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WebDAV (Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning):

Both folder components work with the built-in WebDAV functionality in Content Server that enables users to remotely manage and author content using clients that support the WebDAV protocol.

The WebDAV interface provides a subset of the options available through the browser interface.

In general, you can create, delete, move, and copy both folders and content items, and you can modify and check in content items.

To check out content items through the WebDAV interface, you must use a WebDAV client that can open the file.

To perform other management tasks, such as specifying or propagating metadata values, you must use the standard browser interface.

WebDAV Integration

The Folders/WebDAV component is available as an extra component for download from the support site.

You can use the Folders component to set up an interface to Oracle Content Server in the form of virtual folders that enable you to create a multilevel folder structure and also use the WebDAV component to remotely author and manage your content using clients that support the WebDAV protocol.

■ The Folders component provides a hierarchical folder interface to content in Oracle Content Server. The component is required for WebDAV functionality, and the WebDAV Client product.

■ The WebDAV component enables WebDAV (Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) functionality to remotely author and manage your content using clients that support the WebDAV protocol.

For example, you can use Microsoft Windows Explorer to check in, check out, and modify content in the repository rather than using a web browser interface.

The option to install the WebDAV component is provided during the Folders/WebDAV installation process.

WebDAV (Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) provides a way to remotely author and manage your content using clients that support the WebDAV protocol.

For example, you can use Microsoft Windows Explorer to check in, check out, and modify content in the repository rather than using a web browser interface.

WebDAV is an extension to the HTTP/1.1 protocol that allows clients to perform remote web content authoring operations.

The WebDAV protocol is specified by RFC 2518.0. For more information, see the WebDAV Resources web site at  http://www.webdav.org

WebDAV provides support for the following authoring and versioning functions:

■ Version management

■ Locking for overwrite protection

■ Web page properties

■ Collections of web resources

■ Name space management (copy/move pages on a web server)

■ Access control

When WebDAV is used with a content management system such as Oracle Content Server, the WebDAV client serves as an alternate user interface to the native files in the content repository.

The same versioning and security controls apply, whether an author uses the Oracle Content Server web browser interface or a WebDAV client.

WebDAV Clients

A WebDAV client is an application that can send requests and receive responses using a WebDAV protocol (for example, Microsoft Windows Explorer, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

Check the current WebDAV client documentation for supported versions. The Oracle UCM WebDAV Client is a different product that enhances the WebDAV interface to Oracle Content Server.

You can use WebDAV virtual folders in Windows Explorer to manage files that were created in a non-WebDAV client, but you cannot use the native application to check content in to and out of the Oracle Content Server repository.

The Desktop software package also includes a WebDAV Client component and a Check Out and Open component.
WebDAV Servers

A WebDAV server is a server that can receive requests and send responses using WebDAV protocol and can provide authoring and versioning capabilities.

Because WebDAV requests are sent over HTTP protocol, a WebDAV server typically is built as an add-on component to a standard web server.

In Oracle Content Server, the WebDAV server is used only as an interpreter between clients and Oracle Content Server.

WebDAV Architecture 

WebDAV is implemented in Oracle Content Server by the WebDAV component. The architecture of a WebDAV request follows these steps:

1. The WebDAV client makes a request to Oracle Content Server.

2. The message is processed by the web server (through a DLL in IIS).

3. On Oracle Content Server, the WebDAV component performs these functions:

■ Recognizes the client request as WebDAV.

■ Maps the client request to the appropriate WebDAV service call on Oracle Content Server.

■ Converts the client request from a WebDAV request to the appropriate Oracle Content Server request.

■ Connects to the core Oracle Content Server and executes the Oracle Content Server request.

4. The WebDAV component converts the Oracle Content Server response into a WebDAV response and returns it to the WebDAV client.