Information Introduction
Index Information
Upload Information
Upload Information Pages
Creation of HTML archive
Save/Restore Information files
Create Link
Modify/Delete File or Folder
Modify/Delete Information Entry points
List/Delete Unreferenced Files
Access Control
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Information Service
Introduction
The Information Service can be seen as a WEB space of your Interest Group where
information can be provided in a rather attractive form using HTML pages
(whereas the Library service is rather document oriented). Its primary
purpose is to display information in HTML format (attractive and interactive)
that could for instance describe the objectives, tasks and strategy of
your Interest Group or list useful links to external web sites.
Depending on your Profile Access Rights you may have:
- No Access to the Information Service
- Access Only (Read Access) to the Information Service. i.e. view web pages and links
- Full Edit privileges (Read/Write) to the Information Service. i.e. upload new web pages and create links pointing to them
- Administration privileges to the Information Service. i.e. grant additional users with additional rights via the Access Control Mechanism
If you are granted at least "Read Access" privileges to the Information
Service, you can browse through the available links in order to exploit the
uploaded "mini-web sites".
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The links in the Information Service are case insensitive.
Links may also be created from the Information service to other CIRCA services (e.g.
Library) or External Locations (web sites), therefore enabling interactive
service views of complementary information.
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Index Information
To access the list of all the available Information proceed as follows:
- Follow the button INFORMATION from the Interest Group top-bar to access the Information Service
- You will be presented with an Index of all the available links that you are allowed to
access.
- Select any link and navigate through the Information provided and view any related
documents available.
- Alternatively, you can get a link to the desired Information document by dragging the
document's name to your bookmark (by pressing and holding down the left mouse button).
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The Information may be structured in a way that is linked to
other service items e.g. a Library document. If this is the case, use the back button
of your browser to return to the main Information Service page.
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Upload Information
You can upload in the Information service Single or Multiple HTML
pages, or any other files format like PDF, MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint.
Information in HTML format may be composed of multiple-pages, linked to each other, known
as a tree structure. Check below for guidelines on how to structure an
HTML tree prior to uploading it. Pages adapted to the CIRCA style, inherit the
header and footer of the CIRCA environment (i.e. the CIRCA toolbar), resulting
in a homogenous Information layout.
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Disk Usage Limits (Quotas) are always checked before an upload
operation is started. If Disk Quotas allocated by the CIRCA administrator have been
exceeded for your Interest Group, an error message will be printed and
the Interest Group leader will be automatically notified. |
Upload Information Pages
To upload any HTML pages or other documents to the Information section follow
the steps described below:
- Select the
"Upload" button to access the Information
Upload Form page. You will be presented with the following Interface:
- Press the "Browse" button next to the "File to upload":
field to navigate through your local or network drive and select the file
you wish to upload [valid values: all
characters except &, (, ), [, ], `, ``, <, >].
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You can upload either a single file or HTML page, or
alternatively an entire HTML tree known as "mini-web site". In the latter case, prior to
applying the remaining steps go to section "Creation of HTML archive"
to get information on how to structure the information |
If you want to upload to an already existing directory or subdirectory of
the CIRCA Information service, move to step 4, otherwise go to step 3 and
then directly to step 5.
- Select from the drop-down menu next to the "Data Language":
field the language of the data to be uploaded
[valid values: predefined values]
Available values are the ISO codes of the languages and "Non Linguistic Data".
The Upload data Directory will automatically take the value of the ISO code of the selected language
(i.e. "/EN/", "/FR/" and so forth) or "/" if "Non Linguistic Data" is selected.
Following the Language specific directory, you can create any sub-directory
by inserting the corresponding sub-directory name.
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In other words, CIRCA enables to upload information data in
several languages so that users, according to their language preferences, will see the
information in their selected language. |
Example:
The path /EN/presentation, implies that the Data language is English (EN) (step3),
whereas the manually inserted path presentation defines a sub-directory
in which the files and HTML pages will be uploaded. Therefore the user has in
this case created a subdirectory named "presentation" to host the Interest Group
presentations in English. This sub-directory will be created under the Interest
Group information main directory.
- In order to navigate and select an existing Information directory/subdirectory,
press the "Browse" button next to the "Upload data in directory":
field. A separate window will automatically be launched displaying the "Information
Service Directory structure". Navigate through it to find the directory
you intent to place your information in. Selecting a directory, the value
of the "Upload data in directory": is automatically adjusted
to the selected directory path.
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Selecting an existing directory may overwrite already existing
data if it contains files whose names are identical to the files you want to upload. |
- Next entry within the form is the title of the HTML document
[valid values: all characters except <, >].
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Setting the title is applicable only to HTML documents. For all other document
formats this field is ignored. |
- Additionally, some keywords can be associated with this document, by providing them
within the corresponding form entry. Commas should separate multiple values
[valid values: all characters except \, |, (, ), [, {, ^, $, *, +,?, ., "].
