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Tracing Delta Link DependenciesLocate this document in the navigation structure

Prerequisites

You must have at least administrator read permission for the source objects and dependents in the delta link chain to view them.

Context

The delta link tracer enables you to view the delta link chain of a selected object, including:

  • The source objects (the objects from which the selected object inherits its metadata)

  • The dependent objects (the objects that inherit their metadata from the selected object).

The ability to resolve the sources of an object allows you to determine from where the current object inherits its content and properties. Being able to resolve the dependents that are derived as delta links from an object allows you to determine which objects will be directly affected as a result of editing or deleting an object. Because objects in the same delta link chain may be located in different folders in the Portal Catalog (see the figure that follows), the sources and dependents of an object are not readily available without using a specialized tool. The delta link tracer analyzes the Portal Content Directory (PCD) to provide this information.

Figure 1: Objects in the same delta link chain (iView 1 to iView 1''') can reside in different folders in the Portal Catalog. This can make it difficult to manually locate object dependencies without a tool that is able to do this for you.

Procedure


  1. Launch the delta link tracer in one of two ways:

    • In the Portal Catalog, in the context menu of the object whose delta chain you want to view, choose Start of the navigation path Open Next navigation step Delta Link Tracer End of the navigation path .

    • Open the primary editor of the object, and from the link bar, choose Delta Link Tracer .

    The delta link tracer appears, displaying the Show Delta Link Sources page.

    Note

    • Only objects for which you have at least administrator read permission are displayed. You are notified on the screen if you are not permitted to view a particular object and its source objects (any other objects in the delta link chain that precede the unauthorized object are not viewable, regardless of their permissions).

    • If the object that you are investigating is based directly on a portal component, the selected object does not have any delta link source objects. The delta link tracer displays this on the screen.

    • The object ID of each object in the delta link chain is displayed as a tooltip of the object.

  2. Review the displayed list. The object that you are investigating is located at the bottom of the list (identified as the Dependent object), and its source objects are listed above it.

    • If a source object in the displayed delta link chain is embedded within other objects (for example, an iView assigned to a portal page, which is assigned to a workset, which is assigned to a role), you see those objects as well. The names of the dependent object and its sources appear in bold.

    • If the object that you are investigating, or any of its source objects, contains at least one property that has been manually modified (meaning that the modified property does not inherit its value from its immediate source object), a Broken delta link icon is displayed next to the object's name.

      To determine specifically which properties have been modified, open the object in its Property editor.

    • The delta link tracer supports remote delta link objects; any source objects located on a remote producer portal are displayed in the delta link chain.

      To view the producer portal of a remote source object, move the mouse pointer over the object in the delta link chain. The object ID, including the alias of the producer portal, is displayed in the following format:

      remoteContent\<producer_alias>\<objectID>

  3. To view the dependents of the selected object, choose the Show Delta Link Dependents radio button.

    Only the first-generation dependents of the selected objects are displayed. To view the dependent objects lower down in any delta link chain (that is, second-generation dependents and more), do the following:

    1. Select a first-generation object.

    2. Find the object in the Portal Catalog by choosing Locate in Portal Catalog in its context menu.

    3. Launch the delta link tracer for the object that you locate in the Portal Catalog.

    • If the object that you are investigating, or any of its source objects, contain at least one property that has been manually modified, a Broken delta link icon is displayed next to the object's name.

    • The delta link tracer supports remote delta link objects; any first-generation dependent object located on a remote producer portal are displayed in the delta link chain.

      To view the consumer portal of a remote dependent object, move the mouse pointer over the object in the delta link chain. The object ID, including the alias of the consumer portal, is displayed in the following format:

      consumer_content\<consumer_alias>\<objectID>

Example

The following figure shows a collection of objects stemming from the same portal component, which are related to one another through delta links (the object in this case could be an iView):

The following table lists the source and dependent objects that are displayed in the user interface when each object in the previous figure is selected.

Object

Source Objects Displayed

Dependent Objects Displayed

1

(No source objects; the object is based directly on a portal component)

2*

2

1

3*;5*

3

1 ← 2

4

4

1 ← 2 ← 3

(no dependents)

5

1 ← 2

(no dependents)

* These objects have additional dependents in their delta link chain; the tracer displays only the first-generation dependents.