OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide

Version 5.6
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. OA Personalization Framework: Creating AdminLevel Personalizations: Creating UserLevel Personalizations: Creating PortletLevel Personalizations: Extracting Personalizations to a Flat File: Custom Style Sheets: OA Extensibility Framework: page 2 page 7 page19 page 29 page 35 page 39 page 53

OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide

OA Personalization Framework
Oracle SelfService Web Applications are built using OA Framework technology. OA Framework version 5.5 and above includes the OA Personalization Framework which allows you personalize your display of Oracle SelfService Web Applications without modifying any underlying code. Personalizing the appearance of or the data displayed in an Oracle SelfService Web Application page is as easy as changing your web browser preferences.

Attention: We recommend and only support the use of OA Personalization Framework along with OA Extensibility Framework to customize your OA Frameworkbased applications. See: OA Extensibility Framework: page 53.

OA Personalization Framework supports endusers as well as localization, verticalization, and customization teams in their efforts to tailor selfservice web applications to different users. OA Personalization Framework accomplishes this by allowing you to make personalizations at distinct levels so that you may target those personalizations to specific audiences. The different personalization levels are: Localization, Site, Organization, Responsibility, User, and Portlet. Any changes you make at the Localization, Site, Organization, or Responsibility levels are referred to as Administratorlevel (or Adminlevel) personalizations. All personalization levels are described as follows. Function level A function in Oracle Applications is a piece of application logic or functionality that is registered under a unique name for the purpose of assigning it to, or excluding it from, a responsibility. You can create standard personalizations of regions associated with a specific function at the Function level. You can have only one set of personalizations per region per function. See: Personalizing a Region at the FunctionLevel: page 17. Localization level As a developer, you can make personalizations at the Localization level for your users. All personalizations at this level apply only to the designated localization of the application. For example, localization teams would make localizationlevel personalizations in HR applications before delivering the applications to customers in specific countries. You can have only one set of personalizations per region per localization.

OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide

Site Level A site refers to an installation of Oracle SelfService Web Applications. Personalizations that you make at the Site level affect all users of the current installation. For example, as a system administrator, you might want to make a site level personalization where you change the table column labels to match your corporate standards. You can only save one set of personalizations per region per site. Organization Level An Org is an organization or business unit. Depending on the context, an Org can be a plant, a warehouse, a department, a division within a company or even a complete company. Personalizations that you make at the Organization (or Org) level affect all users of that Org. For example, you might make a personalization at the Org level for a specific Org to hide certain fields because they are not pertinent to the context of that Org. You can only save one set of personalizations per region per Org. Responsibility Level A responsibility represents a specific level of authority within an application. Each responsibility lets you access specific functions or a set of product windows, menus, reports and data to fulfill your role in an application. When you make personalizations at the Responsibility level for a specific responsibility, the changes are effective only for the users of that responsibility. For example, you can personalize the Open Requisitions Line page for the Office Supplies Purchasing Manager responsibility to display only open requisition lines from a particular supplier. As with the Site and Org levels, you can only save one set of personalizations per region per responsibility. Portlet Level The same technology used to develop an Oracle SelfService Web Application is also used to develop portlets for Oracle Portal. You can personalize these portlets just as you can personalize page regions in an application. Any personalizations you make at the Portlet level only affect the portlet used to display the region. You can have only one set of personalizations per region per portlet. User Level As a user, you can modify any userpersonalizable page, and the modifications you make affect no one else. For example you can

Appendix Template

personalize the Requisitions History page to display only requisitions prepared by you. Each user can save multiple sets of personalizations per page region. A saved set of personalizations is also known as a personalized view and can be selected and applied from the View Personalizations list.

Major Features
Cumulative Personalizations The personalizations you make at the various levels are cumulative. The personalization levels are ordered as follows, from lowest to highest: User, Portlet, Responsibility, Org, Site, Localization, and Function. Personalizations made at lower levels take precedence over personalizations made at higher levels. For example, the personalizations made at the Portlet and User levels always overlay personalizations made at other higher levels. Note that personalizations made at the Portlet and User level are also mutually exclusive. The granular nature of each personalization is maintained throughout the layering of personalizations for the different levels. For example, suppose you make a set of Site level personalizations to a region by changing the label of four fields from a, b, c and d to w, x, y, and z. Now suppose you want to make additional changes to that same region, where those changes are available only for users of Org 2. You would then make an Orglevel change for Org 2 to the same region by hiding the second and third fields and changing the label of the last field to zz. A user of Org 2 would see, as a result of the cumulative personalizations, a region with two fields labeled w and zz. Personalization Ownership Personalizations made at an Admin level can only be modified, viewed, or deleted by an administrator at that respective level. Similarly, a personalized view made at the Portlet or User level can only be modified, viewed, or deleted from the portlet where the view was created or by the user who created the view. Multiple Personalizations At the Userlevel, a particular region of a selfservice web application may have one or more sets of personalizations associated with it. Each set of personalizations is referred to as a personalized view of the region. You can identify a personalized view by assigning a view name

OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide

to it. OA Personalization Framework also identifies each personalized view by assigning a unique ID to it. Default User Personalizations Since you may define more than one personalized view at the User level, OA Personalization Framework lets you mark a specific view as the default view to apply to the region when you run the application. Personalization Caching The personalizations that you make to a region do not cause any performance degradation in your application. Adminlevel personalizations for a region are statically cached on the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and Userlevel personalizations are cached on the session.

Profile Options Required By the OA Personalization Framework

Two system profile options affect the behavior of the OA Personalization Framework: Personalize SelfService Defn (FND_CUSTOM_OA_DEFINTION) You should set this profile option to Yes or No at the user level for an administrator or at the responsibility level for the system administrator. When you set this profile option to Yes, two things occur when you log on as an Adminlevel user or responsibility: A global Personalize button appears on each selfservice web application page. When you select the global Personalize button on any page, the personalization user interface prompts you for the administrative level at which you wish to create your personalizations. A navigation tree then lets you navigate to the region (or nested region) to personalize. Personalize Region links appear for every personalizable region on each selfservice web application page. When you select a Personalize Region link, the personalization user interface first prompts you for the administrative level at which you wish to create your personalization, then takes you directly to the page to personalize. You can choose the Personalize button or Personalize Region links to create your personalizations.

Appendix Template

Disable SelfService Personal (FND_DISABLE_OA_CUSTOMIZATIONS) You can set this profile option to Yes or No at the site or application level. If this system profile option is set to Yes, any personalizations you make, regardless of the level at which you make the personalizations, will not be applied. Only the original base definition of each selfservice web application page is ever displayed. This profile option helps Oracle support staff determine whether a problem arises from applied personalizations or from the base application.

OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide

Creating AdminLevel Personalizations

Before anyone can personalize a region at an Admin level, you must perform these initial steps: 1. 2. Define an administrative user in Oracle Applications. Set the Personalize SelfService Defn profile option to Yes for that user. Every selfservice web application page contains a global Personalize button. This profile option enables the global Personalize button on every page and displays Personalize Region links for every personalizable region so that the administrative user can personalize any page or region.

AdminLevel Personalizations
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To Personalize a Region at an Admin level: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Signon to Oracle SelfService Web Applications as a user who has Adminlevel personalization access. Select a responsibility. Navigate to the application page that contains the region you wish to personalize. Choose the Personalize global button or select the Personalize Region link for a region. In the Personalization Level field, as shown below, select the Admin level at which you wish to personalize the region. The following figure shows an example of personalizing the Oracle Workflow Worklist region using OA Personalization Framework,

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6.

On the next page, enter a value appropriate for the Admin level you selected. The Site level does not require any value as the personalization applies to all users of the current site. Other levels, such as Responsibility or Function, for example, require a specific responsibility or function name, respectively. See: Personalizing a Region at the FunctionLevel: page 17.

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7.

If you initially selected the global Personalize button, a navigation tree appears to the left of a Create View or Update View page. The tree displays the hierarchy of all the regions that make up the current application page and allows you to navigate to any region within the page. Select the region you wish to personalize from the navigation tree to display the Create View or Update View page for that region. If you initially selected the Personalize Region link for a specific region, the Create View or Update View page for that region should already appear. Use the Create View or Update View page to create a new view or update the existing personalized view of the region.

8.

Create/Update View Page

The Create View page is identical to the Update View page, except that the fields in the latter page are prepopulated with settings from a prior personalization.

OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide

Attention: Although a region may be personalizable, not all region items in a region are personalizable. Each region item in a region has an ADMIN_CUSTOMIZABLE flag associated with it. If the flag is turned off by the developer of the region, the region item is not personalizable at the Admin level. For example, a developer would very likely turn the ADMIN_CUSTOMIZABLE flag off for the vertical spacer item in a table layout region to prevent disruption of the spacing in a table.

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General Properties 1. If your selected region is a table, select the number of rows of data you wish to display. If your region is not a table, the Number of Rows Displayed field does not appear. Enter a description for this personalized view. You can specify your own GIF image file to change the product branding logo or icon displayed in the region. If the region you are personalizing is not nested within other regions, that is, it is a page layout region, the image in your custom image file replaces the product branding image that appears beneath the Oracle logo. If your region is a nested region, such as a header level region, the image in your custom image file replaces the icon that appears next to the header. If you are creating a personalization at an Adminlevel that is higher than Localization, you have the option of associating a different controller class name with the region. This is useful if you are creating Localizationlevel personalizations and want to associate different controller classes with different localizations. Note: You cannot change the controller class name associated with a region if you are creating an Orgor Sitelevel personalization, that is, a personalization at an Adminlevel lower than Localization.

2. 3.

4.

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Column Properties Edit the Column Properties section to specify the items you wish to display in the region and the order in which to display them. 1. Select an item from the Available Columns or Columns Displayed list and use the buttons between these lists to either move the selected item to or remove the selected item from the Columns Displayed list. Note: Items that are required fields in a page appear with an asterisk (*) and cannot be removed from the Columns Displayed list. 2. Once you are satisfied with the items to display, use the buttons to the right of the list to reorder their sequence. Suggestion: You can hide or reorder the display of specific regions in a page by personalizing the region items of the top level region, that is, the parent container or page layout region. 3. Choose Advanced Settings to alter other settings for your items or extend your region. See: Advanced Settings: page 15 and OA Extensibility Framework: page 53.

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Flex Settings If the region you are personalizing contains a descriptive flexfield, that is, it contains a region item with an item style of Descriptive Flex, the Flex Settings section appears in the Create View or Update View page, as shown below. You can use this section to alter the segments in your descriptive flexfield. 1. 2. The name of your descriptive flexfield appears under Column Name. In the Flex Segment List, the text field shows the current segments included in the flexfield. The segments are concatenated with a vertical bar |. You can edit this list to include or remove certain segments from the flexfield.

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Sort Settings If the region you are personalizing is a table, the Sort Settings section appears in the Create View or Update View page. 1. You can specify up to three levels of sorting for your data. Select a column from the Column Name poplist for each level of sorting you wish to perform. For each sort column, you must specify whether to sort in ascending or descending order.

2.

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Search Query to Filter Data in Table If the region you are personalizing is a table, then the Search Query to Filter Data in Table section appears in the Create View or Update View

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page. You can filter the data that is displayed in the table based on criteria that you specify. 1. Indicate how you want the filter to match your search conditions by selecting one of the following radio buttons: Show table data when all conditions are met. Show table data when any condition is met. 2. The first four columns of the table are listed for you to specify search criteria. Using the poplist following the column name, choose a search condition and enter a value to search for in that column. Select a column from the Add column poplist and choose Add to add more search criteria to your filter. If you leave the search criteria blank for a column, the filter will not search on that column.

3. 4.

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Saving Your Personalized View 1. 2. When you are done personalizing your view of the region, choose Apply to apply your personalizations to the region. If you choose Revert to revert to default settings, the following occurs depending on the page you are using: Create View page - the page defaults to the preseeded display settings. Also, if the region is a table, no query options are set. Update View page - the page defaults to the display settings of the saved existing view. If the region is a table, the page also defaults to the query options of the saved existing view.

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Advanced Settings

1. 2.

You can change the labels for the items that you chose to display. If an item is not originally marked as Required, but you want it to become Required, you can check the Required Field checkbox. For example, you may need to create a Localization level personalization to a region where column A is required for Oracle SelfService Web Application users in the US, but not for users in the UK. Attention: Items originally marked as Required always remain required and cannot be changed with the Required Field checkbox.


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Use the Updatable checkbox to mark whether the data for an item is updatable. If you are personalizing a table, the Show Total column appears. You may check Show Total to turn on totaling for a specific item/column in your table, if it is applicable to the underlying data. Suggestion: If you choose to display a column with totaling capabilities, you may want to display this column as the last column of the table.

5.

You may change an items CSS style by entering the CSS Class name of the new style in the CSS Class Name field.

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Suppose your current item has a class attribute value of OraFieldText and appears as Arial 10pt black(#000000). That style is defined in blaf.xss by the style selector .OraFieldText and OA Framework applies that style to any HTML element with a class attribute value of OraFieldText. If you to want to simply change the text color of that specific item to blue(#336699), which also happens to be defined in blaf.xss as the style .OraTipText, you can enter OraTipText in the CSS Class Name field for that item. If there is no such style defined in the custom.xss, oa.xss or blaf.xss style sheet documents, you need to define a new style with those desired properties in custom.xss and specify the name of that new style in the CSS Class Name field for the item to which you wish to apply. You can use the CSS Styles Lookup page to see what your item looks like when you apply a specific CSS style before actually changing the style. See: Custom Style Sheets: page 39 and CSS Styles Lookup: page 48.


