About Collections

Xinet plug-ins all operate on the concept of a “Collection,” that is, a group of files selected by a user upon which a particular operation will be performed. A Collection contains one or more files selected from any of the user’s Xinet volumes. In the Xinet interface, all views of files, with the exception of the icon view, present a “Collection” for each file. Checking the Collection for a given file adds the file to the current, or default Collection. The first time a user checks a Collection for a file in a session, a “Collection” window appears as a separate browser window. (Its exact behavior depends on the selected style.)

Figure 0-1 A user’s Collection, Xinet Exhibit theme Portal

Figure 0-2 A user’s Collection, Xinet Exhibit theme Portal

Each user has his or her own set of Collections. They are invisible to other users, even if they share the same Portal login. The current, or active selection is very important in Portal. All the actions users can request on a group of files are performed on this Collection. In order to perform any action on a group of files, the user must make that group the active selection.

All operations upon Collections are implemented using the Basket API. The Xinet Guide to Development APIs describes how these operate, if you’re interested in creating your own plug-in.