Links in Extended notifications need to point to portal not backend

[Mike Pokraka]

Hi Margaret,

Yes, what Jocelyn suggested (thanks!) was exactly what I did. Memory was a
bit hazy and I was going to look at my notes when I got home and promptly
forgot - my apologies.
I think this wasn't doable as an enhancement and thus I copied the class
and modified the method. The only gotcha is that SAP notes won't be
applied. However I recall my mod was a simple chunk of code, so I could
always re-copy the SAP class following a patch/note and paste my code back
into the appropriate place.
If you still want more details I am happy to go and dig through my notes.

Cheers,
Mike


On Wed, July 21, 2010 1:30 pm, Hilsbos, Margaret A wrote:
> Hi,
>
> (I changed the subject line to make it more relevant to the actual issue -
> this thread began life as "Extended notifications and UWL- no
> notifications created/sent")
>
> I built the simple BSP, as Mike suggested, to do the redirect. The
> redirect page works fine when I paste the link into the browser with an
> appropriate query string. The problem now is that I can't find where to
> change the extended notification to call my new portal iView that is based
> on the BSP. I tried changing the host values in SWNCONFIG general
> settings, but the resulting email is still building the url's for the user
> decision based on the swn_wiexecute BSP (i.e. same as before). As I think
> Jocelyn had noted previously, the host values in general settings are not
> the place to influence this.
>
> So this is where I am stuck - how do we change the url that is called when
> a user clicks a user decision link in the extended notification emails?
> (The objective is to require the portal login credentials instead of the
> backend credentials when the user clicks a user decision link or
> execute/display work item.)
>
> Some possible options I see are:
>
> *       Custom message template (which I don't quite know how to do yet)
> *       Enhance the standard message template (not sure if that will work)
> *       Do away with the user decision links and embed the links in the
> email text (this is easier for one workflow, but more work if we want all
> workflows to work this way)
>
> This seems like it is more difficult than it should be ... am I missing
> something basic? I am also wondering -
> *       if there are any settings that can be made in SICF for the web
> service that would accomplish our objective
> *       Is there something that can be done with visualization settings
> (SWFVISU) for the user decision task, so that it opens a webdynpro in the
> portal? (I haven't done anything that required SWFVISU yet, so I don't
> know it well, but it seems like it might be the intended approach)
>
> Can anyone provide advice or suggestions?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> Margaret Hilsbos
> Business Systems Analyst
> Day & Zimmermann, Inc.
> (215) 299-5630
> margaret.hilsbos at dayzim.com
>
> This e-mail message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
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> intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sap-wug-bounces at MIT.EDU [mailto:sap-wug-bounces at MIT.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Hilsbos, Margaret A
> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 2:43 PM
> To: SAP Workflow Users' Group
> Subject: RE: Extended notifications and UWL- no notifications created/sent
>
> Mike,
>
> Thanks again, this sounds like it will work and not be too difficult to
> accomplish. It might be next week or longer until I get to try it, but
> once I do, I will post again with my results.
>
> Have a great weekend!
>
> Margaret Hilsbos
> Business Systems Analyst
> Day & Zimmermann, Inc.
> (215) 299-5630
> margaret.hilsbos at dayzim.com
>
> This e-mail message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
> may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized
> review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the
> intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy
> all copies of the original message.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf
> Of Mike Pokraka
> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 12:27 PM
> To: SAP Workflow Users' Group
> Subject: RE: Extended notifications and UWL- no notifications created/sent
>
> Hi Margaret,
>
> Yes, that's exactly it. Memory is a bit hazy, but it went something like:
>
> - Configure the BSP as an iView in the portal.
>
> - In SWNADMIN plug the portal's path to the BSP iview somewhere into the
> config (SAP backend hostname?).
>
