WebAG Automat is a multi-user online authoring system for composing complex web information systems. The information is stored in a central company repository and can be searched using the integrated full text search system WebAG HTR on the Internet or Intranet. Using the WebAG Automat's browser user interface, people without any knowledge of the HyperText Markup Language HTML can create HTML text documents and link them to graphics easily with the predefined Textlayouts and Homepage-Designs provided. Existing documents in other formats (such as MS Word) are transferred from the author using the browser interface into your home page directory and used as references in your web pages. Web pages with any style of HTML design can be used by the authors as Stencil.

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1.1 Implementation

The software was based on the Oracle Web Application Server's PL/SQL cartridge. The functionality of the authoring system, like the search engine, is 100% covered in the Oracle database in the form of stored procedures. The heart of this is a relational data model. In addition to the text and the search index, this data model stores all the information about users, text layouts and home page designs. The upload functions for transferring graphics and documents in other formats on to the web server uses several Perl script/executables via the CGI interface.

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1.2 Dynamic layouts

The information that an author enters into the system as dynamic web pages is displayed as dynamic HTML documents at the time of retrieval. This involves linking the text information with the author's chosen text layout, which is stored in the database separately from the author's information . This text layout sets the size, colour and the font of the individual areas on the page (heading, paragraph heading, paragraph text etc.). For further information about this see the section on Textlayouts. In addition the home page can consist of further frames, which are used as static HTML files e.g. for navigation. These frames are also stored as HTML source files in the database and are controlled centrally by the Administrator. Each author is given a file directory on the web server in which the frames source files are stored.

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1.3 Authentication

Every author must log in to the authoring system with a user name and password. Visitors to the home page (referred to here as a "User") can look at the web pages that the author has declared "public" without a password. For internal information, a URL is available for the users to be able to log in to the Intranet. Authors grant read access rights to user groups or directly to users. The administration of the system and the individual webs is carried out by Central Administrators and local webmasters. Central Administrators may also take over all the duties of the local Webmasters. Authors are set up in their web by the local webmasters for each folder. They can be given various levels of author authentication rights.

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1.4 Search engine

The WebAG HTR search engine stores each word on the web page in a bi-directional search index. The HTR API provides the Automat with an interface that can generate search forms easily for the users. As well as the Automat pages, the search index can also deal with static webpages and other dynamic web applications.

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1.5 Installation

The installation of the system is described in the Installation Guide. Upgrading from older releases of WebAG Automat is explained in the release notes. Oracle HTTP-Server 8Apache) and the PL/SQL-Module modPLSQL and Oracle RDBMS from Version 8.1.7 need to be installed. Set up a DAD ("Database Access Descriptor"), which refers to a stored username/password on an Oracle schema. The virtual path (e.g. "/pls/automat") of the DAD is stored later as parameter "OWA" in the WebAG Automat's "Global Environment".

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1.6 User-friendly URLs

A simple webserver-configuration change lets you call Automat webpages with a simple, user-friendly URL like "pagename.html" or "<text_id>.html" instead of the conventional URL ".../wt_show.text_page?p_text_id=nnnn&...".

Examples:

http://www.webag.com/cms/pagename.html
is equivalent to the Automat-page named "pagename".
http://www.webag.com/cms/12345.html
is equivalent to the Automat page with TEXT_ID 12345.
This is the userfriendly format for pages without a name given by the author..

To configure "user-friendly URLs" you need to do some changes within the Apache config-file httpd.conf to add a Rewrite-Rule.

Example:

# --------------- Friendly URL Rewrite Rules ---------------------
RewriteRule ^/cms/(.*).html$ /pls/automat/wt_show.friendly_url_dispatcher?p_friendly_url_path=/cms/&p_pattern=$1 [PT]
RewriteRule ^/cms/(.*)$ /pls/automat/$1 [PT]
# --------------- // Friendly URL Rewrite Rules ------------------

In this example the DAD-name of the Oracle modPLSQL-configuration is "automat". Thus Automat PL/SQL-packages are invoked via "/pls/automat". The new user-friendly URL shall start with "/cms".
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1.7 Event-triggers

With Event-triggers deveopers can enhance the Automat's functionality. You can write event-triggers to start before or after one of the pre-defined events. Automat 6.4 starts with tree trigger-types:

BEFORE_SESSION_START - fires on the day's first activity of a user, even if he did not have enter username and password because of a pemanent cookie-login. You can use this trigger-type to write your own tracking-functions.
BEFORE_PUBLISH_PAGE – fires before publishing a page. This is useful to implement your own check-routines.
AFTER_PUBLISH_PAGE – fires close after publishing a page. Useful to implement synchronous adaption code for your own datamodel.

Event-triggers are administered in the left navigation tree under "System / General / Event-triggers". An event-trigger is defines by entering a name and the PL/SQL-code. We recommen to enter just a PL/SQL-function call into the textarea and to implement the comprehensive functionality in your own package.

You can use the well-known $-variables within the trigger's PL/SQL-code like $WEB_ID, $TEXT_ID etc. As an exmple you can write an IF-clause that limits the trigger to fire only for a specific $WEB_ID.

There is no limitation on the number of triggers for an event-type. The fire in the order of their names, so use the names to control the order of your triggers.

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2. Architecture

2.1 Hardware and software requirements

The WebAG Automat is set up on Oracle HTTP-Server (Apache with modPLSQL) and Oracle RDBMS from Version 8.1.7. All hardware platforms and operating systems supported by Oracle with these products can be used as platforms for the authoring system, including all common UNIX derivatives and Windows NT. UNIX also requires a Perl interpreter from Version 5.003. The workstations just need an HTML compatible web browser such as Netscape from Version 4.0 or MS Internet Explorer from Version 4.0, Javascript enabled. The WebAG Automat Administrator needs a basic knowledge of the administration of Oracle Apache HTTP-Servers, in particular for creating the DADs (Database Access Descriptors), which are used to allow the web browser to access the Automat's stored packages. The URLs from this configuration are used to call the individual Automat modules. The URL is simply expressed in the form "http://www.server.de/pls/automat/...". The names of the stored PL/SQL packages and procedures come after the last "/". The Oracle database in which the WebAG Automat packages are stored is the same server as the one on which the Oracle Web Application Server runs, because, when required, the database creates home page designs in the authors' home page directories as "utl files". To do this the database has to hold the parameter UTL_FILE_DIR in the file "initSID.ora".

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2.2 Starting up

WebAG modules are started up by the web browser with the help of the following URLs. The first part of each url haws to be replaced with the data of your installation of the Oracle Applicatioin Server. In our samples the Webserver is called "www.server.de" and the virtual path of the PL/SQL-cartridge is "/pls/automat/".

Authoring system:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_automat.main
If you add the parameter "?p_top_frame=0" to this url you can hide the top frame, which only displays the product name. The parameter "?p_text_id=n" loads the specified page into the man editor frame on startup. Log in to the Intranet:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/pub_login.main A home page dynamic frame is displayed with the package "wt_show". In contract to the previous URL, this module does not require a password. Nevertheless, the authentication procedure will take into account whether or not the user has previously logged in with "pub_login.main". The individual functions are:

Single Webpage:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.text_page?p_text_id=1&p_flag=(webname)
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/go?name=webname/pagename

As optional parameters you can set another text layout or another trigger set for this page view. With this option you can e.g. present a print version of your web page. Example: http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.text_page?p_text_id=1&p_layout_id=2&p_trigger_set_id=5&p_flag=(webname)

It is possible to add custom variables to the wt_show.text_page-url. These variable are available to be used by PL/SQL-functions in AUTOMAT_INCLUDEs. The variables are attached to the url as two lists of variable-names and variable-values. Therefore you use the url-parameter p_var=<list of variable-names separated by semicolon> and p_val=<list of variable-values seperated by semicolon>. In case you do not want to use semicolon as seperator you can add the url-parameter p_div to define another p_var/p_val-seperator.

Example:
http://www.webag.com/pls/test/wt_show.text_page?p_text_id=1234&p_var=LIST;PAGE&p_val=SHOP;34&p_div=;

Explorer tree of all home pages in the system:
The parameter "t" specifies the target frame for all links (normally the main frame)
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.global_tree?p=_&t=frame_name

Explorer tree of a home page:
The parameter t specifies the target frame for all links (normally the main frame)), w is the WEB_ID of the relevant web.
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.web_tree?p=_&t=frame_name&w=6

List of all home pages in the system:
A web is entered using p_web_ id/_name and its text layout is used for displaying the directory:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.global_index?p_web_id=6 or
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.global_index?p_web_name=webname

Web index:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.web_index?p_web_id=6&p_flag=(webname) or
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.web_index?p_web_name=webname&p_flag=(webname)

Web sitemap:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.web_sitemap?p_web_id=6&p_flag=(webname)

Search engine:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.search?p_web_id=6&p_flag=(webname)

Index of an individual folder:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.folder_index?p_web_id=6&p_folder_id=32&p_flag=(webname) or
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show.folder_index?p_web_name=webname&p_folder_id=32&p_flag=(webname)

Formularsystem:
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show_form.form_container_init?p_form_driver_id=1
http://www.server.de/pls/automat/wt_show_form.form_container_edit?p_form_driver_id=1
The first URL initializes a form (i.e. a new form container ist created to store the users form input) and displays it in the browser window concerning to the form driver definition. The second URL displays an existing form container to continue working on the form. Get more information about the topics "form, form container" and the form concepts in the form administration guide (available only in german language). In the examples given, the ID's or webnames obviously have to be replaced with real values. The parameter "p_flag" at the end of each URL always contains the user name in brackets. It is ignored by the module and is simply there to make it easier for the Administrator using "grep" to find out the number of accesses to any author's page in the web server log files.

