This document describes how to use the CentraSite Control User Interface.
For information about starting and logging in to CentraSite Control, see the section Starting the Graphical User Interfaces.
After you have logged in to CentraSite Control, you see the Welcome page. In addition to the standard navigation bar, this page offers you links to frequently used CentraSite Control features and also to external links associated with CentraSite, such as the CentraSite community pages.
The following section describes the main navigation controls in CentraSite Control. The example shown is the page My CentraSite, which you access via the navigation bar menu entry .
Navigation bar
You use the tabs and menus on the navigation bar to choose the task
that you want to perform. The tabs and submenus that appear on this bar depend
upon the edition of CentraSite that you are using and the role(s) assigned to
your user account.
Page content
This is the area in which CentraSite Control displays the details
associated with your chosen task. The actual content that you will see for a
task depends upon the edition of CentraSite that you are using as well as the
role-based and instance-based permissions associated with your user
account.
Task bar
The task bar maintains list of all the open tasks. You can use the
task bar to switch from one open task to another. You can also use the task
manager to close an individual task or to close all open tasks in a single
step.
Note:
CentraSite Control provides various controls that enable you to
navigate from one page to another in the user interface. To ensure that actions
are carried out correctly, always use the navigation controls provided within
the CentraSite Control user interface, not the general navigation controls
(page forward, page backward and so forth) in your browser.
Context menus are available within many of the lists that CentraSite Control displays. A context menu enables you to perform an action on a specific object in a list.
To display the object's context menu, right-click the object upon which you want to act. The set of actions in the context menu depends upon the type of object that you have selected.
Many screens offer the Actions menu in addition to the context menu. The Actions menu is a drop-down menu that contains actions that you can perform on one or more objects in the currently displayed list of objects.
The set of actions offered by the Actions menu on a particular screen is usually a subset of the actions offered by the context menu. This is because the actions in the Actions menu can be applied to multiple selected objects, so the set of actions is restricted to just the actions that can be performed on all of the screen's listed objects. In particular, if the screen contains objects of several object types, actions that are relevant for one object type might not be relevant for another object type, so such actions are not offered in the menu.
To use this menu, mark the checkbox for the required objects in the currently displayed list of objects, then open the Actions menu and select the required action. This action will be applied to all of the selected objects.
Use the following procedure to configure your display settings in CentraSite Control. The display settings specify the language in which CentraSite Control displays the user interface (assuming the appropriate language pack is installed on the Software AG Runtime) and the time zone in which timestamped events are rendered when you view the activity logs and other dated information in CentraSite Control.
To set display preferences
In CentraSite Control, click the My Account link at the top of the screen.
On the My Account page, specify the following:
| In this field... | Specify... |
|---|---|
| Language |
The language in which you want CentraSite Control to be displayed. |
| Locale |
The language of the operating system locale being used on your machine. If you are the CentraSite Administrator you can restrict the locale availability. For information, see the section Restricting the Locale. |
| Time Zone | The time zone in which you want timestamped log information rendered when it is displayed to your user account. |
| Date Format | The format in which you want CentraSite Control to display dates to you. |
| Time Format | The format in which you want CentraSite Control to display times to you. |
| Render Numbers with 1000 separator | Whether you want CentraSite Control to display numeric values with a thousands' separator character (e.g., 10,000). |
| Start Page |
Your preferred start page. You can specify whether the start page should be the Welcome page (the default start page) or the Inbox page (containing your Inbox and the other elements of the My CentraSite page). |
When you are done with the changes, click Save.
Important:
Changes to the Language,
Locale and Start Page setting take
effect at the next logon. All other changes you make are immediately
active.
This property allows the CentraSite Administrator to restrict the locale CentraSite Control user interface to users. This setting is available in the Locale field in My Account page.
This setting does not allow users to change their locale settings in the My Account page. Thus logged on users are restricted to the locales allowed by the administrator.
If you are the CentraSite Administrator, you can define the locales in the Allowed Locale field. Only these defined locales will be available in the Locale field for every other user who logs in to the CentraSite Control.
If the administrator had restricted to more than one locale, then when a user logs into the CentraSite Control either one of the following happens:
If you are an existing user and your locale matches with the allowed locale(s) in CentraSite Control, then you will be permitted to directly log in into the CentraSite Control.
If you are an existing user and your locale does not match with the allowed locale(s) in CentraSite Control, then you will have to choose the allowed locale(s) from the Locale Settings pop-up.
If you are a new user, then you will have to choose the allowed locale(s) from the Locale Settings.
If the administrator had restricted to just one locale, then when a user logs into the CentraSite Control either one of the following happens:
If you are an existing user and your locale matches with the allowed locale in CentraSite Control, then you will be permitted to directly log in into the CentraSite Control.