You can provide keywords that identify your document. Separate keywords with comma
only. You can also pick already uploaded keywords, found in other documents
of this Interest Group]. Furthermore, by pressing the "Pick" button, a list of
already uploaded keywords, found in other documents, will be presented to allow for faster
selection.
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Setting the keywords is applicable only to HTML documents. For all other document
formats this field is ignored. |
- Next field is the name of the Author [valid
values: all characters].
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Setting the Author name is applicable only to HTML documents. For all other document
formats this field is ignored. |
- Finally, a description [valid values: all characters]
to be associated with the corresponding HTML document is also provided, by typing it in the
specified text field.
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Providing a description is applicable only to HTML documents. For all other document
formats this field is ignored. |
- Select whether the above attributes will be extracted automatically from the HTML Meta Tags contained in the HTML
document to be uploaded by choosing "Yes" in the
"Extract attributes from HTML document?" pull down menu.
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This is applicable only to HTML documents. All other document
formats are not affected by this option. |
- Select whether the HTML pages should inherit the CIRCA style, by making the appropriate
selection from the corresponding drop-down menu. If you choose yes, every HTML page
you upload will inherit the CIRCA headers, footers and menus added to it i.e. the CIRCA
header (navigation bar) and footer will be wrapped around the HTML page to generate a new
one.
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The CIRCA style is applicable only to HTML documents. All
other document formats are not affected by this option. |
- Press the "Upload" button. The "Information Upload Form"
appears, displaying the full path, filename and size of the document and the results of the
Upload action.
- Press the "OK" button to return to the main Information Service Index page.
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At this stage the information is uploaded on the Server.
The upload operation can take several minutes to complete, depending on the size of
the uploaded file and the bandwidth of your network connection. The next
step would be to define a link pointing to this information page and to
provide an appropriate title for it. This will render this information
accessible to users. See section "Create Link" for detailed procedure. |
Creation of HTML archive
Prior to initiating the upload of multiple HTML pages you must structure these pages
in a tree configuration, and compress the entire set of HTML pages into a single
ZIP file as described below:
- Prepare an HTML tree in which the parent page includes links to all the subsequent ones.
This HTML tree must be carefully created so that all the HTML pages are accessible either
via an entry point that will be created in the information service, or via hyperlinks from
other HTML pages
- Compress and Upload the HTML tree. All nodes referenced by links from a parent HTML
page will be accessible by the users. Nodes that are not referenced by a parent
HTML page will automatically become inaccessible by the users and will be
treated as unreferenced HTML pages.
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Errors during the preparation or compression of the contents of
the HTML tree, will be reflected at the server. With reference to the figure below, Nodes
1 and 2 are referenced by the parent HTML while Node 3 is referenced by
Node 1. Node 4 is an "unreferenced" HTML page which is not linked to any
other HTML page. Therefore, this node will not be accessible to any user.
Its content will be uploaded to the information section repository but
there will be no `way' (link) for any user to access it through its structure. |
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In the case where an HTML page is unreferenced, you can create a
link to the information section that points to Node 4. This will turn Node 4 to be
referenced (i.e. accessible) within the Information Section home page.
Alternatively, you can delete the entire tree, fix the "broken link" and
re-upload it following the steps 1 and 2 described above. |
Now you may safely create a ZIP archive with fully referenced HTML content
by following the steps presented below:
- Select the HTML pages to be uploaded in the information service.
- Identify a single HTML document as a parent document. This parent document should
provide links to all other documents. There should be no unreferenced files in the tree.
In the above HTML tree configuration, Node 4 is unreferenced and will not be accessible in
the information section by the visiting user.
- Execute a compression software program (e.g. WinZip or any other utility that creates
ZIP archives) and create a new file with a .zip extension.
- Add all the files that have been identified in the previous steps, and trigger the
compression process.
- At this stage you have created a single ZIP file that contains all the file(s) (tree)
information of the HTML pages.
Now the HTML archive is ready to be uploaded. Go to step 3 and proceed with the
rest of the upload, this time providing the zipped archive as the File to upload in the
dialogue box.
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Set up the HTML tree carefully without omitting links to
subordinate HTML pages. The links should be relative and self-contained in this "mini-web site" zipped archive.
Note that the tree "depth" is not limited. Client-side scripting (Javascript, Style Sheets etc.) is allowed. |
By creating a link (see section 'Create Link') that points to the
parent HTML page, the whole tree of HTML pages becomes accessible to users.
In the example above, Node 4 and its subsequent HTML pages are "unreferenced"
and are not accessible to the users. It is the Leader's responsibility
to control the referenced or the unreferenced HTML pages. The Leader can
make Node 4 and its subordinate HTML pages referenced, only by creating
a link that points to Node 4.
