Partner Portal Use Cases

  • Article

This topic includes procedures for the following use cases for the Partner Portal application:

  • Configuring the Sites to Appear in the Left Navigation Bar. This is a preliminary procedure that makes the subsites visible in the left navigation bar.
  • Creating Incident Management Sites. This procedure creates incident management sites for Partner 1 and Partner 2. The procedure simulates the actions of a line-of-business system that automatically creates these sites when certain business events occur.
  • Creating an Order Exception Site. This procedure is similar to creating incident management sites.
  • Viewing the Product Catalog. This procedure shows how to browse the Contoso product catalog.
  • Viewing a Product Category and the Navigation Control. This procedure shows how to navigate through a product category in the catalog. It also shows the breadcrumb navigation control.
  • Viewing a Product Details Page. This procedure shows how to navigate to the details page for a particular product and how to check to see if parts are available.
  • Creating a Promotion. This procedure shows how to create and publish a new promotion page.
  • Attaching an Access Control List to the Promotion Page. This procedure shows how to control who can see the promotion page.
  • Searching Across Multiple Site Collections. This procedure shows how to aggregate information across multiple site collections. It first shows how to attach tasks to incidents and then how to search for those tasks.
  • Logging a Partner Discount Trace Message. This procedure shows how to find warnings in the event viewer and the Universal Logging System.

Configuring the Sites to Appear in the Left Navigation Bar

You must configure the incident and order exception sites to appear in the left navigation bar. By default, they are not shown. The following procedure shows how to do this.

To make the subsites visible

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/partner1/incidents/default.aspx.
  2. Click the Site Actions tab.
  3. Click Site Settings.
  4. On the Site Settings Page, click Navigation.
  5. On the Site Navigation Settings page, select the Show subsites check box. Click OK.
  6. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/partner1/orderexceptions/default.aspx. Perform the same steps to make the order exception sites visible.
  7. Perform the same steps for Partner2 incidents sites and order exception sites:
    1. https://localhost:9001/sites/partner2/incidents/default.aspx
    2. https://localhost:9001/sites/partner2/orderexceptions/default.aspx

Creating Incident Management Sites

This procedure shows how to create incident sites in the Partner 1 collaboration portal. This simulates the behavior of a line-of-business (LOB) system that automatically creates an incident subsite when particular business events occur. You can create two incidents for Partner 1. They will be located in the Partner 1 collaboration portal. You can repeat the procedure to create incident subsites for Partner 2.

To create incident sites for Partner 1

  1. Open https://localhost:8585/Contoso.LOB.Web/NewIncidentSite.aspx.

    Note

    This page may not open, depending on the security policy settings of your system. If this occurs, comment out the line <trust lever=”Full”/> in the \spgdropLocation\Source\ PartnerPortal\Contoso.LOB.Services\web.config file.

  2. In the drop-down box, click [Partner:ContosoPartner1][IncidentId:1] - X-ray machine: Installation issues. Click Create Site.

  3. In the drop-down box, click [Partner:ContosoPartner1][IncidentId:2] - Contoso Blood Pressure Kit: Item damaged during delivery. Click Create Site.

  4. Repeat the procedure for the Partner 2 incidents.

    Note

    Sometimes the workflow process may take several minutes. You can see workflow status by browsing to https://localhost:9001/sites/PartnerCentral/SpgSubsite/Lists/SubSiteCreationRequests/AllItems.aspx.

  5. Verify that the incident sites were created and are visible to Partner 1. Open https://localhost:9001/sites/partner1/ or log on to https://servername:9002/sites/partner1/ as ContosoPartner1User1. Click Manage Incidents. The following illustration shows the incidents on the Partner 1 incidents site.

    Partner 1 incident site

    Ff649943.362fdca9-b90b-4f3d-b570-13e2ea0f9ccf(en-us,PandP.10).png

  6. Verify that the incident sites are in the Partner 1 site collection. Click either the Incident 1 or Incident 2 link. The Incident page opens. The following illustration shows the Incident 1 page.

    Incident 1 page

    Ff649943.4f27f63c-b0f2-47d0-a8ac-1ff735e00881(en-us,PandP.10).png

  7. An alternative way to validate that the incident subsites exist is to view the All Site Content page. On the Partner 1 Incidents page, click Sites in the vertical navigation bar. The All Site Content page opens. It should display all of the incidents that you created.

  8. Repeat the procedure for Partner 2. Log on to https://localhost:9001/sites/partner2/incidents/default.aspx or to https://servername:9002/sites/partner2/incidents/default.aspx as ContosoPartner2User2 to verify that the sites were created.

