Playing with Portal Roles

[Former Member]

There are many properties of the portal object - Roles, where in most of the object properties are neither used nor noticed. This blog is an attempt to understand few properties of Portal Roles using which, some tricky requirements can be solved in a very simple way. By using few of these we can actually change the way the normal portal roles behave.

Scenario 1:  Multiple Roles to be displayed in a single tab.

  

Normally when many roles are assigned to the user, in the 1^st level of Top Navigation a horizontal scroll bar appears so that the user can scroll for the roles that are not displayed initially. Hence, to get rid of this we can group roles inside a master role.

For example if Role M is the master role required to appear in 1^st level navigation and Roles A, B & C are the one's required to appear in the second level navigation, then

Maintain the Role properties as given:

Can be Merged = Yes

Entry Point = Yes

Merge ID = merge_roles (or some common IDs for all the roles)

Merge Priority = 1 to n for (Roles M & A, B, C)

By maintaining these properties in all the roles, we can achieve something like as shown below.

  

Scenario 2:  Using pictogram for Roles

On click of the master role in the 1^st level navigation, we can have the child roles displayed in an overview page using the property pictogram.

In the Master Role M, add the standard service map I View (service Map I View is similar to a site map, displays pictograms, short texts and links representing the entries in a workset)

Change the I View properties as given:

Default Entry to Folder = Yes

Entry Point = Yes

In all the roles, change the role property Pictogram (and select an image from the drop down list). Save & refresh to see the result as shown below.

 

The same can be done for all the roles in case if roles consist of multiple objects.

Scenario 3: Navigation Zoom configuration

In case of multiple navigation levels, we can display subset of the navigation hierarchy by configuring a role, workset, or a folder in a role or workset, as a navigation zoom. Navigation zoom allows subdividing the portal into a main portal and several subportals. This enables portal users to view specific subject areas of the portal separately from the rest of the portal.

For achieving the same, maintain the Role properties as given:

Navigation Zoom Point = Yes

Navigation Zoom Point = PCD path of Portal Desktop (Optional property, can be given in case of branding requirements such as design, look and feel.)

Navigation Zoom Title = some custom value (Optional property, can be given so that the title appears in the masthead of the navigation zoom)

At runtime, clicking a navigation zoom point replaces the main portal screen with a subset of the navigation hierarchy. The navigation zoom point becomes the root node, and all of the navigation nodes below the navigation zoom point are now arranged in top-level navigation and detailed navigation.

For example on click of Role A, the screen display will be as shown below.

 

I have tried to outline only few of the properties in this blog. There are even more which can be explored and used to satisfy few tricky requirements and avoid developments as much as possible.