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2.3 Global environment

In the main menu, you can use "Environment" to enter the global environment settings using a parameter bar. All the following parameters are mandatory:

Parameter	Value / example	Description
AUTOMAT_EMAIL	webmaster@webag.com	E-Mail-Sender-Address ("From:") for Mails beeing send to authors and webmasters by the Automat workflow-engine.
AUTOMAT_IMAGE_DIR	/wt_img	Virtual directory containing the Automat graphics (without final "/")
CGI_BIN</td>	/cgi-bin	Virtual CGI directory of the web listener, in which the upload scripts are stored. Note: This is old fashioned. The current Automat does noit use CGI-scripts to perform uploads. Thus the CGI_BIN-value is not longer used.
CGI_EXTENSION	.exe or .pl	Only for Webservers on Windows NT/2000: - ".exe" = use the Upload-CGI-Executables - ".pl" = use the Perl implementation instead
CGI_OFF	1=Yes, 0=No	Use CGI-Scripts or the JAVA-VM within the Oracle-DB for uploading external files? "0" = use CGI-Scripts "1" = use JAVA-VM
DATE_FORMAT	DD.MM.YYYY HH24:MI:SS	Outputformat for Date-Fields (e.g. "Last change" of a page in the search engine). The format specification is taken from the Oracle output format for the DATE datatype. This parameter can also be used in each web settings.
DEFAULT_DOMAIN	ntdomain	Name of the default NT domain, under which the MS HTTP server runs (applies only for the MS IIS/ single login).
ENABLE_WT_FORM	1=Yes, 0=No	Yes=Show the WT_FORM-subtree in the left navigation tree, allthough the old xml form-system will not be developed fursther. Default: 0 (No).
HELPFILE_DIR	http://www.webag.de/help	Directory-URL of the Automat online help webpages
HOMEPAGE_IMAGE_BASE	/images/homepage	URL of the home page graphics WITHOUT final "/"
HTML_ALLOWED	1=Yes, 0=No	In addition to all the HTML alias tags, the program allows (or not) all the other HTML tags. This parameter is automatically set by check box in the HTML alias form.
HTR_PAGE_SIZE	10	Number of hits per page in the search results (DEFAULT=10)
HTR_PREVIEW_SIZE	200	Number of characters in page preview on the hit list
LANG_LOGIN	de, en	Language used for the wt_login form and the change password form
LOGIN_ALIAS_ALLOWD	1=Yes, 0=No	If set to 0, users cannot use login-aliases. Default: 1 (yes)
LOGIN_APPLICATION_NAME	Enterprise Web AG Intranet	This character string will be displayed as headline in the cookie-login-window, so that the user knows for which system he logges in. Example: "Company XYZ intranet ".
LOGIN_SUPPORT_EMAIL	webmaster@webag.com	This is the e-mail address which is offered within the cookie-login-forms for the help, if a user cannot log in because he has forgotten, e.g., not only his password, but also his username. In many cases this is not the task of the webmaster, so it may be useful to enter another email address here.
LOGIN_URL	http://www.webag.de	Follow up after login, called by login.main. This parameter can also be used for a single user.
LOGIN_REDIRECT	5	LOGIN_URL is automatically loaded after n seconds. This parameter can also be used for a single user.
OPEN_DOOR	1=Yes, 0=No	If this parameter is set to "1" = "Yes", every connected user works as an administrator. This parameter is used to make the first connect after a new installation less complicated. Define the real admin-users an remove this parameter then.
OWA	/pls/automat	URL of the virtual path of the PL/SQL cartridge WITHOUT the final "/"
PASSWORD_CHANGE	1=Yes, 0=No	Users can change their passwords. This parameter can also be set to be user specific.
PASSWORD_FORGOTTEN_SEND_NEW	1=Yes, 0=No	Users can request a new password. The new passwort will be sent via email. The password will be sent to the email-adress stored in the user-parameter EMAIL.
PHYS_ROOT	D:\InetOracle\html	Physical directory of the top web server directory WITHOUT final "/". This parameter can be stored in the settings for each web.
SAMPLE_TEXT_ID	15	Text_ID of the example text for the Automat layout select function.
SMTP_SERVER	mail.mydomain.com	Networkname of yor SMTP-Server. The WebAG Automat uses this server to send form input data as e-mail.
SYSLOG_DAYS	365	How many days shall system messages be stored. The Automat will delete all older messages through its background workflow job. Default: "3670" (10 Jahre).
TRACK_ENABLE	1=enable, 0=disable	Enable or disable access tracking. Default: "1" (Enable).
TRACK_DAYS	365	How long are track protocols stored in the content database? When this duration is exceeded, the track-records will be removed. You can not analyse the page hits prior to this date. Default: 3670 (= 10 years).
TRACK_CUT_IP_ADDRESSES	1=Yes, 0=No	Yes: Store ip-adresses without the last of the four digits. This is for data privacy reasons. You can switch off the ability to locate the visitor.
UPLOAD_TEMPDIR	D:\InetOracle\upload\temp	Phys. directory, outside the web server structure, that is used to store the temporary authentication files for the upload procedure. This path must be outside the HTTP directory.
USE_PASSWD	1=Yes, 0=No	Is wt_admin to update the table PASSWD for new users?

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2.4 File endings

The main menu item "Environment" is also used to set the standard file endings for files in other formats (e.g. MS Excel). Icons in GIF or JPEG format with a short description are assigned to the file types. This information is used to ensure that when a web page is displayed containing references to documents outside the database, the download link has the icon and the description. The file endings ("Extensions") are entered without the leading full stop. Upper / lower case is ignored later. The endings are automatically stored as lower case.

Example of the entries in this administration form:

Extension	Icon-URL	Description
doc	/images/icon_doc.gif	MS-Word
pdf	/images/icon_pdf.gif	Acrobat
	/images/icon_txt.gif

No entry is placed in the last line. This allows the icon to be used for all unknown file types. Icon graphics in GIF format are provided on the installation CD for all common files types in the directory "sample".

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2.5 Categories

The list of categories is available on every web that does not have the web parameter USE_CATEGORY set to "0"="No". The author has the option of referencing a web page to one of the categories. These categories can be used in the extended search facility to limit the number of hits. Categories are very useful for the controlling of the web page design within the HTML triggers. The categories assigned to a webpage affect the results of the show/hide-XML-Tag
<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER show="YES" category_id="nn">...</AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>. The Main-Category assigned to a webpage can be used through the Triggers-variables CATEGORY_ID and CATEGORY_NAME.

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2.6 Classifications

The list of classifications, like categories, are available to every web on which the web parameter USE_CLASSIFICATION has not been set to "0"="No". Classifications are used like categories. They are used to determine the status of a page (e.g. "Confidential", "Secret" or "Private"). The author has an option to place his web page into one of the classifications. These classifications can be used to reduce the number of hits in the extended search form. The ID and the name of the classification are available in triggers as the variables CLASSIFICATION_ID and CLASSIFICATION_NAME.

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3. Authorisation

3.1 Cookie authorisation

The Cookie authorisation is new to Automat 6.2. Prior to Release 6.2 the WebAG Automat login used a simple Basic Authentication procedure. Therefore, the browser opened a small login-window to request the username and the password input. The new procedure saves a cookie with an random character string after a successful login which the Automat will compare to the login-details which have been stored into the Automat-database. This technique opens some advantages for the users and also for the web-designers:

The registration form can be freely formed and also be integrated without a popup window seamless into the portal site, because it consists of a simple HTML form, instead of a fixed browser-internal login window
The users can remain logged in with the option " [x] Remember login" when quitting and restarting the browser. By the Windows registration by the start of the PC a sufficient{an enough} authorisation of the user has already happened for many companies, so that with this new option in the morning by the start of the Intrantes no more wide entry{input} of the username is necessary any more.
The users can log off without having to quit the browser.
The users can easily request a new password if they have forgotten their old password. They only have to enter their usernames. The WebAG Automat generates a new password and sends it by e-mail to the e-mail address which is saved in the user's parametres of the user.

