Portal, Express Beta Version 6.1 Operating systems: i5/OS, Linux,Windows

Roles and access levels

Use the Role portlet to manage membership roles for composite applications. From the drop-down menu of an application template that is listed in the Application Template Library, click Manage Roles to display the Roles portlet.

The roles defined in an application template specify the levels of access that application members have when they work with instances of composite applications created from the template. You can view membership roles already defined, create new roles for the application, edit the definition of a role, and delete a role. When you create or edit a membership role, you specify or change the name of the role, its description, and its access settings. The access settings that you select for a given role determine the permissions that application users have to work with the application, its pages, and the components of the application. The roles that you define in the template are also available for editing by application users with permission to edit the application. The roles that you define in the template become available to application users when they work with the membership portlet. Application users who have permission to manage members also use the membership portlet to add users to the membership list of the application and assign them roles; to reassign member roles; to remove members; and to restrict application access to members only or to make the application available to all authenticated users.

Viewing roles

If no new roles have been created in the template, the list of roles includes only the default roles, Administrators and Users. From the list of roles, you can view the roles that are defined for the application and see a description of the access that each role provides to members assigned the role. The role description generally identifies the limits of application access and is useful for distinguishing roles that provide manager access from roles that provide non-manager access. A role that provides manager access to the application can include permission to edit the application or manage the membership of the application, or both. These application-specific permissions are indicated by a check mark that indicates whether these permissions are enabled for the role: Edit Application and Manage Members. If the role is not the last one that permits users to edit the application, you can delete the role.

Creating and editing roles

Clicking New or the name of a role opens the window for creating a new role or editing an existing role. You can choose to base the new role on an existing role. When you create or edit a role, you select options for Application Access Settings and Pages and Components Access Settings to choose the level of access that users will have for the application, its pages, and the components of the application.

• Application access

  All members of an application can view and use application pages, regardless of their assigned roles. Two additional settings grant permission at the application level: Also allow members of this role to edit the application and Also allow members of this role to manage the membership of the application. Select one or both settings to extend the access provided by the role.

  If you are editing a role that provides manager access and it is the only role that provides manager access, you cannot edit these settings. An application template must have at least one role that provides manager access. If you are creating a new role or editing a role that provides non-manager access, you can edit these settings. Choosing to allow members of the role to edit the application automatically grants permission to manage members; that is, if the role allows application editing, it must also allow membership management. You can, however, choose to allow members of the role to manage membership without allowing application editing.

• Pages and components access

  The levels of access that are available for selection for all application pages and for each application component are the portal roles that assign access rights to portal resources: No Access, Administrator, Security Administrator, Delegator, Manager, Editor, Contributor, Privileged User, and User. Each access level includes a description next to the portal role name: for example, Manager (Managers are allowed to create, edit, and delete shared resources).

  The level of access that you select for All Application Pages determines the permission set that users in the role will have to work with any and all pages of the application.

  The level of access that you select for each component of the application determines the permission set is that users in the role will have to work with the component.

For more information about using application templates to manage membership roles for composite applications, see the Help topics that are available after you select Manage Roles from the menu of the application template.