Brent Genereux, Senior Software Consultant
Favorite new feature: Containerization

Containerization with Docker and Kubernetes has the potential to drastically reduce WebCenter maintenance effort. Tasks like creating and upgrading instances, moving instances to new hardware, and scaling up environments tend to be large undertakings requiring several dedicated resources but by utilizing Docker images, one person could quickly create a new instance of WebCenter Content for development or testing purposes. This can be performed within minutes and would provide the new environment in a consistent state.

The task of moving a WebCenter Content instance to new hardware or a new datacenter would now simply involve transferring the Docker images to new locations and starting up new containers from those images. By bringing Kubernetes into the picture, new nodes can be automatically created, allowing the environment to be scaled up at a moment’s notice. This gives the environment the capability it needs at any time.

Jason Schafer, Software Consultant Manager
Favorite new feature: Desktop Integration Suite supporting Microsoft Office & Framework folders

The latest version of WebCenter 12c Desktop Integration Suite now supports Office 365 Desktop and Office 2019. Desktop Integration Suite allows users to interact directly with Microsoft documents, for example, opening Office documents at check-out, the ability to ‘Save As’ at check-in, search, compare revisions, and insert files or links into files within a document. Because of this, users can upgrade to the latest version of Office and still be supported while using Desktop Integration Suite. This will be a sigh of relief to many users that had to stop using the Desktop Integration Suite to use the latest version of Office.

Users taking advantage of Framework folders can now ‘Enable’ or ‘Disable’ the trash folder. This allows users the ability to remove manual processes that have been put in place to permanently delete trash folder items. If a user has administration privileges, they can set the changes within the Framework Folders’ Trash Configuration settings. By default, Framework folders are enabled. This new option within Framework folders is designed for users who do not want to retain the deleted content items. It can also help resolve issues for users facing challenges with auto-replication from the trash folder. Allowing admin users to not have to conduct this manual process or investigate why an auto-replication did not work properly saves time for everyone involved.

Jerry Aber, Director of Solutions
Favorite new feature: REST API support

Currently, WebCenter uses a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) API architecture, which has an official standard because it is a protocol. A key capability on the Oracle WebCenter Roadmap will include REST (Representational State Transfer) API support for interacting with the Content Server services. It is a software architecture style that relies on a stateless communications protocol, most commonly, HTTP. REST is very data-driven compared to SOAP, which is strongly function-driven.

In addition to using HTTP for simplicity, REST offers several other benefits over SOAP. REST allows a greater variety of data formats, whereas SOAP only allows XML. Coupled with JSON (which typically works better with data and offers faster parsing), REST is generally considered easier to work with. This future addition should be well received from development organizations who have an interest standardizing their architectures for integration.

From containerization to Desktop Integration Suite, to Framework folders and REST API support, our team is beyond excited for the new WebCenter features to roll out over the next year. If you have questions regarding the WebCenter roadmap or would like to get more life out of your current WebCenter configuration, reach out to us on our website or email us at [email protected]. We’ve been dedicated to Oracle WebCenter since our inception in 1999 and bring decades of experience and knowledge to every project we work on.

Wand to hear Fishbowl Solutions’ deep-dive into the new Oracle Roadmap? Watch our on-demand webinar here.