If you are an existing user and your locale does not match with the allowed locale in CentraSite Control, then CentraSite Control automatically sets the locale and displays that the current locale is modified to match with the allowed locale.
If you are a new user, then CentraSite Control by default sets the allowed locale.
To restrict the locale
In CentraSite Control, click the My Account link at the top of the screen.
In the My Account page, choose the locale(s) from the Allowed Locales field in System-wide Settings panel.
If you want to specify multiple locales, use the plus button to add additional rows.
Choose to confirm the change.
The changes take effect immediately and you will be redirected to the log on page. If you do not specify a locale and choose to cancel the setting, you will still be redirected to the log on page.
Use the following procedure to display information about your user account, including the organization, roles and groups to which your account belongs.
To view information about your user account
From the navigation bar, choose Administration > Users > Users.
In the Users list, click the user name that represents your account.
To modify general information about your user account (name, email address, postal address), edit the contents of the User Information box and the Additional Information tab as necessary. (Depending on the role or roles associated with your user account, you might not be permitted to edit all fields.)
Use the Groups and Roles tabs to view the user groups and roles with which your account is associated.
Use the Assets tab to display the list of assets that you currently own.
You may want to add some metadata information that you feel is relevant to your user account. To do this, you can choose the Object Specific Properties tab and define a set of one or more properties, each consisting of one keyword and one or more values associated with the keyword. The keywords you enter and their values can be freely chosen.
If you have made any changes to your account information, choose .
The My Favorites feature enables you to create lists and shortcuts to items that you use routinely or otherwise want to keep close at hand. Using My Favorites, you can:
Display the list of assets that you own (or that you consume) with a single click.
Create quick links to selected assets in the catalog.
Create a quick link to a saved search or XQuery.
Create a quick link to a list of assets of a particular category or type.
The My Favorites list resides on the page . By default, it contains the following entries:
| Choose this entry... | To... |
|---|---|
 Assets I Consume |
Display the list of assets for which you are registered as a consumer. |
 Assets I Provide |
Display the list of assets that you own. |
Additionally, you can add any of the following entries to My Favorites:
| Entry | Description |
|---|---|
 Individual asset
|
Displays the details for a specified asset. This type of entry acts as a shortcut to the selected object. For information about adding this type of link to My Favorites, see Adding Shortcuts to Individual Objects. |
 Individual
report template
|
Displays the details for a specified report template. This type of entry acts as a shortcut to the selected object. For information about adding this type of link to My Favorites, see Adding Shortcuts to Individual Objects. |
 List
|
Serves as a folder for a collection of objects. Each such list can contain a combination of objects that have different object types, such as assets, taxonomies, organizations and users. For information about adding entries to the list, see Adding a List of Objects to My Favorites. |
 Saved search
|
Executes a specified search and displays the resulting list of assets. For information about adding this type of entry to My Favorites, see Adding a Saved Search to My Favorites. |
 Saved XQuery
|
Executes a specified query and displays the resulting list of assets. For information about adding this type of entry to My Favorites, see Adding an XQuery to My Favorites. |
 List of Type
|
Displays a list of objects of a specified type. For information about adding this type of entry to My Favorites, see Adding a Type List to My Favorites . |
| List of Category
|
Displays a list of assets of a specified taxonomy category. For information about adding this type of entry to My Favorites, see Adding a Category List to My Favorites . |
The following types of entries are called smart lists:
Saved search
List of Type
List of Category
A smart list produces a dynamic result that is based on a query. For example, when you choose a "List of Type" or a "List of Category" entry, CentraSite Control executes the appropriate query against the registry and returns a list of objects that matches the requested object type or taxonomy category.
Use the following procedure to access My Favorites.
To view My Favorites
From the navigation bar, choose Home > My CentraSite to display the My CentraSite page.
In the Menu box on the left side of the screen, choose My Favorites.
Using My Favorites, you can create individual shortcuts to the following types of objects:
Assets (any type)
Report templates
Adding a shortcut to My Favorites enables you to jump directly to the detail page for the specified asset or report template. Additionally, you can perform additional actions on the asset or report template using the shortcut’s context menu. For example, if the shortcut is to a report template, you can execute the report directly from the shortcut’s context menu.
When you add a shortcut to My Favorites, be aware that:
If you add a shortcut to an object that already exists in you're my Favorites list, CentraSite Control will ignore your request. It will not create a duplicate shortcut.
If you add a shortcut to My Favorites and the underlying asset or report template is subsequently deleted from the registry, the shortcut will also be automatically removed from My Favorites.