6. 7.

Attention: Table heading styles are fixed and cannot be changed.

You may specify a default value for an item. You can display a static text message or tip for a column or region item. For example, suppose you need to add a tip on how to enter data into a specific column for your users in Japan. You can create a Localization level personalization for Japan where the static text refers to a message in Japanese stored in the FND message dictionary. In the Tip Type field, specify whether the tip is of type short or long. In the Tip Message Name field, enter the name of the FND message youve defined. Standard messages have a tip type of Short. A tip type of Long, on the other hand, displays the message in a separate window, which can be opened by clicking on a tip icon in the region.

8. 9.

Choose Apply to accept your changes and return to the Create View or Update View page. If the region you are personalizing is not a table, you may access the OA Extensibility Framework to add new items to the region. Choose the Add New Item button to extend your region. See: OA Extensibility Framework: page 53 and Adding a New Item: page 53. Attention: OA Extensibility Framework does not currently support adding a new item to a table, since all items in a table must be set to the same BC4J view usage name.


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Personalizing a Region at the FunctionLevel

A function in Oracle Applications is a piece of application logic or functionality that is registered under a unique name for the purpose of assigning it to, or excluding it from, a responsibility. You can create standard personalizations for a region at the Function level so that the personalizations are effective only for users of a specific function. Once you create a functionlevel personalization, you can update it or delete it. See: AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7.

Attention: Oracle can also deliver predefined Functionlevel personalizations. You cannot update or delete the Oracle preseeded Functionlevel personalizations. If you wish to modify an Oracle preseeded personalized function, you need to duplicate the function and update the duplicate.

Functionlevel personalizations are the highest level of personalizations you can make. Any further personalizations you make to the same region at lower Adminlevels always override the personalizations you make at the Function level. See: Creating AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7.

Attention: To maintain function security, the function for which you are personalizing the region must be included in the responsibility from where users launch the page containing the region.

Once you create a functionlevel personalization, you can pass the function name corresponding to the personalized AK region in any of the following ways, in order of highest to lowest precedence:

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 Specify the function name on the URL using the parameter OAFunc. For example: http://<server.com>:<portID>/OA_HTML/OA.jsp? OAFunc=<custom_function>&... OAFunc can be used in two different ways: If OAFunc is used without akRegionCode/akRegionApplId, then the function corresponding to it is launched. If OAFunc is used in addition to akRegionCode/akRegionApplId, then it used for setting the function context for that page. Navigate to the AK Regions HTML form and search for the page layout region you just personalized. In the Function Name column, enter the name of the function that you specified for the Functionlevel personalization.

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Creating UserLevel Personalizations

In Oracle SelfService Web Applications, endusers may only personalize regions that are tables. A table is personalizable only if it is defined as a child of a region with region style Query, and if a section called View Personal Configurations appears above the table. A personal configuration refers to the saved set of personalizations you make to a table. In selfservice web applications, tables are used to display results from a search. The section above the table generally displays the search panel where you specify the search criteria. You may see any one of these possible search panels above a table: Simple Search - allows you to specify simple search criteria. Simple Search or Advanced Search - buttons allow you to toggle between a simple search panel and an advanced search panel to specify search criteria If a table is personalizable, you may also see any one of these possible panels above the table: View Personalizations or Simple Search - buttons allow you to toggle between a panel that lets you view and edit personal configurations and a simple search panel. View Saved Search only - allows you to view and edit personal configurations. Often times, if a table is personalizable, you may notice that seeded personalized views for that table already exist.

Personalizing a Table Region at the User Level

You can create a personalized view of a table using one of two methods:
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Method 1: 1. 2. Navigate to the application page that contains the personalizable table you wish to alter. Use the search panel to query for specific results in the table.

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3. 4.

Select Save Search to save the search criteria that queried for these results. When you select Save Search, the Create View page appears, allowing you to save this search as a new personalized view of the table. You can also edit other attributes and properties of the table. Once you Apply your changes, the saved search becomes a personalized view that you can select from a panel that lists your personal views.

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Method 2: 1. 2. Navigate to the application page that contains the table you wish to personalize. If the page does not already show the View Saved Search or View Personalizations panel, select View Personalizations. Note: If the region does not have any predefined personalizations, the View Personalizations region does not appear. Instead the Search region appears and you can create a personalization by choosing the Save Search button after specifying and performing a search. 3. In the View Saved Search or View Personalizations panel, you have two options:

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 Apply a specific personal view, if one exists, by selecting a view from the View poplist and choosing Go. Create a new view or update an existing view by choosing Personalize to display the Personal Table Views console.

Personal Table Views

The Personal Table Views console displays a description of each view and when the view was last updated.

1.

Select a view and choose Update, Delete or Duplicate. In the Update View page, the fields are prepopulated with data from the saved view that you want to update. The Duplicate View page is identical to the Update View page and is also prepopulated with data from the original view that you want to duplicate. The View Name field also shows a default value of Copy of [ViewName]. If you choose to delete a view, a Warning message appears to confirm that you really want to delete the message.

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2.

If you wish to create a new personalized view of the table, choose Create View.

Create/Update/Duplicate View Page

The Create View page is identical to the Update View and Duplicate View pages, except that the fields in the latter pages are prepopulated with settings from the selected view.

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General Properties 1. 2. 3. Enter a userfriendly View Name to identify your personalizations. Select the number of rows of data you wish to display in your personalized view. Check Set as Default if you wish to make this view your default view. There can only be one default view at any time. If you checked Set as Default for the current view, than any view that you previously marked as the default becomes unmarked. Note: If you wish to mark a predefined seeded personalized view as your default, create a duplicate of the seeded view, and check Set as Default for the duplicate view. 4. 5. Enter a description for this personalized view. If other attributes in this table can be personalized, you also see sections on this page called Column Properties, Sort Settings, and Search Query to Filter Data in Table.

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Column Properties The columns of the table region appear in the Available Columns list. Edit the Column Properties to specify the columns you wish to display and the order in which to display them. 1. Select an item from the Available Columns or Columns Displayed list and use the buttons between these lists to either move the selected item to or remove the selected item from the Columns Displayed list. Note: Columns that are required fields in a page appear with an asterisk (*) and cannot be removed from the Columns Displayed list. 2. Once you are satisfied with the items to display, select an item from the Columns Displayed list and use the buttons to the right of the list to reorder the sequence in which the item appears. Choose Advanced Settings to alter other settings for your columns. See: Advanced Settings: page 27.

3.

