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Monday, May 13, 2013

Oracle Configurable Home Page




Oracle Configurable Home Page

Applies to:
Oracle Applications Framework - Version 12.1.2 to 12.1.2 [Release 12.1]
Information in this document applies to any platform.
Goal
This document aims at giving the reader information on the new "configurable homepage' feature delivered in 12.1.2

Fix
What is the Configurable Home Page

In release 12.1.2 the E-Business Suite homepage has been re-designed using the configurable pages infrastructure. This allows highly flexible content and layout including the ability to add and move content around the homepage to suit your needs.
Furthermore, this enhancement allows customers to work with a WYSIWYG model of configuration.

The configurable home page also includes a new and improved navigator tree which has expandable menus using richer and faster ajax calls and requests are kept within the sidebar to save valuable homepage space. The new tree also eliminates full page render of server-side requests therefore enhancing performance.

Another important change to note is that the favorites have moved from the main body of the homepage to the global header at the top of the page resulting in more realestate being available where you need it.

The image below demonstrates the new homepage which includes the expandable menu and drop down favorite features.

This is the Navigation menu appearing in the header. Note: this ONLY appears when you navigate away from the homepage. It allows users to quickly and easily access other functions without needing to navigate back to the homepage.

How do you enable the configurable homepage?
 For pre-12.1.3 environments set profile option 'Enable Configurable HomePage' to Yes. For 12.1.3 environments set profile FND: Disable Configurable Home Page to false.

Enable Configurable Homepage / FND_CONFIG_HOMEPAGE_ENABLED, is no longer used, but is retained for Release 12.1.2 backwards compatibility.
 From 12.1.3 the configurable home page behaviour is controlled by FND: Disable ConfigurableHome Page /FND_CONFIG_HOMEPAGE_DISABLED profile option.

As mentioned above the new homepage also has the ability to enable slideout menus. This includes a slideout (down) navigator menu which allows users to navigate to functions without having to move back to the homepage as well as slideout favorites. This results in better system performance.
 To  enable the slideout menus the Accessibility Mode must be set to None and profile option "FND Slideout menu" must be set to enabled. Note: profile option "FND Slideout menu"  is no longer used on the 12.1.3 code level but is retained for 12.1.2 backwards compatibility. On 12.1.3 to disable the navigator and favorites pull-down menu set profile "FND: Disable Navigator and Favorites Rich Menu" to True and "FND Slideout menu" to Disabled

What other features are available?
 The new homepage feature also includes a WYSIWYG approach to personalization on the homepage. This is demonstrated in the image below. Here one can re-arrange, re-order, rotate , add and remove content on the homepage to suit their needs. Select the 'personalize page' link in the header region of the page to enter the WYSIWYG personalization view.

Expandable/Collabsible Menus
 One can also enable Expandable menus. If for example you had the worklist displayed on the homepage you can personalize the page to enable the worklist to be hidden or expanded. See images below.
 Before the change to expandable menus. Notice the worklist cannot be collapsed.

After the change to expandable menus for the worklist. Notice that the worklist is now collapsible .

To change a region so that it uses expandable/collapsible menus change the settings for the Flexible Content: Notifications Content region as follows:

Show Header = true
 User Operations = disclose
 User Personalization = true

Adding Scroll Bars To A Region
 One has the ability to add scroll bars to regions on the homepage so that users can manage the space usage on the home page effectively. The basic principle of this feature is that if the data within the region exceeds the window height or width property of the region the scrolling bar will appear automatically.
 To enable the scroll bar simply adjust the regions height and width properties to a smaller value (in pixels) to force scroll bars to render.
 Select the Personalize Page link - Choose Personalization Level 'Site' - select the personalize pen icon - personalize the flexible layout. Adjust the height and with properties

After changing the height property of the Worklist region to 300. Notice the scrollbar to the far right of the Worklist



Adding New Content/Regions
 Any standalone region can be added to the homepage. A standalone region is defined as a region that can run on its own without ANY dependancies. It is also possible to create your own standalone regions at add them to the homepage
 To add a region to the homepage follow these steps. I will use an example here of a seeded region.
 Select the Personalize Page link - Choose Personalization Level 'Site' and GO - select the Content tab - scroll to the bottom of the page and select the add content '+' icon - select the create content button - enter an id e.g. ExtAncContent, enter a title e.g. Extended Anc Content - enter a full name e.g. /oracle/apps/fnd/framework/toolbox/labsolutions/webui/ConfigHomePG.AncContainRN -
apply the changes - select the title just created - apply the changes. Now review the change as it appears on the homepage.