> - The BSP basically takes whatever URL it's being called with, strips out
> the portal portion and replaces it with the backend. Then it redirects the
> user there. I think I just did a simple navigation in the OnRequest event
> handler.
>
> - To enable a BSP for anonymous login you give it a fixed username in
> SICF. Any requests to that BSP will be executed under that ID. Although on
> second thoughts I think this wasn't necessary, the iview was already
> enough to force a login via the portal.
>
> Cheers,
> Mike
>
>
> On Fri, June 25, 2010 1:51 pm, Hilsbos, Margaret A wrote:
>> Mike,
>>
>> Thanks for your help! I verified that it does work on my system exactly
>> as
>> you've described, so your fix should work for us.  I have just enough
>> BSP
>> and portal knowledge to be dangerous, but I can get help if I need it.
>>
>> If I understand correctly, we need to:
>>
>> 1) create a bsp application that redirects to the SAP standard page (I
>> take it that is 'swn_wiexecute' with the query string appended)
>> 2) configure extended notifications to point to the custom page
>>
>> Couple questions -
>> 1) where do I call out the new bsp page in the extended notifications
>> configuration?
>> 2) how do I set the bsp application for anonymous access?
>>
>> With those bits filled in this sounds like a very simple and useful
>> solution.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Margaret Hilsbos
>> Business Systems Analyst
>> Day & Zimmermann, Inc.
>> (215) 299-5630
>> margaret.hilsbos at dayzim.com
>>
>> This e-mail message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
>> may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized
>> review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not
>> the
>> intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and
>> destroy
>> all copies of the original message.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf
>> Of Mike Pokraka
>> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 6:08 AM
>> To: SAP Workflow Users' Group
>> Subject: RE: Extended notifications and UWL- no notifications
>> created/sent
>>
>> Hi Margaret,
>>
>> The good news: I've encountered this and have a simple workaround.
>> The potential bad news: you will need a little BSP and portal skills, if
>> this is not your area then hopefully you have some people who can help.
>>
>> As you picked up, this is an authentication issue that would not
>> normally
>> happen if userids & passwords were synchronised. The exact mechanics
>> depend on your landscape, but in my case if users log onto the portal
>> BEFORE clicking on the approve/reject link in the mail, it worked fine
>> because there was an established session it could use. But if you click
>> on
>> the link without first logging onto the portal it will try to
>> authenticate
>> via the backend because that's there the approve/reject link points to.
>> (Please check this applies to you before proceeding).
>>
>> The last bit is the key - the approve/reject link points to the backend,
>> so if no session exists it will try to authenticate there. My hack
>> involved a simple BSP app which redirects the user to the real page.
>> This
>> app is set up for anonymous access so no auth is needed until the user
>> lands in the portal.
>>
>> Extended notifications are then configured to point to the BSP page,
>> which
>> simply redirects to the 'real' link.
>>
>> Hope that makes sense. If not let me know and I will try to dig through
>> my
>> notes for more details.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Mike
>>
>> On Thu, June 24, 2010 2:16 pm, Hilsbos, Margaret A wrote:
>>> Jocelyn,
>>>
>>> Thanks for your info and clarifications, your response is very helpful!
>>>
>>> But, if I follow your suggestions, can I get all the links in the
>>> email,
>> other than the Inbox link, to go directly to the work item via the UWL,
>> not the backend system? I mean for Execute Work Item, Display Work Item,
>> and User Decision links.  We are trying to avoid user confusion when
>> their
>>> passwords differ between portal and backend. Many of our workflow users
>> will not be regular backend SAP users ... we want to give them the
>> direct
>>> links - including direct approve/reject from the email - but NOT have
>> them
>>> worrying about which password to use (and not submitting Help Desk
>> tickets).
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Margaret Hilsbos
>>> Business Systems Analyst
>>> Day & Zimmermann, Inc.
>>> (215) 299-5630
>>> margaret.hilsbos at dayzim.com<mailto:margaret.hilsbos at dayzim.com>
>>>
>
>
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