To add a shortcut to an individual object to My Favorites
Use the Asset Catalog task or the Reports task to display a list containing the asset or the report template that you want to add to My Favorites. If you need procedures for this step, see the section Browsing the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog, or the section Viewing the Report Templates List in the document Working with Reports and Report Templates.
Locate the asset or report template that you want to add to My Favorites and from its context menu choose Add to Favorites.
Provide a name for the shortcut , then choose .
You can also add shortcuts to multiple assets in a single operation. To do this, proceed as follows:
To add shortcuts to multiple assets in a single operation
In CentraSite Control, use either the Browse or the Search feature in the asset catalog to select a list of the assets you want to add. If you need information on how to browse or search the asset catalog, see the section Browsing the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog, or the section Searching the Asset Catalog in the same document.
Mark the checkbox of each asset for which you wish to create a shortcut.
In the menu, click .
The shortcuts for the selected assets are then created in the My Favorites list. The name of each shortcut is the name of the asset to which the shortcut points. Note that if two or more of the assets have the same name, their shortcuts will also have the same name.
Tip:
The command is also
available from the menu on the details page of
each asset and report template.
In CentraSite Control, you can combine objects of different types into so-called lists. These are user-defined logical collections that allow you to treat the whole list as a single entity. You can, for example, create a list containing assets, organizations and users, then perform an Export operation on the list; the resulting export set would contain all of the objects contained in the list.
When you add objects to a list, CentraSite does not physically copy the objects into the list. Instead, the list contains pointers to the objects. This means, for example, that if you delete a list, you only delete the pointers to the physical objects but you do not delete the physical objects themselves.
The lists that you create are shown in CentraSite Control under .
To add an object to a list in My Favorites
From the navigation bar, navigate to the display that shows the object that you wish to add to the list. For example, if you wish to add an asset to a list, choose Asset Catalog > Browse and locate the asset that you want to add to My Favorites. If you need information on how to browse or search the asset catalog, see the section Browsing the Asset Catalog or Searching the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog
Open the object's context menu and choose Add To List.
If you want to add the object to an existing list, choose the list from the drop-down list in the dialog box. Otherwise type a name in the text box to create a new list.
Choose .
You can also add multiple objects to a list in a single operation. To do this, proceed as follows:
To add multiple assets to a list in My Favorites in a single
operation
In CentraSite Control, navigate to the display that shows the objects that you wish to add to the list. Then select the objects you want to add.
Mark the checkbox of each object you want to add.
In the menu, click , then continue as described above for a single object.
If at a later stage you want to remove the object from a list in My Favorites, proceed as follows:
To remove an object from a list in My Favorites
Display My Favorites and choose the list that contains the object that you want to remove.
This displays the names of the objects contained in the list.
Mark the checkbox of the object you want to remove from the list.
Choose .
When you remove an object from a list, you just remove the name of the object from the list. The physical object that the list entry points to is not affected in any way.
If you add an object to a list and later delete the original object that the list entry points to, the entry in the list is deleted automatically.
Adding a saved search to My Favorites enables you to execute the search with a single click. When you choose a saved search in My Favorites, CentraSite Control executes the search and displays the results.
To save a search to My Favorites
From the navigation bar, choose Asset Catalog > Search.
Use the Keyword tab or the Advanced tab to define your search criteria. If you need procedures for this step, see the section Searching the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog.
Choose . Note that you can save your search without first executing it.
Specify a name for the saved search and choose .
If the name you specify for the saved search already exists, you will be asked to provide a different name.
To view or edit a saved search
Display My Favorites and choose the saved search that you want to view or edit.
This runs the saved search and shows the results in the results pane.
In the results pane, choose the button.
This displays the search criteria that were used in the search.
Examine and/or redefine your search criteria as necessary.
If you made changes to the search criteria, choose to save the changes.
The refined search is considered to be a new saved search rather than an update to an existing saved search, so CentraSite Control asks you to provide a name for the new saved search.
Adding an XQuery to My Favorites enables you create a shortcut to an XQuery expression. When you choose a saved XQuery in My Favorites, CentraSite Control opens the expression in the XQuery editor.
To save an XQuery to My Favorites
From the navigation bar, choose Asset Catalog > Search.
Use the XQuery tab to define your XQuery expression. If you need procedures for this step, see the section Searching the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog .
Choose . Note that you can save your XQuery expression without first executing it.
Specify a name for the saved XQuery expression and choose .
If the name you specify for the saved search already exists, you will be asked to provide a different name.
You use a category list to display the list of assets that belong to a specified taxonomy category. For example, if your site uses a taxonomy that classifies assets by project, you might want to create shortcuts that display the assets associated with your projects.