For the administration some details change in the structure of the authorisation:

The correctness of the registration entry data and with it accepting or rejecting the authorisation is still implemented within the package OWA_CUSTOM. Indeed, the password-check routine now is implented in the new package WEBAG_CUSTOM. Advantage: With the Implementation of own password checks (e.g., with DBMS_LDAP) you only have to edit WEBAG_CUSTOM and the standard package OWA_CUSTOM remains untouched.
In OWA_CUSTOM the Function "authorise" now only calls one of the two variations "authorize_cookie" or "authorize_basic". One of both variations is commented out, thus the other variation is active. When delivering a new Automat setuo the new variation "authorize_cookie" is active. Nevertheless, you can activate the old Basic-Authentication "autorize_basic", e.g. if you do not want to accept cookies on your intranet browser:

 FUNCTION authorize
 RETURN BOOLEAN
 IS
 BEGIN
 --------
 -- Please change here and choose your authentication mode.
 -- One of the two authorize-functions should be active.
 --------
 RETURN authorize_cookie;
 -- RETURN authorize_basic;
 END; -- authorize

For the new registration procedure the WebAG Automat needs two new system parametres:

LOGIN_APPLICATION_NAME
This character string will be desplayed as headline in the new registration window, so that the user knows for which system he just logges in. Example: "Company XYZ intranet ".
LOGIN_SUPPORT_EMAIL
This is the e-mail address which is offered within the new login masks for the help, if a user cannot log in because he has forgotten, e.g., not only his password, but also his username. In many cases this is not the task of the webmaster, so it may be useful to enter another email address here.

Programmers can use the function "wt_authorize.get_auth_mode" to find out which of both registration variants (cookie or the old basic authentication) is used. This function returns one of the following three values:

1 = BASIC-Authentication with OWA_CUSTOM (Constant wt.db_auth_mode_BASIC)
2 = WebAG COOKIE-Authentication (Constant wt.db_auth_mode_COOKIE)
NULL = Anonymous - no login detected.

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3.2 Basic authentication

The old login procedure was available until Automat 6.3 for compatibility reasons. However, the support for the basic-authentication has ended. The new cookie-authorization is more flexible for developing login-screens.

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3.3 Password-Check

With the WebAG Automat data model a table PASSWD is installed. It stores the columns LOGIN and PASSWORD. In this table all users are stored who want to access as an author or login as readers. When creating a new user the Automat user administration initially sets the users password equally to the username. It can be changed any time by the administrator or the user itself. With the global parameter "USE_PASSWD" the administrator defines whether the PASSWD table should be used for authorisation. If you have implemented an own procedure to the check the password in the package WEBAG_CUSTOM and the passwords are administered outside the Automat-system, e.g., in a LDAP server, you should set USER_PASSWD to "0".

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3.4 Login-Alias

Users can define their own login alias names to log in using the alias instead of the username. The users benefit is that they can log in with a familar name, because often the username is a generated string.
Administrators can switch off the feature by setting the new global parameter LOGON_ALIAS_ALLOWED to "0".

The administrator can change the new login-alias for of a user - even if the use of aliases is switched off with LOGON_ALIAS_ALLOWED = 0. Thus you can first prepare a list of aliases before activating them.

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4. User management system

4.1 Add user

New users can automatically use their user name as a password provided WebAG PASSWD has been selected as the authorisation method. This initial password should be changed immediately for a secret password. There are preset example values for all user parameters, which should be immediately changed to suitable real values. You can optionally define a login-alias for the user. The user can log in with this alias instead of his username. Example: Username „mfriemel“, alias „Martin Friemel“ - in this case he can log in with „Martin Friemel“ and his password. The users can change their aliases. The webpage .../pub_login.main offers a „change“-link therefore.

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4.2 Edit user

Users are searched for in the Automat database using filters so that the HTML forms are able to deal easily with the large number of users. All the users with user names containing the search characters are displayed.

The administrator can change the new login-alias for of a user - even if the use of aliases is switched off with LOGON_ALIAS_ALLOWED = 0. Thus you can first prepare a list of aliases before activating them.

The Automat saves the user's last activity date and displays the date in the user administration.

The administrator can download a complete user-list with the columns username, full name. email-address, last activity date and user-id, formatted as an html-page or an Excel-spreadsheet.
A user can be duplicated by using the "Copy" button. If desired all author rights, group memberships and personal read access rights of the original user are granted to the new user.

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4.3 User parameters

The following parameters can be set for authors:

Parameter	Value (example)	Description
ADMIN	1=Yes, 0=No	User is (not) the Central Administrator
ADMIN_USER	1=Yes, 0=No	User is User-Administrator.He has the right to invoke the user- and group-administration, create, modify or delete users, groups and the user/group assignments. He is not able to modify or appoint any kind of administrators.
ADMIN_DESIGN	1=Yes, 0=No	User is Webdesign-Administrator. He has the right to work on HTML-Triggers, Stencils, Textlayouts and Homepagedesigns.
EMAIL	mfriemel@webag.com	E-mail address of the author
COMMENT	Webmaster	Notes on this user. Can be transferred from the NT domain.
FULLNAME	Martin Friemel	Full name - necessary for use in HTML triggers. Can be transferred out of the NT domain.
LANG_AUTOMAT	de, en	Language used by wt_automat forms for output
LANG_LOGIN	de, en	Language used by wt_login form and amendment form for output. Can be set globally for all users. Default: de ("German").
LOGIN_URL	http://www.webag.de	Follow up after login, called by login.main. This parameter overloads the identical global parameter.
LOGIN_REDIRECT	5	LOGIN_URL is automatically deleted after n seconds. This parameter overloads the identical global parameter.
PASSWORD_CHANGE	1=Yes, 0=No	Users can change their passwords. This parameter overwrites the global parameter of the same name. This applies only for the authorisation WebAG PASSWD.

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4.4 Import user

External lists of users can be imported directly into the Automat via a character separated format text file. To do this click on "Import" in user management. After you have answered a few questions about this text file, Automat reads in the list using the PL/SQL function "utl_file".

File path and file name
Separation character. The text file must use a TAB, comma or semicolon as the separation character.
The fields are user name, full name, e-mail address and notes. Only user name is mandatory.

Now you can control how the current Automat user list is matched up to the new user list. The following functions can be selected in order one at a time:

Add new users to the Automat
Overwrite new information over existing user details
Remove users no longer on the list from the Automat. All rights and duties of the user must be assigned to another Automat user.

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4.5 Group membership

Each user can be a member of any number of groups. These user groups are considered during the granting of read access rights to web pages. In contrast to the groups, author rights are always granted directly to the user.

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4.6 Group management

If desired, users can be brought together in groups so that access authentications to the protected web pages can be granted more conveniently. There is no naming convention for the groups. The name can contain, for example, spaces. The group name can be changed at any time. Any authentications already granted to groups or their members are not affected.

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5. Web management

5.1 Add web

A new web is initially set up with standard settings. These values must then be altered to suit. You should not forget that you have to set up the physical directories defined by the parameters "PHYS_HOME" and "UPLOAD_DIR" in advance. Another option available is to duplicate an existing web. The new web has all the rights and settings of the original web. Folders or web pages cannot be duplicated.

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5.2 Settings

The following settings can be set for webs. The parameters shown in bold are mandatory, all the others are optional. The parameters shown in italics can be changed using the forms within the authoring system.