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Sort Settings 1. You can specify up to three levels of sorting for your data. Select a column from the Column Name poplist for each level of sorting you wish to perform.

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2.

For each column to sort, you must specify whether to sort in ascending or descending order.

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Search Query to Filter Data in Table You can filter the data that is displayed in the table based on criteria that you specify. 1. Indicate how you want the filter to match your search conditions by selecting one of the following radio buttons: Show table data when all conditions are met. Show table data when any condition is met. 2. The first four columns of the table are listed for you to specify search criteria. Using the poplist following the column name, choose a search condition and enter a value to search for in that column. Select a column from the Add column poplist and choose Add to add more search criteria to your filter. If you leave the search criteria blank for a column, the filter will not search on that column.

3. 4.

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Saving Your Personalized View 1. 2. When you are done personalizing your view of the table, choose Apply. If you choose Revert to revert to default settings, the following occurs depending on the page you are using: Create View page - the page defaults to the preseeded display settings and no query options are set. Update View or Duplicate View page - the page defaults to the display settings and query options of the saved existing view you are trying to update or duplicate.

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Advanced Settings

1. 2.

You can change the labels of the columns that you chose to display. Check Show Total to turn on totaling for a specific column, if it is applicable to the underlying data. Suggestion: If you choose to display a column with totaling capabilities, make sure this column is displayed as the last column of the table.

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3.

Choose Apply to accept your changes and return to the Create View or Update View page.

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Creating PortletLevel Personalizations

In Oracle SelfService Web Applications, a specific region of an application page can be displayed as a portlet in Oracle Portal. Oracle Portal provides you with a common, integrated starting point for accessing all your data. Since Oracle Portal lets you personalize the content and look of your page, you can also personalize the application region that is displayed as a portlet. Any personalizations you make to that portlet region appear only when you display that region from the same portlet. Note: If you implement a More link (Step 3 in the Web Portal and Portlets tutorial) in your portlet that drills down to a personalizable region, then any portletlevel personalization you make to that region also applies to the drilldown region (from the More link).

Personalizing a Portlet
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To Personalize a Region at the Portlet level: 1. 2. 3. 4. Display Oracle Portal in your web browser and login. Select the link to display the portlet region you wish to personalize. Select the Personalize Region link within the portlet region. Use the Create View or Update View page that appears to make your personalizations to the portlet region.

Create/Update View Page The Create View page is identical to the Update View page, except that the fields in the latter page are prepopulated with settings from a prior personalization.

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General Properties If your portlet region is not a table, the Create View or Update View page displays only the General Properties of the region for you to personalize. 1. 2. 3. Enter a userfriendly View Name to identify your personalizations. Select the number of rows of data you wish to display in your personalized view. Enter a description for this personalized view.

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Column Properties If the portlet region is a table, the columns of the table region appear in the Available Columns list. Edit the Column Properties to specify the columns you wish to display and the order in which to display them. 1. Select a column from the Available Columns or Columns Displayed list and use the buttons between these lists to either move the selected column item to or remove the selected column from the Columns Displayed list. Note: Columns that are required fields in a page appear with an asterisk (*) and cannot be removed from the Columns Displayed list. 2. 3. Once you are satisfied with the columns to display, use the buttons to the right of the Columns Displayed list to reorder their sequence. Choose Advanced Settings to alter other settings for your columns.

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Sort Settings 1. You can specify up to three levels of sorting for your data. Select a column from the Column Name poplist for each level of sorting you wish to perform. For each column to sort, you must specify whether to sort in ascending or descending order.

2.

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Search Query to Filter Data in Table You can filter the data that is displayed in the table based on criteria that you specify. 1. Indicate how you want the filter to match your search conditions by selecting one of the following radio buttons:

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 Show table data when all conditions are met. Show table data when any condition is met. 2. The first four columns of the table are listed for you to specify search criteria. Using the poplist following the column name, choose a search condition and enter a value to search for in that column. Select a column from the Add column poplist and choose Add to add more search criteria to your filter. If you leave the search criteria blank for a column, the filter will not search on that column.

3. 4.

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Saving Your Personalized View 1. 2. When you are done personalizing your view of the portlet region, choose Apply. If you choose Revert to revert to default settings, the following occurs depending on the page you are using: Create View page - the page defaults to the preseeded display settings and no query options are set. Update View or Duplicate View page - the page defaults to the display settings and query options of the saved existing view you are trying to update or duplicate.

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Advanced Settings

1. 2.

You can change the name of the columns that you chose to display. Check Show Total to turn on totaling for a specific column, if it is applicable to the underlying data. Suggestion: If you choose to display a column with totaling capabilities, make sure this column is displayed as the last column of the table.

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3.

Choose Apply to accept your changes and return to the Create View or Update View page.

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Extracting Personalizations to a Flat File

Both Adminlevel and UserLevel personalizations may be extracted from your database into a flat file. The executable you use to perform this function is akload, a Java program that lets you download components defined in the AK Runtime Dictionary into an XMLlike file format called a .jlt file. These .jlt files can then be uploaded to other databases, again using the akload Java program. Requirements for akload in Release 11i are as follows: JDK (version 1.1.8 or above) and Oracle JDBC (version 8.0.6.0.0 or above). If using Parameters.class version 115.12 or above, no Oracle client software needs to be installed on the PC. Otherwise, if running from a PC, Oracle8 Client must be installed on the PC. Your classpath, path and environment should be set up similar to the environment required for applying the latest AD patch.

AKLOAD
The syntax for using akload to download or upload personalization data from AK Runtime Dictionary in a Oracle database is:
java oracle.apps.ak.akload <P1><P2><P3><P4><P5><P6><P7><P8><P9><P10><P11>...<Pn1><Pn> <P8a><P8ai>

The parameters P1 through P8 should be replaced as follows: Note: Replace italicized text with a value as indicated. P1 Username (Required) P2 Password (Required) P3 JDBC Driver Type (Required) = THIN P4 Database Address (Required) P5 Loader Option (Required) = DOWNLOAD Downloads AK data from an Oracle database into a flat file. UPLOAD Uploads AK data from a flat file back into an Oracle database. P6 File Name (Required) = Name of flat file to be downloaded or uploaded. For example: C:\data\x.jlt (PC) or /home/myhome/x.jlt (UNIX)

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 P7 Get/Update Option (Required) = UPDATE Valid only when P5 = UPLOAD. Instructs AKLOAD to update any existing records in the database, with values from the flat file. NCUPDATE Valid only when P5 = UPLOAD. Instructs AKLOAD to only update existing records which have not been updated by customers in the database, with values from the flat file. NOUPDATE Valid only when P5 = UPLOAD. Instructs AKLOAD to not update any existing records in the database. Thus, the flat file values will be discarded whenever AKLOAD encounters an existing record in the database. GET Valid only when P5 = DOWNLOAD. Downloads a specific business object from an Oracle database into a flat file based on the values specified by parameters P6 through P8. P8 Business Object (Required) or NLS_LANG (Optional) = Business Object = CUSTOM_REGION (Valid only when P5 = DOWNLOAD.) Business object to be downloaded from an Oracle database into a flat file.

