How do I create an OpenSocial widget?

OpenSocial gadget-based widgets allow various actions and URLs to be rendered in the Notes client.

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Notes 9.0 and later supports rendering of OpenSocial-compliant gadgets. All gadgets that are rendered in Notes must have corresponding widgets in the widget catalog, and the administrator must have approved those widgets.

OpenSocial Widget type

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The OpenSocial widget type supports creating widgets based on existing OpenSocial gadgets. A widget developer can create an OpenSocial widget by using the new OpenSocial widget wizard. OpenSocial widgets can be used like other widget types in that you can perform these tasks:
  • Open them in a tab, new window, floating window, or in a sidebar panel
  • Wire live text to widget actions

An OpenSocial gadget can also provide advanced features (such as using APIs, OAuth, and rendering in an embedded experience), as detailed in the Social Gadget Specification. Due to the use of advanced features, OpenSocial widgets need to be approved by an administrator before they are made available for client use. When a widget developer creates a widget, the developer needs to publish their widget to a corporate widget catalog. The widget catalog administrator then needs to approve the widget. Once approved, Notes® users can install the widget from the catalog, and render the widget in their clients.

Widget developers can create OpenSocial widgets using:
  1. The Getting Started with Widgets toolbar action, or the Tools > Widgets > Getting Started with Widgets menu command
  2. The My Widgets sidebar panel menu Configure a widget from > OpenSocial Gadget command
  3. The Configure a widget from the current context toolbar action when an OpenSocial Gadget is open in the Notes® embedded browser
When creating an OpenSocial widget, Required and Optional features may be listed, as they are listed in the underlying gadget’s definition. Widget developers can disable or enable optional features.
Note: If there is at least one Required feature that is not supported by the client, the widget developer is not allowed to create the widget.

Enabling a URL for an embedded experience

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Notes® includes a page in the web widget creation wizard to enable a URL for use as an embedded experience in an email. In the wizard page, the widget developer can select a check box and enter a URL that they want to be embedded into an email. After the widget is published to the corporate widget catalog, and approved by the widget catalog administrator, users can install the widget and then have the ability to render the URL embedded in an email.
Configure this widget for Embedded Experiences wizard page
The URL field can contain a wild card, so that many URLs from the same site can be trusted to be embedded in an email. Examples of URLs include:
  • http://my.server.com/
  • http://my.server.com/*
  • http://my.server.com/directory
  • http://my.server.com/directory/*
  • http://my.server.com/directory/file.html
Note: Host names cannot contain a wild card.
To use Microsoft™ Internet Explorer (IE) for a given URL embedded experience, follow the web widget creation wizard, except in the Select a web page dialog, choose IE under the Open with - Embedded browser: option. This tells the embedded experience code to use IE instead of XULRunner.
Select a web page dialog with IE option selected
Note: This option is only supported for Microsoft™ Windows™ operating systems.

Publishing the widget to the catalog

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The newly created widget can be published to the catalog as in previous releases, using the widget's right-click Publish to Catalog command.

Approving the widget for availability to client users

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After the widget is added to the widget catalog, the widget catalog administrator needs to approve the widget for use. See the IBM® Domino® Administrator documentation for more information on approving widgets.

Installing and using the widget

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After the widget catalog administrator has approved the widget, users can install it by dragging and dropping the widget into the My Widgets sidebar panel. When the widget is installed, the advanced features of the gadget are enabled in the client. Users can also start receiving embedded experience emails that embed the OpenSocial gadget or URL.