Parameter	Value (Example)	Description
BROKEN_IMAGE_URL	/images/broken.gif	The Automat will display to the BROKEN_IMAGE_URL, when the requested image (created as an internal file) is not availible for the user. The original image could have been deleted, deactivated or the user has no read privilege.
BROKEN_LINK_URL	wt_show.text_page?p_text_id=1234	The Automat will redirect to the BROKEN_LINK_URL, when the requested page is not availible for the user. The original page could have been deleted, deactivated or the user has no read privilege. When this parameter is not set, the Automat will redirect to the web-index instead.
DATE_FORMAT	DD.MM.YYYY HH24:MI:SS	Outputformat for Date-Fields (e.g. "Last change" of a page in the search engine). The format specification is taken from the Oracle output format for the DATE datatype. This parameter can also be used in the global settings as default for every web.
DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_TARGET	_blank	Specifies the TARGET of links to internal files in web_index, web_sitemap and search result page. Example: DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_TARGET = _blank loads internal file downloads into a new broweser window.
DEFAULT_READ_PRIV	PUBLIC, Gn or Un	See standard read access rights
EMAIL	mfriemel@webag.com	E-Mail address of the web
FOLDER_LIST_HEADER	Index	Heading for the directory, default $HOMEPAGE_TITLE
FOLDER_LIST_SUB_HEADER	Webserver overview	2nd heading for the directory "Directory" or "Index" for the first level, below this the name of the current folder is shown.
FORUM_GRANT	1=Yes, 0=No	"1" = Authors have the right to create forum pages in this web. Default: "1" = Yes
FORUM_PAGE_SIZE	1000	Number af entries on the forum startpage. All older messages can be displayed with the option "Archived messages ...". Default value: 1000..
FORUM_NEWS_SIZE	20	Number of enries in the list "Newest messages" of a forum. Default value: 20.
FRIENDLY_URL_PATH	/cms/	Short, user friendly URL-path to the Automat-webpages. For details please read the section User friendly URLs.
HOMEPAGE_TITLE	Text	Title of the web, is also used for the directory heading, the search engine and as the META description. Default: Web name. The parameter is changed with the "Index properties" form.
HOME_TEXT_ID	324	IID of the page to be shown at the start
HOME_URL	http://www.webag.com/meier	Homepage URL
HTR_PRIVATE	1=Yes, 0=No	Search engine: Find own pages only, default "1" = PRIVATE
HTR_REGISTER	1=Yes, 0=No	Changes to be transferred into the search engine, default YES
HTR_SHOW_ADVANCED	1=Yes, 0=No	"1" = Yes, the extended search is made available provided the following conditions are fulfilled: the web use categories or classifications (USE_CATEGORY=1 or USE_CLASSIFICATION=1) The web also searches the pages of other webs (HTR_PRIVATE=0) "0" = No, no extended search is available under any circumstances
KEEP_OLD_VERSIONS_DAYS	365	Old webpage-versions will remain within the Automat database for the defined duration.
KEEP_WASTEBASKET_DAYS	7	Deleted webpages are kept within the wastebasket for the defined duration.
LANG_SHOW	de, en	Language used for output of the web pages (search, index, sitemap)
META_KEYWORDS	Software, CMS, Database (a comma-seperated list of words)	META tags for search engines. If you use a PAGE_OPEN-Trigger, you should enter the META-tags there.
PARENT_WEB_ID	15	ID of the parent web. This informations is used by the global tree "wt_show.global_tree" to display the webs in their hierarchy. This parameter lets you implement the company-wide deparment structure for the intranet.
PHYS_HOME	/home2/web2/meier	Physical home directory of the web pages without final "/".
PHYS_ROOT	/home2/web2	Physical root of the HTTP listener. It is normally set globally, but can be set for each web (useful e.g. for multi-domain installations)
REDIRECT_DOWNLOAD_TO_FILENAME	0 oder 1	When downloading an intenal file Automat page the download-URL contains the filename rather than the TEXT_ID. If the filename contains foreign charcters the download may fail. In this case the parameter can force the system not to use the filenames in download-URLs: 0 = Never us the filename in download-URLs 1 = Use the filename if possible. Foreign characters will be replaced by ASCII-characters. (Default)
UPLOAD_FILE_QUOTA	10000000	Internal files: Limit for file upload into the database in bytes (here: 10MB). If parameter is omitted unlimited upload into the database is possible.
UPLOAD_FILE_MAXSIZE	1000000	Internal files: Maximum size of a file for database upload in bytes (here 1MB). If parameter is omitted there is no maximum size for file upload.
USE_CATEGORY	1=Yes, 0=No	The web is to use the system-wide categories or not. This has an effect on the appearance of the extended search form. (Default: YES)
USE_CLASSIFICATION	1=Yes, 0=No	The web is to use the system-wide classifications or not. This has an effect on the appearance of the extended search form. (Default: YES)

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5.3 Local webmasters

The central administrator authorizes one or more "Local webmaster" for each web. These webmasters have the right to change any content in the web. They are allowed to change the web design by choosing from the list of available textlayouts, trigger-sets and homepage designs. Webmasters additionally can appoint users to work as authors in the webs folders.

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5.4 Authors

The local webmaster authorizes users to work as "author" in the folders of his web. These authors have the right to edit any page in the folder. The local webmaster optionally grants enhanced folder-privileges the the authors. All privileges are granted either for the single folder or also for the folder's subfolders:

Insert pages and subfolders
Delete pages and subfolders
Release pages for publication
Grant read access privileges to users and groups
Grant authoring privileges to other users

The right "Grant authoring privileges to other users" (from Automat 6.1) enables the webmaster to appoint an author to be responsible for author-management within a sub-foldertree . Analogous to the automat-folders the webmaster chooses the privileged authors for his upload-filedirectories. In this case the granted privilege is "Upload files".

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5.5 Standard read privileges

Newly stored web pages are normally PUBLIC, i.e. any anonymous user is allowed to read them as soon as the author has activated the page. The Central Administrator can set that new pages are by default only to be viewable by authenticated readers. To do this he can select a user or a group that is to have read access rights on new pages. This feature is very interesting in conjunction with the option of removing the right to grant read access rights from an author. Thus the Administrator has full control over the authentication structure of the web.

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5.6 HTML triggers

A set can be chosen from a list of all the trigger sets. Each page is then displayed with the HTML code of this set. The same applies for directories and search engines.

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5.7 Language

The output language for the web is shown on the notes to the search page and the standard footnote for the web pages. The language used can be German or English. This setting is independent of the language the author uses for his work on WebAG Automat which is determined in the user settings.

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6. Web design

6.1 Homepage designs

The different home page designs consist mainly of HTML frames. One of the frames is always the place for the dynamic output of the author. The remainder of the frames are static and are used for navigation. There are no restrictions on the number and position of these static frames. In the Intranet they are subject to the corporate requirements for Intranet design. If an author chooses a new home page design for his web, the static frames are stored as static files on the Oracle database in the author's home page directory. The Oracle PL/SQL extension "utl_file" is used for this. The Administrator adds the necessary HTML sources for the frames into the Admin application. They are stored in the database and edited with the web browser. One of the HTML sources is configured within the web server as the start page with the name or "index.htm" or "index.html". This web page splits the browser window into the following frames. The HTML code for these frames can be seen with user specific HTML variables that are created by the author's entries made when he selects this design. These variables are also evaluated and created in HTML-Triggers:

Variable	Description
$WEB_ID	Web ID of the web
$WEB_NAME	Name of the web
$WEB_EMAIL	E-mail contact address of the web
$AUTHOR_ID	User ID of the author
$AUTHOR_NAME	Name of the author
$AUTHOR_EMAIL	E-mail address of the author
$AUTHOR_FULLNAME	Full name of the author
$AUTHOR_COMMENT	Notes on the author
$MODIFIED_AT	Date of the last change. For "web_index" and "search" max(modified_at) for the web pages if the web
$HIT_COUNTER	Number of read accesses on the web page.
$COUNT_SINCE	Date of the first read access since the page was added or the statistics reset.
$VALID_FROM	Start date on which the page becomes valid, providing a date has been entered. The format of the date depends on whether the date has been entered with or without a time: "dd.mm.yyyy hh24:mi" or just "dd.mm.yyyy".
$VALID_TO	End date on which the page ceases to become valid, providing a date has been entered. Date format see "$VALID_FROM"
$FOLDER_NAME	Name of the current folder (only in triggers)
$PAGE_NAME	Name of the current page, providing the name exists (only in triggers)
$FOLDER_ID	ID of the current folder (only in triggers)
$TEXT_ID	ID of the current page (only in triggers)
$CATEGORY_NAME	Name of the category of the current web page (only in triggers)
$CATEGORY_ID	ID of the category of the current web page (only in triggers)
$CLASSIFICATION_NAME	Name of the classification of the current web page (only in triggers)
$CLASSIFICATION_ID	ID of the classification of the current web page (only in triggers)
$LOGIN_NAME	User name of the logged-in user (only worthwhile in triggers)
$OWA	Virtual directory of the modPLSQL DAD "/pls/automat" without final "/"
$HOMEPAGE_IMAGE_BASE	URL directory, under which the home page design graphics are stored.
$BG_COLOR_BODY	Background colour of the text, default 'FFFFFF'
$HOMEPAGE_TITLE	Title of the web site
$META_KEYWORDS	Meta tag
$HOME_TEXT_ID	Number of text pages that are displayed at the start
$HOME_URL	Home URL
$FONT_COLOR_PARA	Colour of the font for the paragraph text, default '000000'
$FORM_CONTAINER_ID	Only in Automat-forms: ID of the form-container.
Automat 4.3.0 provides new variables to support the navigation in mulrilingual Webs. Use them in your triggers and stencils for your own multilingual webdesign:
$AUTOMAT_URL_SELF_<lang>	Will be replaced with the language variant url of the current webpage. Please replace "<lang>" with a language country code, e.g. "en" for "english". Example for a link to the english variant: <a href="$AUTOMAT_URL_SELF_en"> <img src="/images/flag_english.gif" border="0"> </a>
$MLC_LANG_CODE	is the current pages language country code, e.g.. "en" für "english". Use this variable if you want to call a PL/SQL-procedure within a trigger, that requests the content language as an input parameter. Example for invoking a dynamic navigation-bar: <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE TYPE="PL/SQL"> display_left_navigation (i_language => '$MLC_LANG_CODE') <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE>
$AUTOMAT_URL_xxxx	These variables help building an own footer line, because they offer the urls to all functions of default footer line. $AUTOMAT_URL_WEB_HOME - link to the web startpage. Modifiy the web parameter HOME_URL to chenge the home-address. $AUTOMAT_URL_WEB_SEARCH - link to the search-page.. $AUTOMAT_URL_WEB_INDEX - link to the web-index. $AUTOMAT_URL_WEB_SITEMAP - link to the web-sitemap.

