleSoft databases, as well as a special Local Portal value. The Local Portal option is useful for cases when a Navigation Collection will be moved between portals, and the content reference you are defining should automatically refer to the current portal. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, "Administering Portals"
Source Link	Select a content reference to add to the Navigation Collection. Click the Browse Portal Registry button to access the Select Source Link page, where you can view a graphical display of the selected portal registry and select the content reference you want to add. You can use this option to add a published navigation page to the Navigation Collection you are creating.
Label	The existing menu content reference label text populates this field, but can be overridden in the Override Label field. This text appears as link text for the content reference on the Maintain Collection page, as well as on the Navigation Collection publication.
Description	The existing description text populates this field, but can be overridden in the Override Description field. This description text displays as hover text for the content reference link.
Open in a new window	Select if you want the page accessed by the content reference to open in a new browser window.
Additional Parameters	Define additional query parameters that are appended to the uniform resource locator (URL) used to access the content reference. Defining these query parameters here make it unnecessary to register the same content reference multiple times with different parameters. For example, you can use these additional parameters to point users to a specific row of data on an application business transaction page. The query string parameter can be the search record field name = field value. These query parameters are stored as attributes with the content reference and are applied to the URL at runtime.

Override Options

Selecting a Source Link

Access the Select Source Link page.

Source Portal

Select the portal registry from which you want to select a content reference. The portal designated on your originating page is selected by default. Available source portal values include all portals defined in the PeopleSoft databases, as well as a special Local Portal value. The Local Portal option is useful for cases when a Navigation Collection will be moved between portals, and the content reference you are defining should automatically refer to the current portal. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.45 PeopleBook: Internet Technology, "Administering Portals"

Search

Search Results

Once you have located your desired content reference, click the folder link in the hierarchy to select the folder and return to your originating page.

Editing a Link

Access the Edit Link page.

With the exception of the Placement Properties group box, which is discussed below, all other options on this page are available on and documented as a part of the Add Link page.

See Adding a Link.

Placement Properties

Publishing Navigation Collections

In this section, we discuss how to publish Navigation Collections.

Pages Used to Publish Navigation Collections

Publishing a Navigation Collection

Access the Publish Collection page.

Name	Displays the name of the Navigation Collection defined on the Maintain Collection page.

Publishing Options