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Connect SEAL Operator/Web Portal

This use case describes how to configure distribution via the WEBPORTAL channel: PLOSSYS Distribution Engine uploads distributed files to a new SEAL Operator/Web Portal share and can notify receivers by e-mail. For more information refer to the SEAL Operator documentation.

The connector seal-dpf-workingunit-webportal is part of PLOSSYS Distribution Engine. SEAL Operator/Web Portal is not included and must be licensed and installed separately, refer to Architecture Overview.

Prerequisites

  • SAP DDD is connected to PLOSSYS Distribution Engine, refer to Architecture Overview. For the SAP-side setup, refer to the chapter "Output via PLOSSYS Distribution Engine" in the SAP Document Distribution Director documentation.
  • SEAL Operator/Web Portal is installed and reachable.
  • The Web Portal connector is not active in SEAL Operator by default. Activate it and obtain a client ID and secret, refer to Connect the Web Portal on Linux or Windows.
  • The SEAL-specific Keycloak provides a preconfigured client named seal-webportal for this purpose, refer to SEAL Clients.
  • seal-dpf-workingunit-webportal is installed as part of PLOSSYS Distribution Engine and running, refer to Services.

Activate the Web Portal Channel

To activate the Web Portal channel, execute the following steps in SAP:

  1. Start transaction /n/seal/img.

  2. Navigate to SEAL BC Sets → BC Sets PLOSSYS Distribution Engine (BC Set /SEAL/DDD_DST_DEV, registers the WEBPORTAL output device together with EMAIL and FILEOUT in one shared BC Set).

  3. Check the delivered defaults and activate the BC Set for the desired SAP order type, for example PUR.

    Hint - related BC Set

    /SEAL/DDD_DST_WP_DAT presets the job-level fields WP_DESCRIPTION, WP_EXP_DATE, WP_NAME, WP_NOTIFY, WP_PUBLIC, and WP_SHAREWITH for order type PUR, and maps them to the WEBPORTAL_COLLECTION_* parameters, refer to Web Portal.

Configure the Distribution Engine Server

Execute the following steps on the Distribution Engine server:

  1. Open the <DIST_CONFIG>.ini file selected by the DIST_CONFIG parameter:

    • Windows: D:\SEAL\customer\server\dpf\conf\dpf4distribute\webportal.ini (default installation drive)
    • Linux: /opt/seal/server/dpf/conf/dpf4distribute/webportal.ini

    Hint - only the file name is configurable

    The directory is fixed. Only the file name changes, following the DIST_CONFIG value passed from SAP.

  2. Add the channel activation entry:

    DistChannel_1 = dpf4distribute.DistributeWebportal

    Caution - DistChannel_1 is required

    Without this DistChannel_n entry, no file is uploaded even if the connection parameters are set correctly.

  3. Set the Web Portal connection parameters, for example:

    WEBPORTAL_UI_URL = https://<web-portal-host>/
WEBPORTAL_OPERATOR_URL = https://<web-portal-api-host>:3008
WEBPORTAL_CLIENT_ID = <client-id>
WEBPORTAL_CLIENT_SECRET = <client-secret>
WEBPORTAL_USERNAME = <username>
WEBPORTAL_PASSWORD = <password>

    Hint - job-level parameters

    Share-specific settings (name, description, expiration, sharing, public access) are passed per job via the WEBPORTAL_COLLECTION_* parameters, refer to Web Portal.

  4. Open the configuration file for the connector service:

    • Windows: C:\ProgramData\SEAL Systems\config\seal-dpf-workingunit-webportal.yml
    • Linux: /opt/seal/etc/seal-dpf-workingunit-webportal.yml

  5. Set RESTWU_URL_ORIGIN to match the installation mode:

    • HTTPS only (default): https://localhost:9126
    • HTTP: http://localhost:9125

    Caution - port 9126 is hardcoded

    Refer to Ports. The DPF REST WU Manager port itself cannot be changed. Only which of the two (9125/9126) this service connects to is configurable.

Create a Folder Structure

By default, PLOSSYS Distribution Engine places every distributed file directly in the share, without subfolders.

To create a folder structure in the share:

  1. Set DIST_FILENAME to a path that includes one or more folder names, followed by the file name, for example:

    DIST_FILENAME = folder one/folder two/file.pdf

    PLOSSYS Distribution Engine creates the folders folder one/folder two/ inside the share and places the file there.

  2. To generate this path per SAP order or document automatically, configure a data evaluation in SAP, for example one folder per order and a subfolder per document level. If a data evaluation is not sufficient, a user exit can fill the DIST_FILENAME RLI column using the working unit rli.fillcolumn.

    Hint - underlying job parameter

    PLOSSYS Distribution Engine translates DIST_FILENAME into the WEBPORTAL_TARGET_FILE_N job parameter internally, refer to Web Portal.

Validate

  1. In SAP, trigger a message for a purchase order that uses the WEBPORTAL channel.

  2. On the Distribution Engine server, check that the output order was processed in the DPF Tracker.

  3. In SEAL Operator/Web Portal, check that a new share was created with the expected files and receivers.

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