Graphics in HTML code should be saved like the example graphics in a sub-directory under the directory $HOMEPAGE_IMAGE_BASE. The design is given a name, a small example graphic and then is activated so that authors can select this design for their home page. 20 home page designs are provided on the installation CD which can be transferred by cutting and pasting the HTML code into the administration system. The Central Administrator determines for which webs each home page design can be used. By default every home page is initially available for every web. The Administrator can reduce the number of webs using the option Privileges.

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6.2 Text layouts

The dynamic main frame of the home page consists of principally of text. The layout of this text is set out to suit the requirements of the corporate design. The individual elements of a web page e.g. the font, font size and colour are entered for this. The part of the web page affected is given with the parameter names:

xxx_HEADER	Page heading
xxx_SUB_HEADER	Second heading
xxx_PARA_HEADER	Paragraph heading
xxx_PARA	Paragraph text
xxx_TH	Table heading
xxx_TD	Table cell

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6.2.1 Layout parameters

The following parameters can be set:

Parameter name	Value/example	Description
ATTR_HEADER	biu	Attribute <b><i><u> and </...>
ATTR_PARA
ATTR_PARA_HEADER
ATTR_SUB_HEADER
ATTR_TD
ATTR_TH
BG_COLOR_BODY		Background colour of the page
BG_COLOR_TR_EVEN		Background colour of the table columns for even numbered lines
BG_COLOR_TR_ODD		Background colour of the table columns for odd numbered lines
BG_COLOR_TH		Background of the table headings
BG_IMAGE		Background graphic
BLOCKQUOTES	2	Number of <BLOCKQUOTE>'s
CENTER	1=Yes, 0=No	Page centred or not
COLOR_ALINK
COLOR_LINK
COLOR_VLINK
FONT_COLOR_HEADER	FF0000
FONT_COLOR_PARA
FONT_COLOR_PARA_HEADER
FONT_COLOR_SUB_HEADER
FONT_COLOR_TD
FONT_COLOR_TH
FONT_FACE_HEADER	Arial, Helvetica
FONT_FACE_PARA
FONT_FACE_PARA_HEADER
FONT_FACE_SUB_HEADER
FONT_FACE_TD
FONT_FACE_TH
FONT_SIZE_HEADER	3
FONT_SIZE_PARA
FONT_SIZE_PARA_HEADER
FONT_SIZE_SUB_HEADER
FONT_SIZE_TD		Table heading
FONT_SIZE_TH		Table data
WIDTH_PARA		Width of paragraph

The appropriate HTML tags to set the fonts and colours are generated dynamically at the time the pages are retrieved. As an addition or alternative to the above form of layout, the appropriate HTML code to design an area of the web page can be entered. This syntax is most suitable for referencing definitions in Cascading Stylesheets. Suitable parameters are:

Parameter name	Value/Example	Description
HTML_HEADER_OPEN	<H1>	HTML tags before the heading
HTML_HEADER_CLOSE	</H1>	HTML tags after the heading
HTML_SUB_HEADER_OPEN	<H2>	HTML tags before the second heading
HTML_SUB_HEADER_CLOSE	</H2>	HTML tags after the second heading
HTML_PARA_OPEN	<DIV>	HTML tags before the paragraph text
HTML_PARA_CLOSE	</DIV>	HTML tags after the paragraph text
HTML_PARA_HEADER_OPEN	<H3>	HTML tags before the paragraph heading
HTML_PARA_HEADER_CLOSE	</H3>	HTML tags after the paragraph heading
HTML_TH_OPEN		HTML tags before each table heading
HTML_TH_CLOSE		HTML tags after each table heading
HTML_TD_OPEN		HTML tags before each table cell
HTML_TD_CLOSE		HTML tags after each table cell
HTML_HIGHLIGHT_OPEN	<font color="red"><b>	HTML tags to highlight the found search words
HTML_HIGHLIGHT_CLOSE	</b></font>	HTML tags to terminate the highlighting

These two forms of layout design can be immediately combined. In this case the program's HTML codes (lower parameters) are added within and between the generated HTML tags (upper parameters). Textlayoutparameters for Automat-Standardpages You can change the appearance of the Automat standradpages Index .../wt_show.web_index?..., the Sitemap .../wt_show.web_sitemap?... and the Searchform .../wt_show.search?... with special textlayout parameters: Optional textlayout-parameters for the web-index:

Parameter name	Value/Example	Description
WEB_INDEX_STD_LABEL	1=Yes, 0=No	Yes = The index-pageheader is "Web Index" (Default). No = The Header ist the web-title (refer to "HOMEPAGE_TITEL" in web-parameters).
WEB_INDEX_HTML_WEB_OPEN	<img src="my_web_icon.gif"> <font color="blue">	Replaces the standard-image before the web-name. You can change the web-icon with this parameter.
WEB_INDEX_HTML_WEB_CLOSE	</font>	This parameter is useful to terminate <font>-tags opened in the WEB_INDEX_HTML_WEB_OPEN-parameter.
WEB_INDEX_HTML_FOLDER_OPEN	<img src="my_folder_icon.gif"> <font color="blue">	Replaces the standard-image before the folders names. You can change the folder-icon with this parameter.
WEB_INDEX_HTML_FOLDER_CLOSE	</font>	This parameter is useful to terminate <font>-tags opened in the WEB_INDEX_HTML_FOLDER_OPEN-parameter.
WEB_INDEX_HTML_PAGE_OPEN	<img src="my_page_icon.gif"> <font color="blue">	Replaces the standard-image before the pages names. You can change the page-icon with this parameter.
WEB_INDEX_HTML_PAGE_CLOSE	</font>	This parameter is useful to terminate <font>-tags opened in the WEB_INDEX_HTML_PAGE_OPEN-parameter.

Optional textlayout-parameters for the web-sitemap:

Parameter name	Value/Example	Description
WEB_SITEMAP_BG_COLOR_FOLDER	EEEEEE	Hex-value of the background color under the folder-names in the sitemap-tree.
WEB_SITEMAP_STD_LABEL	1=Yes, 0=No	Yes = The sitemap-pageheader is "Web Sitemap" (Default). No = The Header ist the web-title (refer to "HOMEPAGE_TITEL" in web-parameters).
WEB_SITEMAP_HTML_WEB_OPEN	<img src="my_web_icon.gif"> <font color="blue">	Replaces the standard-image before the web-name. You can change the web-icon with this parameter.
WEB_SITEMAP_HTML_WEB_CLOSE	</font>	This parameter is useful to terminate <font>-tags opened in the WEB_INDEX_HTML_WEB_OPEN-parameter.
WEB_SITEMAP_HTML_FOLDER_OPEN	<img src="my_folder_icon.gif"> <font color="blue">	Replaces the standard-image before the folders names. You can change the folder-icon with this parameter.
WEB_SITEMAP_HTML_FOLDER_CLOSE	</font>	This parameter is useful to terminate <font>-tags opened in the WEB_INDEX_HTML_FOLDER_OPEN-parameter.
WEB_SITEMAP_HTML_PAGE_OPEN	<img src="my_page_icon.gif"> <font color="blue">	Replaces the standard-image before the pages names. You can change the page-icon with this parameter.
WEB_SITEMAP_HTML_PAGE_CLOSE	</font>	This parameter is useful to terminate <font>-tags opened in the WEB_INDEX_HTML_PAGE_OPEN-parameter.

Optional textlayout-parameters for the web-searchform:

Parameter name	Value/Example	Description
SEARCH_FORM_BG_COLOR	EEEEEE	Hex-value of the background color for the html-table that frames the search form. The default value is "EEEEEE" - light grey.
SEARCH_FORM_BORDER_WIDTH	1	Border width of the background color for the html-table that frames the search form. The default value is "1".

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6.2.2 Install text layout

After a text layout has been created in the test environment it can be output as PL/SQL script using the function "Export layout". The Administrator stores it in a text file and can then make it available in every WebAG Automat environment as an installation script with an SQL tool such as Oracle SQL*Plus. 13 text layouts are provided on the WebAG Automat installation CD in this form of installation script and can be used if required. The Central Administrator determines for which webs each text layout can be used. By default every text layout is initially available for every web. The Administrator can reduce the number of authorised webs using the option Privileges.

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6.3 HTML triggers

Depending on the user HTML code can be introduced into different parts of each of the author's web pages. The following trigger names are available for this:

Trigger name	Description
PAGE_OPEN	Start of the document (replaces the section from <HTML> tag up to and including <BODY> tag).
PRE_BODY	Start of the Contents (directly after the <BODY> tag)
PRE_HEADER	Before the document heading
ON_HEADER	Replaces the heading
POST_HEADER	After the heading
PRE_FOOTER	Before the document footnote (Link line)
ON_FOOTER	Replaces the footnote
POST_FOOTER	After the footnote
POST_BODY	End of the Contents (directly before the </BODY> tag)
PAGE_CLOSE	End of the document (replaces the section from </BODY> tag up to and including </HTML> tag)

Triggers are grouped together in trigger sets and assigned as such in a web like a text layout. This task is reserved for the Central Administrator. The HTML code for the trigger can be provided with user specific HTML variables which are created at the time the web page is retrieved. These variables are described in the section Homepage designs. The PAGE_OPEN trigger can among other things be used to formulate internal or external Cascading Stylesheet-definitions.