Attention: Note that when you download personalizations, akload returns all of the related: Regions Region Items Region_LOV_Relations Category_Usages Attributes Personalization Custom_Region Custom_Region_Item Criteria NLS_LANG = (Valid only when P5 = UPLOAD.) Specify the value of $NLS_LANG if uploading a .jlt file which is in a language that is different from the OS language. For example: AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1

P9 Download With or Without Attributes Option (Optional) WATTRIBUTE Valid only when P5 = DOWNLOAD. Downloads the attributes with the specified business object. This is the default behavior if you dont set this parameter.

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 NOATTRIBUTE Valid only when P5 = DOWNLOAD. Attributes are not downloaded with the specified business object. P10 P11 Application Short Name and Business Objects Key (Required) Valid only when P5 = DOWNLOAD and P7 = GET.

Attention: P10 and P11 must be specified together as a pair and may be repeated as many times as the operating system allows. You must have at least one Application Short Name and Business Objects key value pair. If you do not want to specify a Business Objects key, enter as a place holder.

... Pn1 Pn Application Short Name and Business Objects Key (Optional) Valid only when P5 = DOWNLOAD and P7 = GET. P8a Administrator Personalization Level (Optional Valid only when P8 = CUSTOM_REGION) = LEVEL=SITE LEVEL=ORGANIZATION LEVEL=RESPONSIBILITY LEVEL=FUNCTION P8ai Primary Key Value of Personalization Level Entity (Required only if P8a is specified) = if P8a = LEVEL=SITE Value of ORGANIZATION_CODE if P8a = LEVEL=ORGANIZATION Value of RESPONSIBILITY_KEY if P8a = LEVEL=RESPONSIBILITY Value of FUNCTION_CODE if P8a = LEVEL=FUNCTION Note: Use whenever you want to specify an embedded space in your input string.

Examples
Example 1 If you wish to download personalization data for region REQORDERSTATUS in AK to a file called test.jlt, your syntax might look as follows:

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java oracle.apps.ak.akload scott tiger THIN (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sfosun) (PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=prod2))) DOWNLOAD test.jlt GET CUSTOM_REGION AK REQORDERSTATUS

Example 2 If you wish to upload data from the flat file test.jlt, and have akload update any existing records with values from the flat file, your akload syntax might look as follows:
java oracle.apps.ak.akload scott tiger THIN (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=jfksun) (PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=prod3))) UPLOAD test.jlt UPDATE

Example 3 If you wish to download personalization data at the Organization level for region REQORDERSTATUS in AK to a file called test.jlt, your syntax might look as follows:
java oracle.apps.ak.akload scott tiger THIN (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sfosun) (PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=prod2))) DOWNLOAD test.jlt GET CUSTOM_REGION AK REQORDERSTATUS LEVEL=ORGANIZATION

Example 4 If you wish to download personalization data at the Responsibility level with Responsibility key = REQUISITION_DEMO for region REQORDERSTATUS in AK to a file called test.jlt, your syntax might look as follows:
java oracle.apps.ak.akload scott tiger THIN (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=sfosun) (PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=prod2))) DOWNLOAD test.jlt GET CUSTOM_REGION AK REQORDERSTATUS LEVEL=RESPONSIBILITY REQUISITION_DEMO

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Custom Style Sheets

OA Personalization Framework uses custom style sheets (.xss files) to specify and manage the visual characteristics of Oracle SelfService Web Applications. One of the goals of custom style sheets is to allow presentation styles, such as fonts and colors, to be separated from the HTML content to which the styles are applied. This enables you to maintain a consistent look and feel for the application, yet allow you to manage the customizations of styles for different target audiences. The custom style sheets employ XML Style Sheets (XSS) language, a language that is based on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), but is designed for easy extraction of style information. This document provides a brief overview of XSS and assumes a basic knowledge of CSS styles. The BLAF (Browser Look and Feel) style sheet (blaf.xss) defines Oracles corporate look and feel for HTML applications.

XSS Overview
A XSS document consists of a set of style sheets, each of which defines a set of visual styles to be applied to the contents of a web page. <styleSheet> Element Each style sheet is defined with a <styleSheet> element. You can designate which enduser environment to apply a style sheet to by assigning attributes, also called variants, to the <styleSheet> element. XSS supports the following five variants: Locale (e.g. locales=ja or en_US) Reading direction (e.g. direction=rtl or ltr) Browser (e.g. browsers=Netscape or Internet Explorer) Browser major version (e.g. versions=4 or 5) Operating system (e.g. platforms=Windows or Linux) A style sheet that contains no variant attributes is known as a base style sheet. The following example shows a style sheet that defines styles for Internet Explorer users in the Japanese locale:
<stylesheet locales=ja browsers=ie> ... </styleSheet>

<style> Element Each <styleSheet> element contains one or more <style> elements. A <style> element consists of a selector, which associates the style with a

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particular element or set of elements in a HTML document, and a declaration of the properties defined by the style. The following example shows the style definition for the HTML OraFieldText element:
<stylesheet> <style selector=.OraFieldText> <property name=fontfamily>Arial</property> <property name=fontsize>10pt</property> <property name=color>#000000</property> </style> </styleSheet>

In this example, the selector .OraFieldText indicates that the properties defined by this style should be applied to any HTML element with a class attribute value of OraFieldText. The style itself is black Arial 10pt text. Style Sheet Derivations and Inheritance Hierarchy In XSS, with the use of variants, you can define new style sheets that are based on a parent or base style sheet. The derived style sheets implicitly extend the parent style sheet as well as inherit all the styles defined by the parent style sheet. A derived style sheet may also override styles inherited from ancestors. If the same style is defined in multiple style sheets and is applicable to the current enduser environment, a set of rules apply to determine which style takes precedence. The rules are based on the variants listed below, shown in order of highest to lowest precedence: Locale Reading direction Browser Operating system Browser version For example, suppose you have the following style sheet:
<stylesheet locales=ja browsers=ie> ... </styleSheet>

Without precedence rules, either of the following two style sheets could be its parent:
<!Style sheet for Japanese> <stylesheet locales=ja>

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... </styleSheet> <!Style sheet for Internet Explorer> <stylesheet browsers=ie> ... </styleSheet>

With precedence rules, the complex inheritance hierarchy is simplified so that the derived style sheet has only a single parent. In this example, the Japanese for Internet Explorer style sheet inherits styles from the parent Japanese style sheet, which in turn inherits styles from its parent Internet Explorer style sheet.

