Creating Web-based URL iViews 

Purpose

The portal provides a dedicated wizard, editor, and iView template enabling you to rapidly create iViews that retrieve content directly from a Web page or Web-based application. In the portal, these types of iViews are referred to as URL iViews.

 Legal Aspects of URL iViews

Content on external Web sites is typically protected by copyright law. These copyright laws prohibit the copying, redistribution, retransmission, or publication of material, unless otherwise permitted by the copyright owner. In the event publication of copyrighted material is permitted, other restrictions apply with regard to the modification or omission of author attribution, copyright notice, or trademark legends.

It is therefore the responsibility of your organization to determine if the content displayed on your portal does not infringe or violate any such copyright laws. Unlawful use of the works of others may lead to substantial civil and criminal penalties.

Another type of Web-based iView, which also retrieves content via a direct URL, but in an XML-based format, is referred to as an XML iView. For more information, see Creating XML iViews.

If your company uses a network proxy server to control Internet access and you intend to create iViews that display content outside the company domain, you need to configure the HTTPService proxy service in the portal. This is also necessary to see Web content when using the browse and capture capabilities in the URL iView Editor and Wizard. For instructions, see System Properties for Proxy Server.

 

Features

URL iViews retrieve Web-based content from a wide range of current and legacy sources; for example your organization’s intranet, internet Web sites, and internal Web-based applications. We refer to this collection of Web-based information sources as Web pages.

A URL iView is a collection of meta attributes, one of which is the URL to the information source. A built-in browser available in the URL iView Wizard and Editor enables you to navigate easily within a Web site in order to retrieve the URL of the source Web page to display in the iView.

A capturing tool in the built-in browser also allows you to select a restricted area within a targeted Web page so that the iView displays only a part of it at runtime. The capture mechanism supports on-the-fly reconstruction of the captured area for non-static Web pages. If the targeted Web page contains structural, formatting, and content changes since the iView was created, the iView attempts to adapt itself and rebuild the iView to display the intended area. This is a complex, but rapid process, and virtually undetectable by the portal client at runtime. The success rate depends on the degree of change to the targeted Web page and whether or not the selected element still exists.

You can also use the rendering capabilities in the editor to configure the iView so that its content is displayed at runtime in the look and feel of any portal theme.

 

Process Flow

To create a URL iView, you first need to define its basic properties in the URL iView Wizard, and then use the URL iView Editor to define more advanced settings (not available in the wizard) and modify the basic settings, if needed.

URL iView Wizard

...        1.      Select the URL of the information source. See Using the URL iView Wizard.        2.      Select the capture area (optional). See Using the URL iView Wizard.

URL iView Editor

...        1.      Modify the URL of the information source, if needed. See Selecting the Source URL.        2.      Modify the capture area, if needed (optional). See Selecting the Capture Area.        3.      Define the look and feel of the iView content. See Defining the Look and Feel of the iView Content.        4.      Configure URL parameters. See Configuring URL Parameters.        5.      Select a system for user mapping. See Selecting a System.        6.      Configure iView properties. See URL iView Properties.

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