Certain passages of HTML code can be preset within a trigger's HTML code by using the XML tag "<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER ...>" so that, depending on the entered conditions, they are hidden or displayed. For example: In the POST_BODY trigger a copyright statement and the name of the author are displayed beneath a horizontal line. The author's name can be clicked to send him an e-mail. The appropriate trigger looks like:

<HR>
Copyright (c) Enterprise Web AG
Author: <A HREF="$AUTHOR_EMAIL">$AUTHOR_FULLNAME</A>

The name of the author is not to appear on the search page but the copyright statement must appear solely on the Contents page. This logic is incorporated with the AUTOMAT_TRIGGER tag:

<HR>

<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW="YES" MODULE="wt_show.web_index">
Copyright (c) Enterprise Web AG
</AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>

<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER HIDE="YES" MODULE="wt_show.search">
Author: <A HREF="$AUTHOR_EMAIL">$AUTHOR_FULLNAME</A>
</AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>

The AUTOMAT_TRIGGER tags and the hidden passages are removed where required from the display of the web page. These tags can also be nested. The syntax of the AUTOMAT_TRIGGER tags looks like: <AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW|HIDE MODULE|CATEGORY_ID|CLASSIFICATION_ID|MLC_LANG_CODE|IF="value"> The parameters and even the tag itself must be written in upper case letters. Each <AUTOMAT_TRIGGER> tag must be ended with an </AUTOMAT_TRIGGER> tag. Description of the parameters:

1. Attribute
SHOW="YES"	The part is only displayed if the following condition is fulfilled
HIDE="YES"	The part is only hidden if the following condition is fulfilled
2. Attribute
MODULE="<Text>"	Name of the PL/SQL procedure incl. package name (see Starting up)
CATEGORY_ID="<Number>"	ID of the optional category of the web page
CLASSIFICATION_ID="<Number>"	ID of the optional classification of the web page
MLC_LANG_CODE="<Lang-Code>"	Lang-Code of an MLC content language of the current page.Example: <AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW MLC_LANG_CODE="en"> <a href="$AUTOMAT_URL_SELF_de">in german</a> </AUTOMAT_TRIGGER> The link to the german page-variant will appear only if the current page is in english.
IF="<Boolean PL/SQL-Expression>"	A boolean PL/SQL-expression. Example: <AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW="YES" IF="$MLC_LANG_CODE'='de'"> <a href="$AUTOMAT_URL_SELF_de">in deutsch</a> </AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>

Detailed description of the design-control with IF-clauses

The AUTOMAT_TRIGGER funcionality has been enhanced with the new "IF"-attribute starting with Automat 6.4. This attribute holds boolean expressions in PL/SQL-syntax, returning TRUE or FALSE. Example:

<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW="YES" IF="'$MLC_LANG_CODE'='de'">
(…)
</AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>

Explanation: The html-code tenclosed by the AUTOMAT_TRIGGER-tag is visible (SHOW=“YES“) when the IF-clause retures TRUE. Before parsing the IF-clause PL/SQL-code the Automat replaces the $-variables, so an english pages would get the IF-clause "en" = "de" which returns FALSE. The result is that the enclosed html-code will only be visible in german pages.

The most important benefit is the flexibility for software developers. You can write boolean PL/SQL-functions and uses them in your web-design. Example:

<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW="YES" IF="is_important_page(i_text_id => '$TEXT_ID')">
(…)
</AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>

In this example your functions decides whether to fade in oder fade out the enclosed html-code. An ELSE-branch can easily be implemented using the PL/SQL-keyword NOT. Example:

<AUTOMAT_TRIGGER SHOW="YES" IF="NOT (is_important_page(i_text_id => '$TEXT_ID'))">
(…)
</AUTOMAT_TRIGGER>

Restriction: You cannot wrap AUTOMAT_TRIGGER-Tags around stencil-input-areas (AUTOMAT_STENCIL-tags).

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6.4 Stencils

Stencils are any web pages that the author can use as models for a new Automat page. The author cannot edit the page's HTML code but can just change text information at defined positions and replace images. The Central Administrator creates a template in which he encloses the editable text passages on a particular web page between the tags <AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="TEXT> and </AUTOMAT_STENCIL>. These tags must always be written in upper case letters. Images are enclosed by the tags <AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="IMAGE"> and </AUTOMAT_STENCIL>. Authors can now replace the image with another previously uploaded image. For example:

<H1><AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="TEXT">Heading</AUTOMAT_STENCIL></H1>

<FONT FACE="Arial">
<AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="TEXT">
This is paragraph text.
</AUTOMAT_STENCIL>
</FONT>
<BR>

<AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="IMAGE">
<IMG SRC="/images/webag_logo.gif">
</AUTOMAT_STENCIL>

</BODY>
</HTML>

According to the XML-standard an Automat XML-tag can also terminate itself with the string "/>", if no sample content is planned (for example: <AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="TEXT"/>). The author edits a steincil page by clicking on the individual template element and types into a text area. The AUTOMAT_STENCIL tags are shown as special clickable symbols. This lets the author know immediately which parts of the web page he is permitted to change. Images are clickable and linked to a list of uploaded images as an alternitive for the current image. For example:

¶…Heading…¶

¶…This is the paragraph text..…¶

webag_logo.jpg (2199 Byte)

The individual elements of the template are stored internally as paragraphs of an Automat page. This allows a template to be replaced at any time. A template page can also be converted at any time back to a standard Automat page by the author cancelling the template. The Central Administrator determines for each template which webs have the right to use it in their pages can be used. By default every template is initially available for every web. The Administrator can reduce the number of authorised webs using the option Authentications. For example, he can use this feature to input the weekly canteen menus simply by updating the section "Works restaurant".

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6.2.1 HTML-Trigger in stencils

Automat-Includes at any position in the stencil-code can be used to fire triggers. The syntax is: <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE
    TYPE="TRIGGER"
    [TRIGGER_SET_ID="ID" or TRIGGER_SET_NAME="Triggerset-Name"]
    TRIGGER_NAME="PAGE_OPEN | PRE_BODY |
                  PRE_HEADER | ON_HEADER | POST_HEADER |
                 PRE_FOOTER | ON_FOOTER | POST_FOOTER |
                  POST_BODY | PAGE_CLOSE" /> Beside the Include-TYPE TRIGGER the TRIGGER_SET_ID and the desired trigger (PAGE_OPEN ... PAGE_CLOSE) have to be specified. Thereby stencil pages can be presented with a previously defined trigger-set for navigation without programming this navigation again in the stencil. Example:

<AUTOMAT_INCLUDE
   TYPE="TRIGGER"
   TRIGGER_SET_NAME="My Intranet-Design-Triggerset"
   TRIGGER_NAME="PAGE_OPEN"/>

<H1>
<AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="TEXT">Headline</AUTOMAT_STENCIL>
</H1>

<AUTOMAT_STENCIL TYPE="IMAGE">
<IMG SRC="/images/webag_logo.gif">
</AUTOMAT_STENCIL>

<AUTOMAT_INCLUDE
   TYPE="TRIGGER"
   TRIGGER_SET_NAME="My Intranet-Design-Triggerset"
   TRIGGER_NAME="PAGE_CLOSE"/>

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6.5 Cascading Stylesheets

Layout definitions using cascading style sheets can, by a clever combination of PAGE_OPEN-HTML triggers and the appropriate Textlayout-parameters, be integrated into the Automat's standard design for its web pages. For example: a) PAGE_OPEN trigger:

<HTML>

<HEAD>
<LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="/css/intranet.css" TYPE="text/css">
<TITLE>$PAGE_TITLE</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>

The "LINK REL" tag refers to a style sheet definition, which was stored as a static file "intranet.css" in the virtual directory "/css". The HTML variable "$PAGE_TITLE" ensures that all the Automat pages displayed with this trigger have a meaningful title. b) Text layout parameters (Extract):

HTML_HEADER_OPEN	<H1>
HTML_HEADER_CLOSE	</H1>
HTML_PARA_OPEN	<DIV>
HTML_PARA_CLOSE	</DIV>

These are used in text layout for introducing the corresponding component tags which are described in the style sheet (here "/css/intranet.css"). The corresponding extract from the style sheet looks like e.g.: c) Style sheet (Extract):

H1 { font-size:32pt; color:#FF0000; text-align:center; }
DIV { font: italic bold 12pt Arial,sans-serif; color:red; }

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6.6 Automat-includes

With the XML-tag <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE ...> you call own ORACLE-PL/SQL-blocks or ORACLE-stored-functions within stencils and HTML-triggers. These PL/SQL-operations return HTML-sources to replace the XML-tag in the webpages.

