This page contains tutorial videos on how to create Widgets and Live Text actions for those Widgets.
Widget and LiveText technology allows users to automatically recognize patterns of data in emails and any unstructured text. Widgets then provides a set of custom defined actions, linking to existing web applications, pulling down an RSS feed, opening a gadget to get a map or a stock quote. The number of options are unlimited. The ability to build Widgets and Live Text is unlimited, and only requires using a simple wizard and at the most writing a regular expression for data recognition.
To see a video demonstration of Widgets and Live Text in IBM Notes 9.0 and IBM iNotes 9.0, you can go
here.
For more info on Widgets and Live Text, you can go
here.
You can create Widgets in the Notes client and then use them in Notes and iNotes clients. The videos below give you a visual of how to create the different Widget types in the Widgets framework.
Contents:
Creating Web Widgets
Creating Feed Widgets
Creating Notes Widgets
Creating and Using OpenSocial Widgets
Creating a Widget that Installs Features and Plugins
Creating Web Widgets:
Web widgets are widgets that are built using an existing web page/application. A web widget can be just a pointer to a web page wherein opening the widget opens the web page or a web widget can be used to get information you need efficiently and effectively using the power of Live Text.
The documentation for creating web widgets can be found here:
How do I create a Web page widget?
All Web Widgets are supported in Notes and only a subset of Web Widgets are supported in iNotes. For each of the videos below, I call out if the widget will be supported in iNotes.
1. Creating Web Widgets Using HTTP GET:
You can create a widget that wires data from documents into the parameters of a URL or into the path of a URL such that when the widget opens, it will show you information based on the data you wired. This video shows how to use the HTTP GET option to create widgets such as these.
It shows:
- creating a Web Widget that has a Live Text action that wires and address's zip code into the URL parameters on weather.cnn.com . This widget is supported in Notes and iNotes.
- creating a Web Widget that has a text selection action that wires selected text into the URL path on wikipedia.com. The widget is configured to open in an external browser.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Links to widgets created in this video:
CNN Weather Widget
Wikipedia Widget
2. Creating Web Widgets Using Forms and Authentication:
You can create a widget that will automatically fill out and submit an HTML form on a web page. You can also create a widget that will open a web application and automatically log you into that application. This video shows how to create widgets such as these.
It shows:
- creating a form based Web Widget (using the HTTP Post wizard option) that wires an organization name into a form on dailyfinance.com and then submits that form to show the stock quote for that organization. This widget type is only supported in Notes and is not supported in iNotes.
- creating a Web Widget that will log you into Twitter each time you launch the Twitter widget. This widget type is only supported in Notes and is not supported in iNotes.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Links to widgets created in this video:
Daily Finance Widget
Twitter Widget
3. Creating Web Based Search Engine Widgets:
This video shows how to create a Search Widget that will add a Search Engine to the Notes client. This widget type is not supported in iNotes.
It shows
- creating a Search Widget based off of CNN.com which supports OpenSearch
- creating a Search Widget based off of a web page (Bing.com) that does not support OpenSearch but rather has parameters in its URL
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Links to widgets created in this video:
CNN Search Engine Widget
Bing Search Engine Widget
Creating Feed Widgets:
Feed widgets are widgets that are build off of existing Feeds. You can create a feed widget that will open a Feed or you can create one that will wire data into the Feed's URL allowing a for customized feed.
The documentation for creating feed widgets can be found here:
How do I create a Feeds widget?
Feed Widgets are supported in Notes and are not supported in iNotes.
This video shows
- creating a Feed Widget using the CNN Top Stories Feed and showing the feed in a sidebar panel.
- creating a Feed Widget and a Live Text action for a Yahoo!! weather feed. The action will open the weather feed in the sidebar panel for a specific zip code.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Links to widgets created in this video:
CNN Top Stories Feed Widget
Yahoo Weather Feed Widget
Creating Notes Widgets:
You can create a Notes Widget from an Xpage, a Notes view or frameset, and from a Notes document or form. For each of these types of widgets, you are able to create Live Text actions that will allow you to get at or create the data you need.
Notes Widgets are supported in Notes and are not supported in iNotes.
1. Creating XPage Widgets:
This video shows how to create an XPage widget.
The documentation for creating XPage widgets can be found here:
How do I create an XPages widget?
It shows:
- creating a widget that opens a sample XPage application.
- creating a widget that has a Text Selection action that will search the sample XPage Application for the selected text.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Data Links:
Sample Tires XPage Application NSF (placed in local Data directory of the Notes client)
Links to widgets created in this video:
Tires XPage Application
Tires XPage Application Search
2. Creating Notes Widgets using View and Framesets
This video shows how to create a Notes Widget from a view or frameset.
The documentation for creating these types of widgets can be found here:
How do I create a Notes widget from a view or frameset?
It shows:
- creating a widget that searches a view in a sample Tire inventory database
- creating a widget that opens a view in a sample Tire inventory database
- creating a widget that opens a frameset with a specific view in a sample Tire inventory database
- creating a widget that allows you to open a document directly from the Tires inventory database (rather than search for the document) using recognized content and a Live Text action
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Data Links:
Sample Tires Notes Application NSF (placed in local Data directory of the Notes client)
Links to widgets created in this video:
Tires Full Text Search Widget
Tires Open All Doc View Widget
Tires Frameset Warranty Detail View Widget
Open Tires Document Widget
3. Creating Notes Widgets using Documents and Forms
This video shows how to create a Notes Widget from a Notes form or document.
The documentation for creating these types of widgets can be found here:
How do I create a Notes widget from a form or document?
It shows:
- creating a widget that will open a document from a sample Tire inventory database
- creating a widget that will create a new document (in the sample Tire inventory database) based on the document's form using a Text Selection action to populate document fields.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Data Links:
Sample Tires Notes Application NSF (placed on Domino Server's Data directory)
Related technote for local NSFs and Notes Form Widgets:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21502679
Since these widgets were created from a Notes application that was placed on a non-public IBM server, I will not be providing links to the widgets that were created.
Creating and Using OpenSocial Widgets:
This video shows how to create an OpenSocial Widget. OpenSocial widgets were introduced in IBM Notes 9.0 and IBM iNotes 9.0. The new widget type will allow you to render OpenSocial gadgets in your client taking advantage of the social features of gadgets.
The documentation for creating OpenSocial widgets can be found here:
Creating OpenSocial widgets
OpenSocial Widgets are supported in Notes and iNotes.
This video shows how to create a widget from the "Time and Weather" OpenSocial gadget, publish it to the corporate widget catalog, approve the widget for corporate use, install the widget from the corporate widget catalog, and then use the widget in your client.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Links to widgets created in this video:
Time and Weather OpenSocial Widget
Creating a Widget that Installs Features and Plugins:
This video shows how to create a widget that will install features and plugins into you Notes client. It also shows how to remove the widget which in turn removes the features and plugins.
The documentation for creating Feature and Plugin widgets can be found here:
How do I create a Features and Plugins deployment widget?
Plugin Provisioning Widgets are supported in Notes and not supported in iNotes.
Watch this video in full screen mode.
Since this widget was created from a local Eclipse update site, I will not be providing a link to the widget that was created.