Named Styles Often, many style definitions share common properties, such as a base font or standard background color. In XSS, you can define a named style for such common properties, which can then be referenced by other styles in the XSS document. For example, the DefaultFont named style below defines the font and font size for two other styles, each of which reference the DefaultFont using the <includeStyle> element.
<stylesheet> <style name=DefaultFont> <property name=fontfamily>Arial</property> <property name=fontsize>10pt</property> </style> <style selector=.OraFieldText> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont> <property name=color>#000000</property> </style> <style selector=.OraLinkText> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont> <property name=color>#663300</property> </style> </styleSheet>

This ability to include a named style allows to you make and maintain simple and concise customizations to the style sheets.

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Custom Style Sheets in OA Framework

In OA Framework, style definitions for the look and feel of the Oracle SelfService Web Applications are defined by the blaf.xss style sheet document. Specific Oracle SelfService Web Applications products may modify or extend those default styles to address productspecific requirements for their audience. These productspecific styles are defined in the oa.xss style sheet document, which includes blaf.xss. As a customer, you may also want to modify existing styles in blaf.xss or oa.xss, or add new styles to suit your needs. Rather than directly modify blaf.xss or oa.xss, you should place all your style sheet customizations in a style sheet document called custom.xss, located in OA_HTML/cabo/styles. The content of the file is shown below. Be sure to edit only those sections of the file designated for customizations.
<?xml versions=1.0?> <styleSheetDocument xmlns=http://...> <import href=oa.xss/> <styleSheeet> <!Please start your customizations of the base stylesheet here>

<!Please end your customizations of the base stylesheet here> </styleSheet> <!Please start browser or platform specific style sheet customizations here>

<!Please end browser or platform specific style sheet customizations here> </styleSheetDocument>

As of version 5.5.2 and higher, OA Framework always calls custom.xss as its main style sheet. The document custom.xss uses the <import> element to include all the styles defined in oa.xss, as illustrated above. The document oa.xss, in turn, uses the <import> element to include all the styles defined in blaf.xss. The benefit of this hierarchy is that you can make customizations to base styles without altering base style definitions. In addition, if

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Oracle ever updates oa.xss or blaf.xss, your customizations to custom.xss are preserved and automatically reflect any updates made to the named styles that you include in your custom styles. All style sheet documents reside under OA_HTML/cabo/styles. Customizing the Font Family One of the most common customizations you may wish to make to the look and feel of the Oracle SelfService Web Applications user interface is to modify the default font. Although blaf.xss defines many different styles that affect font properties, all these styles refer to a single named style that defines the default font family.
<! The default font family > <style name=DefaultFontFamily> <property name=fontfamily>Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sansserif</property> </style>

As a result, if you wish to change the font family properties for all the styles defined in blaf.xss, you need to make only a single style override in custom.xss. For example, suppose you want to change the default font family for all styles to the CSS serif font family, but specify Arial as the font family for the .OraFieldText style. You would simply edit custom.xss as follows:
<?xml versions=1.0?> <styleSheetDocument xmlns=http://...> <import href=oa.xss/> <styleSheeet> <!Please start your customizations of the base stylesheet here> <! Override DefaultFontFamily > <style name=DefaultFontFamily> <property name=fontfamily>serif</property> </style> <! Keep using Arial for .OraFieldText > <style selector=.OraFieldText> <property name=fontfamily>Arial</property> </style> <!Please end your customizations of the base stylesheet here> </styleSheet>

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...

Customizing the Font Size Another common customization you may wish to make to the look and feel of the user interface is to alter the default font size. Almost all the styles defined in blaf.xss reference a common named style that defines the default font size:
<! The default font > <style name=DefaultFont> <includeStyle name=DefaultFontFamily/> <property name=fontsize>10pt</property> </style>

To change the default font size, you simply define a single style override in custom.xss as shown:
<?xml versions=1.0?> <styleSheetDocument xmlns=http://...> <import href=oa.xss/> <styleSheeet> <!Please start your customizations of the base stylesheet here> <! Change default font size to 12 pt > <style name=DefaultFont> <property name=fontsize>12pt</property> </style> <!Please end your customizations of the base stylesheet here> </styleSheet> ...

The user interface of Oracle SelfService Web Applications also makes use of several other font sizes. A smaller font size is used for in line messages, while a larger font size is used for headers, and so on. Each of the different font sizes are defined in blaf.xss, as shown:
<! A very small font > <style name=VerySmallFont> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont/> <property name=fontsize>2pt</property> </style> <! A small font >

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<style name=SmallFont> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont/> <property name=fontsize>1pt</property> </style> <! A medium font just slightly bigger than default > <style name=MediumFont> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont/> <property name=fontsize>+1pt</property> </style> <! A large font > <style name=LargeFont> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont/> <property name=fontsize>+3pt</property> </style> <! A very large font > <style name=VeryLargeFont> <includeStyle name=DefaultFont/> <property name=fontsize>+6pt</property> </style

Each of these font size definitions includes the default font size, using the <includeStyle> element, and then specifies a point size increment or decrement relative to the default font size. By using this XML Style Sheet Language technique, it is possible for you to change all font sizes defined in blaf.xss with a single override of the DefaultFont style in custom.xss. Customizing the Font Size for Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer You may notice in blaf.xss that the DefaultFont style is defined twice, once in a generic style sheet as described previously, and once in an environmentspecific style sheet. The latter style sheet overrides the default font size specifically for the Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer (IE) browser, to take advantage of some IEspecific functionality.
<styleSheet platforms=windows browsers=ie> <! Override the default font sizes to use scalable size units > <! The default font > <style name=DefaultFont> <property name=fontsize>xsmall</property> </style>

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<! A very small font > <style name=VerySmallFont> <property name=fontsize>67%</property> </style> ... </styleSheet>

In particular, IE provides a text zooming feature that allows you to scale text to a larger or smaller size, via the View > Text Size menu. This functionality does not work with sizes specified in point units, but does work with sizes specified using the CSS absolute size keywords. Hence, the IEspecific style sheet uses the xsmall keyword for its default font size, which is rendered as 10 point text by default. The size is scalable, so the other font sizes defined for IE are specified as a percentage of the default font size. To change the default font size for IE, you simply define a single style override in a Microsoft Windows IEspecific style sheet in custom.xss as shown:
<?xml versions=1.0?> <styleSheetDocument xmlns=http://...> <import href=oa.xss/> <styleSheeet> <!Please start your customizations of the base stylesheet here>

<!Please end your customizations of the base stylesheet here> </styleSheet> <!Please start browser or platform specific style sheet customizations here> <styleSheet platforms=windows browsers=ie> <! Change default font size to small > <style name=DefaultFont> <property name=fontsize>small</property> </style> </styleSheet> <!Please end browser or platform specific style sheet customizations here>