6.6.1 PL/SQL functions

The tag <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE TYPE="FUNCTION"> invokes a stored function, that returns a VARCHAR2-string (max. 32 KB). The WebAG Automat includes this string into the webpage. For example: The following ORACLE-function determines an employees salary:

FUNCTION get_salary
     (p_ename IN VARCHAR2)
   RETURN VARCHAR2
   IS
      l_salary NUMBER;
   BEGIN
      IF p_ename IS NOT NULL THEN

         SELECT sal
           INTO l_salary
           FROM emp
          WHERE ename = p_ename;

         RETURN 'Your salary: <B>'||TO_CHAR(l_salary,'99999D99')||' $</B>.';

      ELSE
         RETURN 'No salary infomation available for anonymous users!';

      END IF;
   END;

This function shall be used to inform a connected user about his salary in a personal area on a webpage. Therefore the function gets the login name as parameter within the stencil. The parameter is filled by the HTML-variable $LOGIN_NAME. The WebAG Automat parses HTML-variables before calling the include-function. See the extract of the stencil:

<AUTOMAT_INCLUDE TYPE="FUNCTION">
get_salary(p_ename => '$LOGIN_NAME')
</AUTOMAT_INCLUDE>

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6.6.2 Anonymous PL/SQL-blocks

Instead of a stored database function you can also use anonymous PL/SQL-blocks. The XML-tag then is <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE TYPE="PL/SQL">. The PL/SQL-block has to fill a variable called :automat_include with HTML-code. For example:

Your salary is:
<B>
<AUTOMAT_INCLUDE TYPE="PL/SQL">
   BEGIN
      SELECT sal
        INTO :automat_include
        FROM emp
       WHERE ename = '$LOGIN_NAME';
   END;
</AUTOMAT_INCLUDE>
</B>

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6.6.3 Usage

The Automat-include-feature is very useful for building portals, creating personnalized information systems and an individual navigation through your intranet. Case study:

A portal-stencil is devided into different user information areas using invisible HTML-tables. The data for this information is stored in your corporate ORACLE database. For each of these areas a PL/SQL stored function selects the content from your database and returns it to your portal-stencil.
In another personnalized area within the portal you use <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE> to call invoke a function which gets the HTML-variable $LOGIN_NAME as parameter. This function returns private content only for the connected user.
Every webpage in your intranet (including search engine and index) gets a navigation panel at the top of the browser window, which has been designed espacially for your company. A navigation PL/SQL-function creates this panel for each webpage. Parameters for this function are the ID's of the web $WEB_ID, the current folder $FOLDER_ID and the current page $TEXT_ID. An <AUTOMAT_INCLUDE>-tag within the PRE_BODY-trigger starts the navigation-function.

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6.7 Format-tags

The Central Administrator defines the list of HTML-tags, that are offered to the authors for text-formatting. The Automat setup script fills the list with a set of most important tags, e.g. "bold" or "underline". Each tag gets a german an english label and the HTML-code to open and close the HTML-format-tags. Example:

Label german:	Fett
Label english:	Bold
Tag open:	<B>
Tag close:	</B>

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7. External files

Authors use graphics in the design of their web pages and can offer documents in third party formats for downloading from their home page directory or sub-directory. The authors can save these files in the appropriate directory for this using the browser. A directory under the home page directory is set up for each web. The web administration lists the directories for the respective webs. For this the physical file directory must have been set up on the web server. The central webmaster can also store files in general directories. The function to do this can be found in the navigation tree under System / General / File management. Files in these directories are available to all webs. The editing of these directories is carried out similar to the web upload directories. As an option you can specify quotas for each upload directory. After exceeding this quota no more file upload to this directory is allowed.

7.1 Upload file

The Automat provides a file upload form for each file directory. A click on the "Save" button starts the Perl script "/cgi-bin/wt_upload.pl" on the server (under Windows NT "wt_upload.exe"), which stores the file in the appropriate directory. Then the Perl script displays a web page which just has the message "Working ..." and automatically goes to an Automat URL in the database. The new parameters from the file are applied to this URL. The DB references the file in the data model and the success form for the file are displayed. A Perl script is used to save the file because the Oracle web server's PL/SQL cartridge does not have a suitable way of doing this. As the authorisation system only protects DB web pages produced by the PL/SQL cartridge, the following security measures have been implemented: Before the Automat displays the upload form in the DB, it stores the name of the target directory into which the file is to be saved in a temporary file in the directory UPLOAD_TEMPDIR (see global parameters). The name of the temporary file is chosen by a random number generator and has the file ending ".upl". This file name is sent to the upload form as a HIDDEN formula field. The Perl script checks the HIDDEN parameters and only saves the file if it has found the temporary file and read a valid directory name out of the temporary file. Following this the temporary file is erased. For all errors, the Perl script displays the contents of appropriate static error web pages. The "Cancel"-Button on the upload form starts the Perl script "/cgi-bin/wt_upload_cancel.pl", which just deletes the temporary file.

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7.2 Installation of the upload module

Copy the following files into the CGI directory of your web server: a) UNIX:

wt_upload.pl
wt_upload_cancel.pl
wt_delete.pl
wt_upload_ini.pl
CGI.pm

You will find these files from the CDROM under "\automat_xxx\cgi\unix". b) Windows NT:

wt_upload.exe
wt_upload_cancel.exe
wt_delete.exe
cygwin1.dll
wt_upload.ini

You will find these files from the CDROM under "\automat_xxx\cgi\nt". The name of the CGI directory is provided in the global environment parameter "CGI_BIN". Under UNIX, the script should have the authentication for the owner of the web server process. Under Windows NT the directory "c:\tmp" must exist. The static error web pages can be found on the CD in the directory "\automat\cgi\html". These files are validated by the CGI scripts and displayed as dynamic HTML pages as required. Copy the HTML files into a directory outside the web server directory structure. Under UNIX, the name of the directory must conform with the Perl script "wt_upload_ini.pl". Under Windows NT, the file "wt_upload.ini" is to be appropriately edited. The following parameters are to be entered:

TMPDIR (Directory of the upload key files corresponding to the global parameter UPLOAD_TEMPDIR)
FEXT (The file ending for these files must be set to ".upl")
HTMLDIR (Directory of the static HTML error text)
REQPATH (Security function: Required start of the physical directory name of all upload files; normally PHYS_ROOT)
MAXFILESIZE (maximum filesize each upload)

The upload mechanism assumes that the following global or user specific Automat parameters exist:

PHYS_ROOT (Either global or web)
CGI_BIN (Global)
UPLOAD_TEMPDIR (Global)

In addition at least one directory for each web must be set up into which the authors on this web can transfer files. To do this, click on the Administration menu item "File management". The physical and virtual paths and a descriptive heading for the directory are entered on this form.

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7.3 Indexing static web pages

Static web pages from other web servers can also be loaded into the search engine using the HTR-API's import interface. The URLs of the respective pages are prepared as text files. These text files are read into the Oracle database by "utl_file" using the stored procedure "htr_api.import_url_list". Each line of the file contains a URL. These URLs are read by Oracle's PL/SQL HTTP interface "utl_http" and transferred into the search index. Following this "import_url_list" provides a standard report using "dbms_output". This report is created in HTML format. It is then stored in a web directory for reading with a web browser. The text file with the URLs to be indexed can e.g. be created easily with the DOS command "DIR". The procedure "import_url_list" can create the relevant URLs with the appropriate parameters from the file name. For example: a) Create the text file "liste.txt" with all the URL's

D:\InetOracle\html> dir /b /s *.htm* > D:\tmp\liste.txt

b) SQL script for loading the list into the search index

set linesize 1000
set serveroutput on size 1000000 format wrapped
spool D:\InetOracle\html\report\report.html
BEGIN
htr_api.import_url_list (
i_dir => 'D:\tmp',
i_file => 'liste.txt',
i_url_from => 19,
i_url_prefix => 'http://www.webag.de/',
i_commit_after => 10
);
owa_util.showpage;
END;
/
spool off

Explanation of the parameters:

The list can be found in the directory "i_dir" and is called "i_file".
The URL is taken out of a line in the file following "i_url_from" beginning with the character string "i_url_prefix".
After "i_commit_after" URLs the record is saved in the database.
The call "owa_util.showpage" displays the HTML report.

Alternatives:

If the list already contains the relevant URLs, the parameter "i_url_prefix" can be omitted and "i_url_from" is 1.
If COMMIT is not initiated, "i_commit_after" is not retained.

c) Starting the SQL script The script is started by the Oracle tool SQL*Plus. This process can be run automatically in batch.

D:\> plus80 automat_schema/password@db_alias @ scriptname.sql

Insert the correct values into the italic text.

automat_schema = Oracle schema into which the HTR tables have been installed
password = Oracle password for the schema
db_alias = SQL*Net connect string for the database
scriptname = Name of the above SQL script

To ensure that the search engine does not give any out-of-date URLs, that no longer exist for example, the HTR_API call "url_validate" should be regularly executed. This procedure retrieves every imported URL using "utl_http" and creates a report showing all the URLs no longer to be found. As an option the missing URLs can be removed at the same time from the search index. An example of an SQL script to call "url_validate":

set linesize 1000
set serveroutput on size 1000000 format wrapped
spool D:\InetOracle\html\report\validate.htm
BEGIN
htr_api.url_validate (
i_origin => htr_api.db_origin_import,
i_remove => htr_api.db_yes
);
owa_util.showpage;
END;
/
spool off

Explanation of the parameters:

"i_origin" indicates which URLs are checked. This uses the constants "db_origin_import" (= URLs, which were indexed by "import_url_list") and "db_origin_automat" (= WebAG Automat pages).
"i_remove" instructs the procedure to remove missing URLs from the search index ("db_yes") or just to list them in the report ("db_no").