To save a Category List to My Favorites
From the navigation bar, choose Asset Catalog > Browse to open the asset catalog.
In the Browse By list, select the taxonomy that contains the category that you want to add to My Favorites.
In the taxonomy tree, locate the category that you want to add to My Favorites and from its context menu choose Add to Favorites.
Specify a name for the category list and choose .
If the name you specify already exists, you will be asked to provide a different name.
Note:
If you have permission to access the
task from the
navigation bar, you can also add a category list to My Favorites from the
context menu for a taxonomy listed on the Taxonomies page.
You use a type list to create a shortcut to a list of assets of a specified asset type (e.g., Application Servers, Web Services or XML Schemas).
To save a Type List to My Favorites
From the navigation bar, choose Asset Catalog > Browse to open the asset catalog.
In the Asset Types list (in the upper left corner of the page), locate the asset type that you want to add to My Favorites.
Open the context menu for the asset type and choose Add to Favorites.
Specify a name for the type list and choose .
If the name you specify already exists, you will be asked to provide a different name.
Note:
If you have permission to access the
task from the navigation
bar, you can also add a type list to My Favorites from the context menu for an
object type listed on the Type Management page.
Use the following procedure to remove an entry from My Favorites. Note that when you remove an entry, any underlying assets to which the entry refers are not affected.
To remove an entry from My Favorites
Display My Favorites and locate the entry that you want to remove.
From the context menu for that entry, choose Remove from Favorites.
Use the following procedure to rename a user-defined entry in My Favorites.
Note:
Some of the entries in My Favorites are predefined and cannot be
renamed. If an entry cannot be renamed, the
command will not appear on the context menu.
To rename an entry in My Favorites
Display My Favorites and locate the entry that you want to rename.
From the context menu for that entry, choose Rename.
Specify a new name for the entry and choose .
Using the notification feature, you can request CentraSite to alert you when specified assets or policies are modified. If you have requested a notification for one or more assets or policies, CentraSite Control displays a number in the Notifications Inbox indicating how many objects on your notification list have been updated since the last time you viewed your notifications.
When you choose the Notifications link in your inbox, CentraSite Control opens a two-pane screen. The upper pane displays the list of objects for which you have asked to receive notifications. The lower pane displays the change log of the object currently selected in the upper pane. The change log is a record of the changes that have been made to the object since the object was initially created. The log indicates when a change was made and who made the change.
Note:
When you create a notification request for an asset, your request is
reflected on the asset's Subscription profile. The
Subscription profile displays the list of users who are
currently registered to receive notifications for the asset.
Use the following procedure to have CentraSite notify you when a specified asset or policy is modified.
To create a notification request
Display the list that contains the asset or policy on which you want to receive notifications. If you need procedures for this step, see the section Browsing the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog, or the topic Viewing the Policy List in the section Functional Scope in the document Working with Design/Change-Time Policies.
From the context menu for the asset or policy, choose Notify me.
A message appears, informing you that the notification has added to the Notifications list.
Note:
If you see the Remove From My Notifications
command on the context menu instead of the Notify me
command, that indicates that you are already registered to receive
notifications for the selected asset or policy.
Go to the Notifications list on the My CentraSite page to verify that the notification request has been added to your Notifications list.
You can also create notification requests for multiple assets in a single operation. To do this, proceed as follows:
To create notification requests for multiple assets in a single
operation
In CentraSite Control, use either the Browse or the Search feature in the asset catalog to select a list of the assets for which you wish to create notification requests. If you need information on how to browse or search the asset catalog, refer to the section Browsing the Asset Catalog or Searching the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog.
Mark the checkbox of each asset for which you wish to create a notification request.
In the menu, click , then continue as described above for creating a notification request for a single asset.
Use the following procedure to display the notifications that you have received.
To view notifications you have received
Go to .
Display the Inbox and choose Notifications to open the Notifications screen.
Bolded rows in the notification list in the upper pane indicate objects that have been updated since you last viewed this list.
To view the change list for an object, choose the object in the notification list in the upper pane. When you choose the object, click anywhere in its row except on the object name. If you click the object's name, CentraSite Control will display the details page for that object instead of the opening the object's change list.
If you no longer want to receive notifications for an asset or a policy, use the following procedure to delete your notification request.
To delete a notification request
Display the list that contains the asset or policy for which you want to delete a notification request. If you need procedures for this step, see the section Browsing the Asset Catalog in the document Using the Asset Catalog, or the topic Viewing the Policy List in the section Functional Scope in the document Working with Design/Change-Time Policies.
From the context menu for the asset or policy, choose Remove from My Notifications.
