Using the Pending Items Preview Mode

Interacting with Your Portal 2-31 Figure 2–14 The Pending Items Preview Mode Link To access this mode, click Pending Items: Preview when editing a page. If this option is not available, Approvals and Notifications are not enabled for the page group. See Section 5.4, Setting Up Approvals. In Pending Items Preview mode: ■ New items are displayed with the status Pending. ■ Updated items are displayed with the status Update Pending. This mode displays the updated item, whereas other editing modes display the existing item. ■ Draft items are displayed with the status Draft. Draft items are visible to the item owner only. ■ Hidden, deleted, and expired items are displayed along with an indicator of their current status. The Edit Defaults and Actions icons display next to hidden and expired items, enabling you to show and unexpire such items in this view. Items with the status Pending, Update Pending, or Draft, are not displayed in Graphical or Layout mode because these modes do not display pending items.

2.7.1.1.1 Resubmitting Rejected Items If your item is rejected, you can edit the item and

then resubmit it for approval. Click the Edit icon next to the rejected item to make your changes. After you edit the item, it is resubmitted for approval.

2.7.1.1.2 Deleting and Un-deleting Rejected Items You can delete rejected items if you

wish. To do this, click the Actions icon next to the item and click Delete. Additionally, you can un-delete a rejected item that was deleted by clicking the Actions icon next to the item and then Undelete. If you do this, the item returns to a rejected status.

2.7.1.1.3 Submitting a Draft Item for Approval In Pending Items Preview mode, draft items

are visible to the item owner only. Once a draft is finalized, you can submit the item for approval and once approved it becomes visible to other users. To submit a draft item for approval, click the Actions icon next to the item and click Submit for Approval . If item versioning is enabled Simple or Audit you must choose the version control option appropriate for your item: Add Item As New version, but not as Current Version, Add Item As New and Current Version, Overwrite Current Version Simple only. For more information, see Section 5.5.2, Setting the Item Versioning Level for a Page Group.

2.7.1.1.4 Deleting a Draft Item You may delete a draft item if you are the item owner.

Note that when you delete a draft item, it is irrevocably deleted from the portal; there is no Undelete option. The only way to restore the item is to add it to the page once again. To delete a draft item in Pending Items Preview mode, click the Actions icon next to the item and click Delete.

2.7.1.1.5 Submitting Versioned Items for Approval You can edit an earlier version of an

item and submit it for approval. The older version, rather than the current version, is overwritten. 2-32 Oracle Fusion Middleware Users Guide for Oracle Portal

2.7.1.2 Personalizing the My Approval Status Portlet

You can track the progress of items requiring approval using the Approval Status portlet. In the portlet, click the subject to view the item, click the status to view the approval history, and click the page name to view the page that includes the item. Figure 2–15 The My Approval Status Portlet If you have the appropriate privileges on the page, you can personalize the title of the My Approval Status portlet and the way status information is displayed. To do this, click the Personalize link and set the options as required.

2.7.2 Approving or Rejecting Content

After a user adds or modifies an item, the approvers identified in the approval process are sent an approval notification. An approver may respond to the notification by approving or rejecting the item in question. Approval notifications are listed in one of two portlets: ■ Notifications for approvals initiated by an Oracle Portal approval process are shown in the My Notifications portlet. ■ Notifications for approvals initiated by an Oracle BPEL workflow process are shown in the My Worklist portlet.

2.7.2.1 Setting Up the My Notifications Portlet to Show the Status of Oracle Portal Approvals

You can personalize the My Notifications portlet to show the status of items pending approval through Oracle Portal approval processes. Figure 2–16 The My Notifications Portlet To personalize the My Notifications portlet: 1. Edit the page that contains the My Notifications portlet. Interacting with Your Portal 2-33

2. Click the Personalize link.

3. In the Display Name field, enter a different title for the portlet if required. For

example, if the portlet will be used only to display approval notifications, you might change the display name to Items Requiring My Approval.

4. In the Display Limit radio group, select whether to display all notifications or

limit the portlet to display only a specified number of notifications.

5. Make sure the Show Approval Notifications check box is selected.

The portlet can also display expiry and subscription notifications.

6. Select the Display Notification Type Icon in Portlet check box if you want to

display an icon to illustrate whether the notification is an approval, expiry, or subscription notification. This is useful if you intend to use the portlet to display other types of notifications.

7. Select the Display Notification Status in Portlet check box if you want to display

the status of the notification in the portlet. This is useful if you intend to use the portlet to display other types of notifications. For approval notifications there is only one status: Request Pending.

8. Click OK.

2.7.2.2 Approving or Rejecting an Item

When there is an item that requires your approval, you receive a notification in the My Notifications or My Worklist portlet. You must decide whether to approve or reject the item. If you approve the item, a notification is sent to the next approver in the approval process. If you are the final approver in the approval process, the item will be published to the portal after you approve it. You may instead decide to reject the item. If you reject the item, the approval process is halted even if there are remaining steps approvers. After you approve or reject the item, the notification is removed from the portlet. In the My Notifications and My Worklist portlets, the approver can click the subject title to display the approval page. From this page, the approver can view the item, enter comments, and decide whether to approve or reject the item. The approver can also view the approval history of the item. The powers of approval and rejection for Oracle Portal approval processes are distributed as follows: ■ You must be one of the current approvers, a page group administrator, or a page or content manager with the Manage or Manage Content privilege on the page, to approve or reject an item. ■ An approver can also approve or reject an item directly on its page using the Pending Items Preview mode. See Section 2.7.1.1, Using the Pending Items Preview Mode. ■ An approver can also update a pending item and directly make changes before approving the item. Only approvers who have Manage Content privilege or higher are able to update pending items. See Section 2.7.1.1, Using the Pending Items Preview Mode. If a translated item requires approval, it can be updated by an approver but to do so, the approver must be logged in to the portal with the same language as the translated item and have the necessary privileges. ■ The portal administrator can approve or reject any pending item. On approval by the portal administrator, the process skips the current approver and moves onto