Note: If the Content tab does not appear in release 12.1.3, make sure that the profile option "Self Service Accessibility Features" is set to null at ALL levels.

Shows a new region added via the steps above


Standalone regions can now be identified via a new tool called the 'portlet generator'. Once identified these can be added to the home page as discussed above. You can read more about this tool in Chapter 16 in the following document:
 121sacg.pdf

Removing the notification list from the homepage
1. Set profile 'Enable Configurable HomePage' to Yes
2. Set profile 'Personalize Self-Service Defn' to Yes
3. Stop/Start the oacore opmn process
4. Login to the homepage
5. Select the Personalize "Worklist" link
6. Select the pen icon next to "Default Single Column: Worklist"
7. Select rendered = False at the Site level
8. Save
9. Select return to application
The worklist should now be gone.

To enable the notification list when the configurable homepage is disabled ('Enable Configurable HomePage' = No,  'FND:Disable Configurable Home Page = True) render the Row Layout:Home Content Row item to true from the Home Page personalization screen.

Removing the Enterprise Search Feature
 1. Login to the environment with the user who has administrator privileges.
 2. Select "Functional Administrator" responsibility.
 3. Select "Personalization" menu
 4. On the "Application Catalog" page set "Document Path" to "/oracle/apps/fnd/search/webui/AppsSearchRG" and click "Go".
 5. Click on "Personalize page" icon.
 6. Set Function value to "Applications Configurable Home Page" i.e. OANEWHOMEPAGE and then click on Apply.
 7. Select "Personalize" icon for Row Layout region. Set the rendered property to false at function level.
 8. Navigate back to the page and see the changes applied.

Reverting back to the 12.1 Homepage Layout
 Set the following profiles:
 FND: Applications Navigator Menu Consolidation count : 25
 FND Slideout menu: Enabled
 Enable Configurable HomePage: No
 FND: Personalization Region Link Enabled: Yes
 FND: Disable Configurable Home Page: True

* The above changes will result in the expandable menus changing to the older 'link style' menus
Changing the browser page name for the Home Page
This option is not specific to the new homepage. In fact, it can be performed on versions 11i, 12.0.X and 12.1.X
By default the browser displays the homepage as 'Oracle Applications Home Page'
You may want to change this so that when working with multiple environments at the same time it is easy to distinguish via the browser tabs (Firefox or Internet Explorer) which environment is which.

To make the change, login to the homepage and select the 'personalize page' link at the top right of the page. Select the pencil icon for the very first option in the list. This should be 'Page Layout: Oracle Applications Home Page'
 Change the window title at the required level to the text of your choice. Now apply and return to the application. You will notice the browser tab now displays your chosen name


Known Issues
 1. Personalize at the site level
 In the homepage personalization make sure you are doing all the personalization at the site level, as the responsibility level is not valid for the homepage. You may not get the intended result if responsibility level personalizations are present. This should be resolved by release 12.1.3
 2. Issues with responsibility tree
 The tree like responsibility tree may not expand when selecting the + sign. This functionality works in Firefox but does not work when using IE. Clicking on the actual responsibility link is the current workaround until the issue is resolved by release 12.1.3. This is discussed in bug 9709490
3. FND_NO_DATABASE_CONNECTION
Login may fail intermittently with: Application: Fnd, Message Name: oracle.apps.fnd.framework.OAException: Application: FND, Message Name: FND_NO_DATABASE_CONNECTION. We recommend that all customers apply the patch mentioned in Note 1298103.1 to avoid this issue.
4. Responsibilities sometimes do not appear
In some cases when returning to the homepage users may experience an issue where their list of responsibilities is missing. Please apply Patch 9656424 - ATGUI: TST1213:RESPONSIBILITIES NOT DISPLAYED IN NEW HOME PAGE INCONSISTENTLY to prevent this issue occurring. See Note 1316974.1 for more information
5. Slideout menu does not work
The slideout menu may fail to operate. You may see an error such as 'OAFSlideoutMenu' is undefined. Please see Note 1322619.1
6. HTTPS links added to slideout menu do not function
See Note 1351244.1 Wrong Https URL Handling In Favorites Slideout Menu
7. Locked connections after login (performance impact)

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