Configuring application switcher (Nomad for web browsers)

Application (app) switcher is an optional, configurable dropdown menu displayed on the left of HCL Nomad for web browsers' navigation bar. Each app switcher menu entry shows an application icon followed by the application’s name. Clicking on an app switcher menu entry navigates to the corresponding application address in a new browser tab.

The configuration of the app switcher can be done even after HCL Nomad for web browsers has been deployed. The app switcher configuration is retrieved from the network each time the user loads Nomad. The cache is then updated with the latest version pulled. If Nomad were to enter Offline mode, the last cached version of the app switcher configuration is used.

Note: Application switcher is not supported by HCL Nomad for iOS or HCL Nomad for Android.

How to configure app switcher?

Where is the app-config.json file?

App switcher can be configured in the app-config.json file. A template of the app-config.json file, named app-config-template.json, can be found in the config folder on the root path of the HCL Nomad for web browsers' source folder.

To configure app switcher, make a copy of the app-config-template.json file and name it to app-config.json. Then customize the app-config.json file based on the information in the section below.

Once deployed, the app-config.json file should be accessible from the same common path as where HCL Nomad for web browsers is deployed. For example, if HCL Nomad for web browsers’ URL is https://example.org/nomad/index.html, then app-config.json should be accessible from https://example.org/nomad/config/app-config.json.

Configure the app-config.json file for the app switcher

The app-config.json file is in JSON format. Create an entry in app-config.json named appSwitcher and add the attributes below:
Attribute Type Description
visible Boolean Only show the app switcher when visible is true.
Apps Array of app objects A list of applications to show in the app switcher's dropdown menu.
Add the following attributes for each app object:
Attribute Type Required Description
label String Yes Application name
URL String Yes Application https URL
icon String No Predefined icon name or customized icon URL to show in front of the application name. Predefined icons are Verse, Volt, Sametime, Connections and Nomad. Refer to the section below if you want to use customized application icons. A default icon will be used when the icon attribute is not given.

Use a customized icon

To use a customized icon, set the icon’s URL in the icon attribute. The icon needs to be served via the HTTPS protocol and if the icon is hosted in a different origin, the response MUST have the following HTTP header to be displayed: Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy: cross-origin.
Note: The URL field can contain several special notes::// links. For more information, see Setting notes.ini values.