Save/Restore Information pages
The save information pages functionality of the information service is used to save in a compressed file information service files.
- Select the
"Save" button to access the save form presented below.
- Press the "Browse" button next to the "Select folder or file": field.
A separate window will automatically be launched displaying the "Information Service Directory structure". Navigate through it in order to locate the directories or files you want to save. You can select one or more directories and files [valid values: all characters].
- Press the "Save" button in order to proceed with this action.
- A new page is displayed with the files that are included in the compressed file to be downloaded. Press the "Download" button to download the compressed file or the "Exit" button to return to the information service entry page.
The restore information pages functionality of the information service is used to restore information service files using a compressed file.
- Select the
"Restore " button to access the restore form presented below.
- Press the "Browse" button next to the "File to restore": field.
A separate window will automatically be launched displaying your file system directory structure. Navigate through it in order to select the compressed file you want to restore. [valid values: all characters].
- Press the "Restore" button in order to proceed with this action.
- A new page is displayed with the files that are included in the compressed file that has been restored and the result of your action. Press the "OK" button to return to the information service entry page.
Create Link
- Select the
"Create Link" button to access the index point creation
form presented below, in order to create a hyperlink to a previously loaded HTML page.
- Select the "Language": from the provided drop-down menu. The selection
affects the directory path of the "Location" field that defines
the language to which the information has been initially uploaded.
Example: If the selected language in this form is English (EN), then the path of
the "Location": field should start with "/EN/".
- Provide a "Title" for the new Link [valid
values: all characters except <, >]. A title must be provided unless it
already has a default value.
This title will become the access link to this file from the
main Information section home Index page. Check the "Default"
check box, to use the filename for non-HTML files or the 'title' attribute for HTML files.
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In case no title attribute has been specified for the html file,
its filename will be used instead. |
- Press the "Browse" button next to the "Location": field.
A separate window will automatically be launched displaying the "Information
Service Directory structure". Navigate through it in order to locate
the file you want to link to. As you navigate from directory to subdirectory
you will see that the value of the "location": field
[valid values: all characters] is automatically adjusted to the
selected directory path.
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A mismatch between the selected language in step2 and the
path selected here will result in an error message. If this is the case then go back
and either change the language or the path so that they match each other from a language
point of view. |
- Press the "Create" button to proceed. You will be presented with the
message "Link has been created successfully".
- Press the "OK" button to return to the main Information Service Home Index page
and verify that the new link has been created.
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If in step 4 you select a path that already has a link in
the Information Service, the system will return an Error message ("Error: An
information link already exists for the given path"). Press the "Back"
button to return to the form and provide a different path, or alternatively
press "Cancel" to abandon the creation of this new link.
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Modify/Delete File or Folder
Provided you have the proper privileges, you may modify/delete any file or folder
(directory) from the Information Service. In case of deletion, if you select
a directory then all the data under that directory will be recursively
removed. In addition any links associated with the deleted data
will also be removed.
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The deletion process is irrecoverable. |
- Select the
"Modify/Delete" button to access the file/folder
deletion form.
- Press the "Browse" button to browse through the available files and
folders of the Information Service. In the popup window, the folders
appear first and then the files, sorted in alphabetical order. Select
the file or folder to be modified/deleted [valid values: all
characters]. The path to this Information should now be displayed at the
"Select folder or file": field.
- Press the "Modify" button, and the selected fileÃÆs attributes (Data
Language, Title, Keywords, Author and Description) will be provided for modification
in a form and procedure similar to the one depicted in the "Create
Link" section. A result window will appear indicating that "Attributes have
been updated successfully".
- Press the "Delete" button, and the selected file or folder will be deleted.
A results window will appear indicating that "Items have been deleted successfully".
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Bulk Administration of information pages is
also available: To achieve this you should make multiple selections (separated by
commas) in the "Select folder or file" text field (you can even use the
"Browse" button) and press the "Modify" button. This allows
the bulk modification of multiple documents for the: TITLE, AUTHOR, DESCRIPTION and KEYWORDS
attributes. |
Modify/Delete Information Entry points
Provided you have the proper privileges, you may modify or delete entries in the
"Information Service" Index page as follows:
- Select the
"Modify/Delete Link" button to access the "Information
Modify/Delete" form. You may view now all the Information Service entries with
check boxes next to them.
- In case the modification of an Information Service entry is wanted, place a check
mark next to it and press the "Modify" button. The link title will then be
provided in a form, where a new value can be entered. Pressing the "Save"
button will actually perform the update and lead to the message 'The link title has been
modified'.
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Only one Information Service entry may be selected for
modification at each time. If more than one entries are selected, then an error will be
reported. |
- In case deletion of Information Service entries is wanted, place a check mark next to
as many as necessary and press the "Delete" button. You will automatically
return to the main Information Service Index page. Verify that the selected entries have
been deleted.