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</styleSheetDocument>

Customizing Colors The Oracle Browser Look and Feel standards make use of four colors that you may potentially want to change: Text foreground colorColor used for almost all text. The default is black. Text background colorColor used for almost all content. The default is white. Core background colorThis is the default blue color that appears throughout the user interface. For example, the color is used as the background color for the selected link in the level one tab bar, as well as the background color of the global header and footer. The file blaf.xss also derives a color ramp that includes lighter and darker shades based on the core background color. An example is the light blue foreground color for a selected link in the level one tab bar. Accent background colorThis is the default tan color that appears through the user interface. For example, the color is used as the background color for the unselected links in the level one tab bar. As with the core background color, blaf.xss derives a color ramp based on the accent background color. For example, the dark brown foreground color used for hypertext links, as well as the lighter yellow colors used for action button backgrounds are variations of the accent background color. As is the case with fonts, blaf.xss uses the <includeStyle> element to share the set of colorrelated named styles with other defined styles. So if you wish to change the colors in the user interface, you need only override the following four named styles:
<! TextForeground is the (black) foreground color used for almost all text in the Browser Look And Feel > <style name=TextForeground> <property name=color>#000000</property> </style> <! TextBackground is the (white) background color used for almost all text in the Browser Look And Feel > <style name=TextBackground> <property name=backgroundcolor>#ffffff</property> </style>

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<! DarkBackground defines the primary color in the core (blue) color ramp. All other colors in the core color ramp are defined relative to the DarkBackground color. > <style name=DarkBackground> <property name=backgroundcolor>#336699</property> </style> <! DarkAccentBackground defines the primary color in the accent (tan) color ramp. All other colors in the core color ramp are defined relative to the DarkBackground color. > <style name=DarkAccentBackground> <property name=backgroundcolor>#cccc99</property> </style>

The DarkBackground and DarkAccentBackground styles define the primary colors in the core and accent background color ramps respectively. If you decide to customize the colors for the user interface, you should try to maintain the contrasts between the text foreground and background colors, as well as between the core and accent colors. In general, try to select colors from the web safe color palette, as these colors have the most consistent results across the widest range of browsers and platforms. The web safe color palette is a set of 216 colors, where each red, green, or blue component of that color is a multiple of 51 (1, 51, 102, 153, 204, or 255) or #33 for hexadecimal values (#00, #33, #66, #99, #cc, or #ff). Also consider, that when you select a new core or accent background color, blaf.xss derives a ramp of lighter and darker shades from that color. As a result, selecting very dark or very light color values may result in less distinction between various darker or lighter shades in the color ramp.

CSS Styles Lookup

In OA Framework version 5.6 and above, you can use a new interactive user interface called CSS Styles Lookup to preview a specific item style applied with a selected CSS Style. You should use CSS Style Lookup to simulate the look and feel of an item style before making the actual CSS style change to your pages with OA Personalization Framework. See: AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7 and Advanced Settings: page 15.

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"

To Preview an Item Style Applied with Different CSS Styles: 1. Sign on to Oracle SelfService Web Applications as a System Administrator and select the System Administration responsibility under Self Service. Under System Utilities, select CSS Styles Lookup.

2. 3.

In the CSS Styles Lookup screen, specify the particular Item Style that you want to preview. Specify the CSS style that you wish to apply to the selected Item Style. The Style Type poplist lets you select from all the CSS styles that have a selector defined in custom.xss, oa.xss, and blaf.xss. If you select All Styles, CSS Styles Lookup renders the item with all the available styles applied.

4.

Choose Go to apply the CSS style(s). The Results of the Selection table displays two columns. The first column lists the name of the CSS style that has been applied and the second column displays the actual item style rendered with the applied CSS style.

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Note: If the selected Item Style is Text Input or Text, the Results table displays three columns. The first column always lists the name of the CSS style that has been applied. For Text Input, the second column renders the Text Input with the applied CSS style, and the third column renders the Text Input as a multiline Text Area with the applied CSS style.

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For Text, the second column renders the Text with the applied CSS style, and the third column renders the Text as a URL with the applied CSS style.

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Attention: If you select a supported item style, such as Nested Regions, for which applying a CSS style is not relevant, the screen displays the message Styles cannot be applied to the Item Style selected. when you select Go. Attention: If you select an unsupported item style, such as Image Button, the screen displays a message indicating that the Web Bean style is not supported when you select Go.

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OA Extensibility Framework
In OA Framework version 5.6 and above, you can use OA Extensibility Framework to declaratively add new items or fields to Oracle SelfService Web Applications. OA Extensibility Framework is tightly integrated with OA Personalization Framework. Both OA Configuration Framework and OA Extensibility Framework provide you with a mechanism to personalize and extend your product while maintaining its upgradeability. Since you can only add new items to a selfservice application page at the Adminlevel, you need to first enable AdminLevel personalizations for your application by setting the Personalize SelfService Defn profile option to Yes. You then navigate to the Create/Update View for the page you wish to personalize or extend, and then choose Advance Settings. See: AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7 and Create/Update View UI: page 9. The Advanced Settings page includes an Add New Item button. Select this button to navigate to a region where you can add new fields to your page, as well as edit or delete items you have created. See: Advanced Settings: page 15.


Adding a New Item

Attention: A region is extensible in OA Extensibility Framework only if the developer sets the Add Indexed Children flag for that region.

When you select Add New Item from the Advanced Settings screen, a new screen called Extended Region Item appears, that lets you define a new region item. Recall that a region item is a usage of an attribute in a region. Properties of the region item are copied from the base attribute that the region item references. If an attribute does not exist, it is created. You can only add simple item styles, such as links, buttons, or fields not tied to a View Object.

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"

To Add a New Region Item 1. 2. 3. The region application ID identifies the application for which the current region applies and is owned. The region code identifies the region for which you are adding a new region item. Select an application ID that identifies the application for which this attribute applies and is owned. OA Extensibility Framework creates an attribute based on the information you specify in this page and creates a usage of that attribute as the new extended region item. Enter a name for the new extended region item.

4.

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5.

Use the Item Style poplist to select the type of HTML User Interface object that represents the data for the new extended item. The item styles that you may choose are: ButtonA button represents an action that you can perform on a region. OA Framework generates buttons as images that represent the underlying function. ImagesAn image can be a plain image that simply appears on the page, or can have a URL associated with it so that the user can click on it to navigate elsewhere. Although icon images are generally used as global buttons in Oracle SelfService Web Applications, an icon image may also be used next to text to visually quantify its content, as in the case of tips, or in line messages Raw TextAny type of text. For example, the raw text style allows you to enter HTML tags to display text in bold. Reset ButtonA button that resets the values in a page. SeparatorA line to separate portions of a region. By default, the separator is rendered as a blue dotted line. SpacerA space that you can include in a region to improve the appearance of its layout. Static TextText that is for display only and not for editing purposes. For example, if you wish to create a URL link, you would define its item style as static text. TextA text field that can be updated and have a default value. TipText that provides a tip about the contents of the region. When you select Tip as the Item Style, and then select Apply after completing the remainder of the Extended Region Item page, you return to Advanced Settings. In the Advanced Settings page, you can then specify the Tip Type and Tip Message name for the Tip region item.