Creating an Order Exception Site

The following procedure shows how to create an order exception site in the Partner 1 site collection. It is similar to the procedure in Creating Incident Management Sites.

To create an order exception site

  1. Open https://localhost:8585/Contoso.LOB.Web/CreateOrderExceptionSite.aspx.

  2. In the Partner text box, type ContosoPartner1.

  3. In the Order Exception Id text box, type an alphabetical string. Click Create Site.

    Note

    Workflow processes may take several minutes. You can see the workflow status by browsing to https://localhost:9001/sites/PartnerCentral/SpgSubsite/Lists/SubSiteCreationRequests/AllItems.aspx.

  4. Verify that the order exception site is in the Partner 1 site collection. Open https://localhost:9001/sites/partner1/ or log on to https://servername:9002/sites/partner1/ as ContosoPartner1User1. If you do not see the order exception, click Sites. The All Site Content page appears. It displays the incidents and the order exceptions. Click Order Exceptions.

Viewing the Product Catalog

This procedure shows how to view the Contoso product catalog.

To view the product catalog

  1. Open https://localhost:9001 or log on to https://servername:9002/ as ContosoPartner1User1.

  2. Click Product Catalog. The product catalog page opens. The following illustration shows the catalog.

    Contoso product catalog

    Ff649943.6314775e-23a5-4405-9654-9c551e02b1a8(en-us,PandP.10).png

Viewing a Product Category and the Navigation Control

This procedure shows how to view a product category and displays the breadcrumb navigation control. The product catalog page should be open. (See Viewing the Product Catalog.)

To view a product category and the breadcrumb navigation control

  1. In the Category List, click Dental Equipment.

  2. In Category List, right-click X-Ray. The page in the following illustration appears.

    X-Ray catalog page

    Ff649943.16affa44-6158-458d-a3f4-50fad1c99627(en-us,PandP.10).png

    The bread crumb navigation shows the path from the root category to the X-Ray page.

Viewing a Product Details Page

This procedure shows how to view a product details page. The X-Ray page should be open. (See Viewing a Product Category and the Navigation Control.)

To view a product details page

  1. In Product List, under Name, click X-Ray Machine. The Product Detail page appears. The following illustration shows this.

    X-Ray product details

    Ff649943.0f7cbb1b-46cc-4762-ac78-77c4b6931e83(en-us,PandP.10).png

  2. Click Load Parts. The message, "No parts found" appears.

  3. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/ProductCatalog/Product.aspx?sku=1000000000. The Blood Pressure Kit page appears. Click Load Parts. The list of parts shows "1 Part 1" and "2 Part 2".

Creating a Promotion

The following procedure shows how to create a promotion for a product.

To create a promotion

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:9001. In the navigation bar, click Promotions.

  2. Click Site Actions, and then click Create Page. The Create Page page appears. The following illustration shows this.

    Page for creating promotions

    Ff649943.ecb76758-96d6-485c-8a43-91008a903536(en-us,PandP.10).png

  3. In the combo box, verify that the following two layout pages are available:

    • (PromotionPage) PromotionLayout.aspx
    • (PromotionPage) PromotionLayoutVerticalStack.aspx

  4. In the Title text box, type the name for the promotion. This example uses the name MyPromo1.

  5. In the combo box, click (PromotionPage) PromotionLayout.aspx.

  6. Click Create. The MyPromo1 design page opens. The following illustration shows this.

    Design page for promotions

    Ff649943.cc1aff49-0842-4051-bdcc-4a955677ba40(en-us,PandP.10).png

  7. In the Product SKU Field, enter a valid SKU, such as 6000000000.

  8. In the Promotion Name Field, click Click here to add new content, and then enter a name for the promotion, such as Contoso Promotion.

  9. In Promotion Image Field, click Click to add a new picture. The Edit Image Properties dialog box appears. In this dialog box, do the following:

    1. Click the Browse button that is next to the Selected Image text box.
    2. Click the WWHO8_Doctors_around_System2 image. Click OK.
    3. Click OK.

  10. The MyPromo1 page opens with the new image.

  11. In the Zone 1 section, click the edit drop-down box. Point to Connections. Click GetProduct SKU Connection Consumer From. Click Page Field Filter. The Configure Connection dialog box appears. Select the filtered parameter Sku.

    Note

    If the Configure Connection dialog box appears blank, follow these steps:
    1. Close the Configure Connection dialog box.
    2. Save the current promotion page. Click the Check In to Share Draft button.
    3. Change the URL of the current page, replacing “localhost” with the machine name.
    4. Click Site Actions, Edit Page.
    5. Repeat step 11.

