You can create a widget for deploying features and plug-ins
to client users.
About this task
This option guides
you through the process of creating a feature and plug-in deployment
widget for pushing new and updated features and plug-ins to client
users – a process documented in the "Deploying client plug-ins with
widgets and the widget catalog" section of Domino® Administrator
help. The wizard guides you through the widget definition process,
prompting for the updatesite in which the target plug-in resides.
After specifying the plug-in, entering the name, image url, and description
for the widget, the wizard creates the widget's install manifest content,
saves the new widget, and installs the specified plug-in. You can
then export or publish the widget.
For widgets samples, see
the public catalog and the Notes and Domino wiki.
This procedure is designed for application developers,
power users and administrators.
Note: This process assumes that
you already have created and signed the feature's updatesite contents
and that you have a properly configured site.xml file.
Note: You
cannot create a provisioning widget using the Configure
a widget from the current context wizard.
Note: Use
of this wizard is controlled by the same Domino policy
settings used to enable creation of all widget types – com.ibm.rcp.toolbox.admin/createTool
and com.ibm.rcp.toolbox.admin/createToolProviderIDs.
- Click the Getting Started with Widgets toolbar
button to start the wizard.
- Click Features and Plugins and then
click Next.
- In the Enter the URL ... field,
specify the existing updatesite URL, specifically the path to the
site.xml file in the target updatesite, and click Load.
Note: The URL can be of the nrpc://, http:// or https://, or
file:// format as follows:
- nrpc:// – Use Notes® nrcp protocol to specify
the path to the updatesite application (for example, updatesite.nsf)
in which the feature's updatesite resides.
nrpc://server_name\directory_path\updatesite.nsf
- http:// or https:// – Use http or secure https protocol to specify
the path to the updatesite in which the feature's updatesite resides.
http://server_name/directory_path/updatesite/site.xml
jar:http://server_name/directory_path/updatesite.zip!/
- file:// – Use a simple file path protocol if, for example, the
updatesite is resident on disk.
file:///C:\directory_path\updatesite\site.xml
jar:file:///c:\directory_path\updatesite.zip!/
All the available features and plug-ins in the updatesite
are displayed and available for selection. To simplify deployment
for users, be sure that you have signed the features and plug-ins
using a trusted certificate authority; this prevents users from being
prompted to respond to trust screens during provisioning.
- Select one or more features for the widget to deploy and
click Next or Finish.
Click Finish to complete the widget
by accepting all defaults.
If you select only one feature and
click Next, the feature name appears in the Widget
Name field and the feature description appears in the Description field.
Features do not require a description, so this field may be blank.
If
you select more than one feature, "Provisioning Widget" appears
in the Widget name field and "This widget
will provision the following features: feature_ids" appears
in the Description field.
- Confirm or modify the Widget name field
entry. This field is required.
- Optionally specify an Image URL to
use as the widget's thumbnail in the My Widgets sidebar panel.
- Confirm or modify the Description field
entry to appear in the widget's catalog document (if published) and
click Next.
- Preview and optionally edit the install manifest snippet
(<installfeature> code block) and click Next.
- Click Finish and, as prompted, be
sure to test the widget before sharing it with others.
- If you publish the widget to the catalog, open the widget
document and specify its provisioning type.
After
creating the widget, a thumbnail is added to the My Widgets sidebar
panel representing the provisioning widget you just created. The features
are then installed and you are prompted to restart your client.
For
details on the elements that should be configured to use a widget,
widget catalog, and central updatesite to deploy client plug-ins to
users, as well as steps for testing the new widget prior to sharing
it with others, see the Domino Administrator help topic "Deploying
client plug-ins with widgets and the widget catalog" at publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/domhelp/v8r0/index.jsp.