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7.4 External files vs internal files

Concept: External files are files uploaded to the Webserver's file system so far. Within the WebAG Automat this files are organized in directories and can be accessed everywhere by linking or showing them. Systems with Document Option installed can index files for the search engine. Interne files are uploaded into the database from Automat Version 4.2. They are stored in a LOB-table that should be in a separate tablespace (see Installation Handbook). By integrationg files into the database they can be treated like Automat pages, e.g. annotated with authorisation or release state. Systems with Document Option installed can index files for the search engine - considering authorisation and release state.

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8. Miscellaneous administration

8.1 Tools - Automat enhancements

Under each web you can include self-developed web-application into the navigation-tree branch "Tools". Thus you can enhance the WebAG Automat functionality with your software. The following information is stored for each tool:

Header: This is the title of the tool in the navigation tree
Web-Address (URL): The tool's address, e.g.: /pls/automat/my_package.my_procedure?p_web_id=$WEB_ID. The variable $WEB_ID will be replaced with the ID of the current web. These variables will be replaced dependend on the context (see below):
- $WEB_ID - unique key of the Automat-web
- $FOLDER_ID - unique key of the Automat-folder
- $TEXT_ID - unique key of the webpage
- $FILE_DIR_ID - unique key of the upload file-directory
- $FILE_ID - unique key of the upload-file
Browser frame (TARGET): Defines the browser frame to load the tool's web page into. If you leave this field blank, the WebAG Automat man frame will be used.
Context: Choose the position in the authoring system where the tool shall appear:
- Navigationtree - left frame in the Automat-navigationtree
- Webpage - right frame on each webpage
- Folder - on each Automat-folder
- Filedirectory - on each upload filedirectory
- File - on each upload-file
Privileges: Who has the right to see and execute the tool? Choose between: "Central webmasters", "Local webmaster" and "Authors".

You can also include common (non web-related) tools into the Automat-tree. For this use the "Tools"-branch on the upper level in the navigation tree hierarchy. Authors will only see those "Tools"-branches that include at least one tool.

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8.2 System messages

In the Automat-navigation tree "System-> General" there is a new option called "System messages" for System administrators. From this release the machine logs important messages and errors in the new table WT_SYSLOG. With the new option "System messages" the administrator gets a report of these messages. The report is sorted by date descending

With the new global parameter SYSLOG_DAYS the administrator can specify how many days these system messages should be kept. The Automat will delete all older messages through its background workflow job. If you do not specify a SYSLOG_DAYS parameter, all messages are kept for 10 years.

In this release the system messages logged by this new feature are error messages, all logins with the new cookie-authorisation and hints on password changes by the users.

You can filter the system messages report with search patterns.

Starting with Automat 6.4 the new message „Session started by user ...“ tells you when a user has been started a session. Prior to Automat 6.4 you could not see the users activity when the user had a permanent cookie authorization.

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9. Access statistics

Starting with version 6.3 the WebAG Automat optinally tracks all page impressions of documents from the Automat content database and offers reports to analyse the traffic.

In intranet projects it is not a good idea to use an external provider to track and analyse the page-hits. Most of the common log-analyse-tools are insufficiant because their reports show the id of a WebCMS-page instead of the title stored in the content-database. Hence, we have decided to develop an own integrated access analysis system into the WebAG Automat.

Tracking the page hits is initiated by a small Javascript. The following reports are offered:

Last visitors
Page ranking
Details per page (month / day)
Daily report
Monthly report
Yearly report

Details to the functions of the access statistics:

Includes non-Automat-pages like static pages or custom web-applications by embedding the track-Javascript.
Includes page hits from visitors who have swithed off Javascript
The page hits are stored in an Oracle table
To limit the amount of data in the database the statistic system deletes all page hits older than an adjustable number of days.
Tracking does not slow down the page-impressions because the tracking-Javascript tracks by opening an invisible iframe whose performance can not affect the source page.
File-downloads from the content database are likewise tracked and can be observed in the page statistics.
The IP-addresses of the visitors are mostly displayed with server name.
In addition, the IP-addresses of the visitors are displayed as a link to www.ripe.net, so that one can read all detailed information of the visitor domain with a mouse click.
The visitors-report shows exact information about the used browser of the respective visitor.

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9.1 Configuration

You have to add some javascript-code to your webdesign-HTML-code (e.g. the PAGE_CLOSE-Trigger) to enable tracking:

<script type="text/javascript">
sTitle = encodeURIComponent(document.title);
sUrl = encodeURIComponent(document.URL);
sReferrer = encodeURIComponent(document.referrer);
sWebName = "$WEB_NAME";
sWebId = "$WEB_ID";
sTextId = "$TEXT_ID";
document.write (
    "<iframe src=\"/pls/automat/pub_track.log"
         +"?p_web_name="+sWebName
         +"&p_web_id="+sWebId
         +"&p_text_id="+sTextId
         +"&p_title="+sTitle
         +"&p_url="+sUrl
         +"&p_referrer="+sReferrer
         +"\""
       +" width=\"0\" height=\"0\""
       +" frameborder=\"0\""
       +" style=\"display:inline;\">"
    +"</iframe>"
);
</script>



<noscript>
<iframe src="/pls/automat/pub_track.log?p_web_name=$WEB_NAME&p_web_id=$WEB_ID&p_text_id=$TEXT_ID&p_title=$PAGE_TITLE"
          width="0" height="0"
          frameborder="0" style="display:inline;">
</iframe>
</noscript>

The blue printed phrases are the virtual modPLSQL-path. You might have to replace this with your modPLSQL-configuration.

The javascript creates a hidden iframe. Within the iframe the PL/SQL-procedure pub_track.log is called to perform the tracking. Some of the parameters are $-variables, filled by the Automat (Web-id, web-name, page-id). Some parameters are taken from the webservers cgi-environmant (url. referrer).

The procedure pub_track.log stores these information into the table WT_TRACK_BASE. The reports read from this table.

There are two new global configuration-parameters:

TRACK_ENABLE: Enable or disable access tracking: 1=enable, 0=disable. Default: "1" (Enable).
TRACK_DAYS: How long are track protocols stored in the content database? When this duration is exceeded, the track-records will be removed. You can not analyse the page hits prior to this date. Default: 3670 (= 10 years).
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9.2 Access analysis reports

You find the access-analyses-reports by clicking on a web in the left navigation-tree, then on "Access statistics" on the right side in the main-frame. The reports require webmaster-privileges.

9.2.1 Visitors

The visitors-report shows the different visitors of the web-pages. Visitors are kept apart by detecting their different ip-addresses. Report-details:

IP-address with link to ripe.net to analyse the visitors detsination.
Visitors browser. Hold your mouse-pointer ove rthe browser-name to display detailed information about the browser-version.
Page titles with link to the page and page-impression date/time.

9.2.2 Page summary

In this report shows the number of the page-impressions per page. The heading indicates the tracking period. It depends on the global configuration parameter TRACK_DAYS.

The titles of the pages can be clicked to load the page into a new browser window. The number of the calls can be likewise clicked to get a detailed view for this page with the page-impressions grouped by months. Ther you can agoin drill down into the pages impressions by year.

9.2.3 Daily summary

The daily report gives for all days of the tracking-period (see global parameter TRACK_DAYS) the number of distinct visitors and the page views. In addition there are graphical bars ti illustrate the difference between the days. The green bar shows the number of the page views, the blue one illustrates of the number of visitors.

9.2.4 Monthly summary

The monthly report corresponds to the daily report with the exception that instead of single days the statistics are displayed for all months of the tracking-period.

9.2.5 Yearly summary

The yearly report corresponds to the daily report with the exception that instead of single days the statistics are displayed for all years of the tracking-period.

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10. Flex Report Generator

Flex-Report-Generator is a tool for the administrator for creating table-reports based on database select-statements. You see the flex-report-option in the left navigation tree under /System/Reports.

10.1 Create and edit reports

Create a new report by entering the following fields:

Unique name: This is an internal name, also used in urls. Thus you should use only letters, numbers and underscore.
Header (de/en): German an english header. The header is displayed depending on the chosen automat language.
Select-statement: Any database select. You may use wildcards in the column-list like "*".
Preset for the number of lines per page. Users can choose another value when executing the report.
preset for the order-column and the order direction (ascending or descending).

10.2 Execute a report

Reports are displayed a HTML-tables including all necessary features for navigating through the select result set:

Pagination. You see the total number of pages.
Order by any column by clicking on the icons right of of the columns headers
Filtering by search patterns
Chosse the number of lines per page
Export as Excel-file.

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webag automat Documentation