  12. Perform the previous step for the Zone 2 Product Pricing and Promotion Discounts Web Parts.

  13. In the Filtered Parameter drop-down box, click Sku. Click Finish. This retrieves the product details.

  14. Add the Silverlight control. On the MyPromo1 page, in the Windows Media Field text box, enter /sites/Promotions/Movie Libraries/DemoMedia/intro.wmv.

  15. On the navigation bar near the top of the page, click Publish. The finished promotional page opens. Play the Silverlight control.

  16. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/partner1/. The new promotion should be listed under My Promotions.

Attaching an Access Control List to the Promotion Page

You can attach an access control list (ACL) to a promotion page to limit the partners who can see it. The following procedure prevents Partner 2 from seeing the promotion.

To attach an ACL to a promotion page

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/Promotions/Pages/default.aspx. The Promotions page opens.
  2. Right-click on the MyPromo1 drop-down box (or whatever name you gave the page in Creating a Promotion), and then click Manage Permissions.
  3. Click the Actions drop-down box, and then click Edit Permissions. The Message from webpage dialog box appears. Click OK.
  4. The Permissions: MyPromo1 page appears. Select the ContosoFbaPartner2 check box and the ContosoWinPartner2 check box. Click the Actions drop-down box, and then click Remove User Permissions.
  5. The Message from webpage dialog box appears. Click OK. The Permissions: MyPromo1 page appears. Note that ContosoFbaPartner2 and ContosoWinPartner2 no longer appear on the page.

Searching Across Multiple Site Collections

These procedures show how to search for incidents. Contoso employees perform this action to see a list of all tasks for all incidents. The first procedure shows how to associate tasks with incidents. The second procedure shows how to search for those tasks.

Creating an Incident Task

The following procedure adds a task to Partner 1: Incident 1.

To create an incident task

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/partner1/. In the left navigation bar, click Sites. On the All Site Content page, click Incidents. Click Incident: 1.
  2. On the Incident: 1 page, click Incident Tasks. Click the New drop-down box, and then click Incident Task. The Incident Tasks: New Item page opens.
  3. In the Title text box, enter a name for the incident. Click OK.
  4. Repeat the procedure for other incidents that you have created. To create tasks for Partner 2 incidents, navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/partner2/.

Searching the Site Collections for Incidents

The following procedure shows how to search in different site collections for incidents. All partners have their own site collections.

To search the site collections

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.

  2. In the left navigation bar, click ContosoSSP. The Home page opens.

  3. Under Search, click Search administration. The Search Administration page opens.

  4. In the left navigation bar, click Content Sources. The Manage Content Sources page opens.

  5. In the Name drop-down box, click Local Office SharePoint Server Sites, and then click Start Full Crawl. Note that a full crawl can take several minutes, depending how the size of the site.

    Note

    If the site has already been through a full crawl, you can select the Start Incremental Crawl. This only checks for changes since the last crawl, so it is much faster than a full crawl.

  6. To view the results of the crawl, navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/PartnerCentral/default.aspx. The following illustration shows a sample result.

Sample crawl results

Ff649943.062b9f7c-6372-43a4-9cc3-99d6c2787c28(en-us,PandP.10).png

The above search results do not include incident task status values. To include the status values in the search results, you must associate the status crawled property with a managed metadata property.

To include status values in the search results

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
  2. In the left navigation bar, click ContosoSSP. The Home page opens.
  3. Under Search, click Search settings.
  4. Under Crawl Settings, click Metadata property mappings.
  5. Navigate to the next page of managed properties and click the property Status.
  6. In the section Mappings to crawled properties, click the Add Mapping button.
  7. In the Crawled property name field, type “status” and click Find.
  8. Select ows_Status(Text) and click OK.
  9. Click OK on the Edit Managed Property – Status page.
  10. Follow the above instructions to start a full crawl and view the results of the crawl.

Logging a Partner Discount Trace Message

There are two logging operations and two locations that contain logging messages. The following table shows the operations and locations.

Operation

Location

LogToOperations

Event viewer and Unified Logging System

TraceToDeveloper

Unified Logging System

The following procedure shows how to write a trace message and then view it.

To create and search for a logging event

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:9001/sites/ProductCatalog/Product.aspx?sku=6000000000. This is the product details page for the X-ray machine. This creates a trace message that there are no discounts available.
  2. To see the log entry in the Unified Logging System, navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS.
  3. Open the most recent text file and search for "No discounts" to find the event.

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