6.

Enter a label for the extended region item. The value you enter gets displayed as the label of the region item. For example, if the item style of your region is Button, the label appears as the button label. Specify the horizontal and vertical alignment of the region item. A horizontal alignment of Start results in left alignment for languages that read left to right or in right alignment for languages that read right to left. Specify a URL if your region item style is an Image, and you want to navigate to another URL when your user clicks on the image.

7.

8.

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Note: If you want to navigate to some arbitrary URL from this region item, you should specify the following in the URL definition field: <protocol>://<machine>:<port>/... For example: http://www.abcompany.com/home/page1.htm Note: If you want to call an Oracle Applications function, omit the protocol://machine:port specification in the URL, and only enter OA.jsp? and the syntax that follows as shown below. OA Framework automatically prepends the correct syntax for the OA_HTML directory path so that your function runs properly. Enter the following in the URL definition field: OA.jsp?OAFunc=<Apps function you want to call> For example, to call the PL/SQL General Preferences page from an OA Framework page, you would enter the following in the URL definition: OA.jsp?OAFunc=ICX_USER_PREFERENCES 9. If your region item style is Image, specify filename of your image file. Do not include any path information, as all image files must reside in OA_MEDIA.

10. Enter a description for your region item. 11. Choose Apply to create the new extended region item. The new extended region item should now appear in the Advanced Settings screen. 12. If you are the creator of the extended region item, you can select the Edit Item or Delete Item column icons in the Advanced Settings page to edit or delete the region item. If you are not the owner of the extended region item, or the region item is not created from OA Extensibility Framework, the Edit Item and Delete Item icons are disabled. The Edit Item icon takes you back to the Extended Region Item page where you can update the information for a region item.

Attention: A region item that you add using the Extended Region Item page can be customized at Adminlevels that are lower than the Adminlevel at which it was added. See: OA Personalization Framework: page 2

Example: Extending the Advanced Worklist Page

OA Extensibility Framework provides you with the ability to add new items to a personalizable region. Note that this capability also enables

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you to extend your application to include other sources of information. For example, with OA Extensibility Framework, you can create a URL link in your Advanced Worklist page that displays other company specific information not displayed in the notifications. This section describes how you go about creating such a new item.


"

Attention: Be sure that in the page you wish to link to, you also create a URL link back to the source page.

Adding a New URL Link to the Advanced Worklist 1. Make sure you enable AdminLevel personalizations for your application by setting the Personalize SelfService Defn profile option to Yes at the user level. See: Creating AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7. Login to the Personal Home Page as that user. Navigate to the Advanced Worklist page.

2.

3.

To display the hierarchy tree of personalizable regions for this page, select the Personalize Region global button.

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4. 5.

Follow the appropriate screens to personalize the region at the Site level. See: AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7. A hierarchy tree of the regions appear on the left side of the screen. Choose the top level region called Notifications as the region to personalize.

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6.

Select the Advanced Settings button.

7.

Choose Add New Item. In the Extended Region Item page that appears, specify an Item Name such as NtfAddInfo, specify an Item Style of Static Text, enter a Label such as Additional Information, set the Horizontal Alignment to Start, enter a URL that you want your link to access, and enter an optional region item description. Choose Apply when you are done. Note: If you want to navigate to some arbitrary URL from this region item, you should specify the following in the URL definition field: <protocol>://<machine>:<port>/... For example: http://www.abcompany.com/home/page1.htm Note: If you want to call an Oracle Applications function, omit the protocol://machine:port specification in the URL, and only enter OA.jsp? and the syntax that follows as shown below. OA Framework automatically prepends the correct syntax for the OA_HTML directory path so that your function runs properly. Enter the following in the URL definition field: OA.jsp?OAFunc=<Apps function you want to call> For example, to call the PL/SQL General Preferences page from an OA Framework page, you would enter the following in the URL definition: OA.jsp?OAFunc=ICX_USER_PREFERENCES

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8.

Your new region item should now appear in the Advanced Settings page. Choose Apply.

9.

In the Update Site Level Personalization page, your new region item should appear in the Column Properties, Columns Displayed list.

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Use the up or down arrows to the right of the list to reorder the new region item to the top or bottom of the page. Choose Apply when you are done. 10. When you select the new Additional Information link that appears in the Advanced Worklist, you navigate to the URL that you specified in the Extended Region Item page.

Note: If you add a new item to a region and it does not appear on the page, it is likely that the region you added the item to does not have the Add Indexed Children flag set by the developer. If this occurs and adding the new item to a different region within the region hierarchy is not an option, contact Oracle Support for assistance.

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Example: Adding New Instruction Text to a Page

OA Extensibility Framework lets you provide additional instructional text for your users in the form of tips. This section describes how you go about creating such a new item.
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Adding PageLevel Instruction Text to a Region 1. Make sure you enable AdminLevel personalizations for your application by setting the Personalize SelfService Defn profile option to Yes at the user level. See: Creating AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7. Login to the Personal Home Page as that user. Navigate to the page in which you want to add new instruction text. Select the Personalize Region global button in the upper right corner of the screen. Follow the appropriate screens to personalize the region at the Site level. See: AdminLevel Personalizations: page 7. A hierarchy tree of the regions appear on the left side of the screen. Choose the top level page layout region as the region to personalize. Select the Advanced Settings button. Choose Add New Item. In the Extended Region Item page that appears, specify an Item Name such as HRPageTip, specify an Item Style of Tip, and enter a Label such as HR Page Tip. Choose Apply when you are done. Your new region item should now appear in the Advanced Settings page. In the Advanced Settings page, for the new region item you added, select the tip type of Short Tip and then select the Tip Message Name you would like to use as the basis for the tip help for that item. Choose Apply. In the Update Site Level Personalization page, your new region item should appear in the Column Properties, Columns Displayed list. Use the top up arrow control to the right of the list to move the HR Page Tip to the top of the page. Choose Apply when you are done.

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10. You should now see the new tip message at the top of the page. Note: If you add a new item to a region and it does not appear on the page, it is likely that the region you added the item to does not have the Add Indexed Children flag set by the developer. If this occurs and adding the new item to a different region within the region hierarchy is not an option, contact Oracle Support for assistance.

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OA Personalization Framework and OA Extensibility Framework Guide