doc uwa:howto

How to assign a JavaScript behavior to a tag?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:36:57 +0100

It is tempting to use event handlers in the “old” way - that is, by putting the code directly on the tag's handler, like so: It is no longer possible to do so in the UWA environment: the pieceOfCode method above would be set globally, like document.pieceOfCode(), which is not allowed in UWA (the document and window objects are not recommended for portability reasons).

How to use the internal audio player?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:32:59 +0100

How to use the internal audio player? By default, when Netvibes' internal RSS Reader displays an RSS feed with audio enclosures, it adds a Play button to those audio entries. Clicking that button opens the Netvibes Audio Player at the top of the Netvibes page. There, users can listen to the audio file (or podcast) while it loads, pause it, or click forward in the file player.

How to handle passwords securely?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:52:16 +0100

Many of the most interesting widgets will need some form of authentication, which requires the passing of passwords. Because passwords must not be handled in a clear text way, as it is done for other preferences, we set up specific tools for handling them.

How to widgetize a RSS feed?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:40:24 +0100

a.k.a, “How to turn a RSS feed into a UWA widget” or “How to build a RSS reader widget”. One of the primary use of a widget is to provide users with an easy access to your data. Many websites rely on RSS in order to provide their data. If this is your case, it is in your best interest to provide your own widgetization of your RSS feed. This is how you do it.

How to display a Flash app within a widget?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:34:10 +0100

Flash apps have the same constraints as regular images: while displaying them is self-evident (just add the usual object/embed code), you have to cater for the files which width is bigger than that of the widget. See ”How to display an image within a widget?”

How to display an image within a widget?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:29:17 +0100

Displaying an image within a widget is not that big a deal: just add the usual HTML tag (), fill it with an absolute URL to the image to display, and you're done. You may style it with CSS through classes, works like any normal image.

How to turn a MiniAPI module into a UWA widget?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:15:54 +0100

First, thank you for having built modules for our previous API. The new API may have a steep learning curve, but we believe the advantages are truly worth it. The major change to notice is that widgets are now based upon static files (nothing dynamic, like PHP or ASP.NET), and that all your data should be fetched and sent through Ajax calls. Therefore, your default BODY markup should be little more than

or a basic XHTML skeleton, and all your data should be built into your mar…

Translating the widget into the user's language

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:24:44 +0100

Netvibes is a website used by millions of people from several countries, and many of our users do not regularly use English, yet would probably benefit from your widget - provided its content is not specific to a region. Therefore, it would certainly benefit from being multilingual. This is called internationalization (or i18n, the fact of making the widget's string translatable) and localization (l10n, the fact of translating the internationalized, or i18n'd, strings).

How to open a new browser window?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:03:01 +0100

Your widget might need to open a new browser window (or a popup window) for specific purposes. This would usually be done using the window.open() method, but since UWA disables access to the window object, its open() method is unavailable. UWA therefore integrates a special method, called widget.openURL(). It only takes one parameter: the target URL.

How to target a single element without getElementById?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:59:58 +0100

The UWA environment disables the document and window object for security and portability reasons, but retains some of their methods, properties and events in its widget object (see ” JavaScript Framework”). The getElementById() method from the document object, while very useful for everyday uses, has not been kept in widget because there can be multiple instances of a given widget on a single page, and thus potentially multiple elements with the same id.

Submitting a UWA widget to a 3rd-party platform

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:13:58 +0100

Submitting a UWA widget to a 3rd-party platform UWA widget are compatible with many existing platforms thanks to its compilators, and it is therefore possible to submit comiled UWA widget to other format-specific directories. Submitting to iGoogle's gadgets directory Requirements iGoogle's directory requires a specific set of meta to be defined within the widget. UWA's compilers is taking care of converting existing meta into the proper format, but it cannot create meta that do not exist…

How to test a UWA widget?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:12:25 +0100

Before submitting your UWA widget to the Netvibes Ecosystem, you should make sure it works as expected. Here's how you can test your widget. Local/standalone test UWA widgets can be tested locally or on a server, thanks to two emulation files. Placed in the header of your widget, they will emulate the UWA environment, including the Netvibes UI, without having to be installed in Netvibes - this is called the standalone mode.

Using events in UWA

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:12:31 +0100

The widget object provides a handful of events to handle the interactivity of your widget: you can easily build useful methods to respond to specific events from the widget itself, or the user activity. those events are listed on the ”JavaScript Framework” section. The purpose of this page is not to list all available events, but to give examples of their use.

UWA IFrame method

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:55:22 +0100

You can easily display UWA widgets within your own environment, thanks to our IFrame method. This document will show you how to build the correct URL to display a given widget within an IFrame on your platform. Relying on an IFrame has the advantage of both being simple and secure. There can be any number of IFrames on one page, as long as each IFrame has a unique ID (related to the widget's chosen ID).

What makes a valid UWA widget?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:55:30 +0100

In order for your widget to work properly within the UWA environment, it has to follow the following rules. * It MUST be well-formed XML * It MUST be UTF-8 encoded * It MUST feature the Netvibes namespace * It MUST place the JavaScript and CSS code in the HEAD section of the HTML file

How to use a widget on my site/blog?

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:49:50 +0100

Ecosystem UWA-iframeExposition server BlogWidget is the name of the method to use when using a UWA widget outside conventional environments (Netvibes, iGoogle, Apple Dashboard...). In short, the UWA BlogWidget environment provides you with a JavaScript code that lets you use a UWA widget on any page, wether it's a blog post or sidebar, or a regular static website.

How to skin a widget?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:48:43 +0100

In order to get the right look-and-feel for your widget, we built the UWA templates and controls. We advise you to base most of your code on those: this will ensure your widget always fits in the whole environment style.