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 https://greenhouse.lotus.com/plugins/plugincatalog.nsf/home_full.xsp?fProduct=Lotus%20Notes%20and%20Domino 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.

Procedure

1. Click the Getting Started with Widgets toolbar button to start the wizard.

2. Click Features and Plugins and then click Next.

3. 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.

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.

6. Optionally specify an Image URL to use as the widget's thumbnail in the My Widgets sidebar panel.

7. Confirm or modify the Description field entry to appear in the widget's catalog document (if published) and click Next.

8. Preview and optionally edit the install manifest snippet (<installfeature> code block) and click Next.

9. Click Finish and, as prompted, be sure to test the widget before sharing it with others.

10. 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.

Related tasks
How do I wire a widget action?
How do I publish a widget to the catalog?
How do I configure a widget action?

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