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The actual file(s) to which the entries linked to, are not
deleted from the file system. Only the index points linking to these files are deleted.
These files become automatically unreferenced. If you delete an index point
associated with an HTML tree structure you will render it unreferenced as well. |
List/Delete Unreferenced Files
Provided you have the proper privileges, you can List or Delete unreferenced
files stored in the Information Service.
The unreferenced files include all HTML files that are not linked (referenced) directly from the Information Service Links or indirectly by another HTML page accessible by clicking through the Information Service Links and subsequently linked HTML pages.
It is recommended that you identify and delete these files unless you intend to create links at a later stage.
In order to access the list of unreferenced files proceed as follows:
- Select the
"Unreferenced Files" button to access the
"Unreferenced Files" table. The table contains a list of all the
unreferenced files along with the full path of these files. You may select the filename link
to access these files. This operation can take several minutes before it gets
completed, depending on the size of the existing data on the Information Service.
- Place a check mark next to each file entry or press the "Select All"
button to select all the unreferenced files.
- Press the "Delete" button, to delete them. You will be prompted with a
message indicating that the selected files have been removed.
- Press the "OK" button to return to the Information Service Index page.
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Keep the unreferenced files list as minimum as possible, since these
files are inaccessible to the users accessing the information section home
index page. |
Access Control
Access Control defines additional User or User Profiles (e.g. Authors)
access privileges to an Information Service folder (directory).
This feature is usually for Leaders only.
In order to modify the Access Mode for any of the existing folders (directories)
follow the steps presented below:
- Select the "Access Control" button.
- Select a directory [valid values: all characters]
with the "Browse" button and press the "Apply" button.
- You will be presented with the Access Control List page, where you can
view/configure the permission overwrites of any User or User Profile for the
selected directory. Within this page you may view:
- The Access Control List path to the selected directory.
- The applicable Access Control List displaying the existing permissions overwrites status
of Users or User Profiles.
- Go to the "Add to the Access Control List" and select the User or User
Profile and the suitable Access mode to be applied. Press the "Save" button.
For selecting the Users whose access rights you want to change, do the following:
- Press on the "Add" button next to the "User" text field.
A pop-up window will be presented containing the "Search Users" Form.
- Enter a full or partial User Name in the corresponding text field and press the
"Search" button. A list of Users that match will be presented right beneath the text
field (the results will contain only users that are not already in the Access Control List
and cannot administrate this Service).
- Check the box next to the Users you want to select and their names will be listed on the "Selected Users" text field on the top.
- Press the "Add" button to copy the list back to the Access Control List page, or
press the "Exit" button to cancel the selection and close the window.
The applicable access modes, for the Information Service are "Full
Edit", "Access Only" and "Cancel
Overwrites".
- with Full Edit mode the user may upload/delete data under the selected
directory (including subdirectories).
- with Access Only mode the user has read only access to the available data
under the selected directory.
- with Revoke Permissions selection cancels all additional access rights that
the specific User or User Profile had for the particular section.
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You may modify the permission overwrites of a User or an
entire User Profile (i.e. all members of that Profile) by selecting the new access
mode that you want to assign for this particular User or User Profile. The permission overwrites are valid for the current
folder and they are recursively applied to all its subfolders. The
Access Control mechanism can not be
used for diminishing permissions of a "User" or a
"Profile" |
The following table give all the possible combinations of access control list
settings and current user profile permissions. The cell with the dash symbol
denotes an impossible combination. You cannot assign an access
right to a user or a profile which already have it. Only additional
access can be granted through the access control mechanism.
The columns represent the current permissions of a user or profile and the
rows the assigned by the Access Control mechanism permissions. The cells in
the inner of the table represent the effective permissions of the user or
profile which are produced by these two sources of permissions.
Access Control permissions |
User Profile permissions |
No Access | Access Only |
Full Edit | Administrate |
Revoke Permissions |
No Access |
Access Only |
Full Edit |
Administrate |
Access |
Access Only |
- |
- |
- |
Full Edit |
Full Edit |
Full Edit |
- |
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You can Enable or Disable "Anonymous Access" to the selected Directory
by making the appropriate selection from the given drop-down menu. Anonymous Access will
render the information pages in that directory potentially accessible
to the whole Internet community, without need for user name and password.
When you apply permission overwrites at the individual User level, only
the selected user(s) will be automatically granted the assigned permission mode
for the selected directory.
When you apply permission overwrites at an Access User Profile level, all the members
of the selected User Profile will be automatically granted the assigned permission mode for the
selected directory.
If an individual user is a member of a specific User Profile whose permission mode
overlaps that of the individual user, the higher access rights (i.e. the User Profile
access right) will take precedence for the particular user.
The "All Entries" button will generate a list of the currently available access
control rights that apply to the selected directory.
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