Using desktop widgets

7.1.2.1 Starting a desktop widget

After having installed a desktop widget, you may start it on your PC. This may vary from sys- tem to system – normally you find so-called shortcuts on your desktop (small iconized re- presentations of the widgets) on which you click in order to start the widget.

When starting a desktop widget the first time, you are asked to enter the BSCW URL as well as your user name and password. The BSCW URL is the URL of your BSCW server and is shown on the widget installation page which you invoke with GoTo Desktop Widgets in the

top menu. We recommend that you copy the URL from there. User name and password are your normal BSCW user name and password that you use for logging in to BSCW. BSCW URL and user name are stored for the next start of the widget. Optionally you may also have the password stored. Passwords stored in your Web browser are not recognized by the wid- gets.

Note: If you start a running desktop widget a second time, you will not create a second wid-

get, but only refresh the window of the running widget.

Please note that login to a desktop widget is completely separated from your browser login to BSCW. This means specifically that

o a login to a desktop widget does not imply a successful login to BSCW via Web brow- ser, and that

o the display of BSCW content in the browser from within the desktop widget requires a BSCW login via browser, if not already logged in.

Note: Login and storage of login data is done on a per widget basis. If you start a second wid-

get you have to login again.

7.1.2.2 User interface of desktop widgets

The user interface of the desktop widgets is structured following the same principle.

o The top line of the desktop widget window contains title and – in parentheses – con- text of the widget. At the right-hand end of the top line are two buttons and for refreshing and editing, respectively.

The context is the folder in focus of the widget. In case of the navigator this is the folder up to which the folder hierarchy unfolds automatically, in case of the search widget this is the folder in which the widget searches. With some widgets the context may be changed, with some widgets, e.g. the address book, it is fixed.

o Below the top line, the contents of the widget are shown – a scrollable folder hierarchy or lists of events, appointments or tasks.

Figure 14: The Events desktop widget

Interacting with a desktop widget is very similar to interacting with a widget of the personal portal or a group portal.

• Click to refresh the contents of the widget window.

Note: With some desktop widgets like the events and the address book the contents are

brought up to date in regular intervals. You may change the interval in the widget pre- ferences.

• Click to edit the widget properties. You are offered three tabs for editing.

• Preferences: Here you can change the way the widget content is presented to you.

You can change, e.g., the context of the widget, the number of list entries to be presented at a time, or a sorting or filtering criterion. The sorting criterion ‘your preselection’ sorts the entries like the user does in the respective listing at the stan- dard user interface. This way, sorting in the desktop widget may be synchronized with sorting at the standard user interface.

Details are given below where the functionality of the widgets is described.

• My Account: This tab shows your user name and the BSCW server that you are

logged in to with the widget. You may enter a different user name in order to log in to your BSCW server under a different user name. In the same way, you can en- ter a different BSCW URL in order to log in to a different BSCW server. Further you may change the options regarding the widget language, storage of your pass- word and automatic start of the widget.

• Updates: This tab shows which version of the widget you have installed and which

version is the latest version. When the BSCW server software is updated, it may also be the case, that the desktop widgets are updated to a new version. If the up- date version includes important changes, the widget is updated automatically when it is started. If this is not the case, you can consult the release notes in order to

decide whether to have the update version installed manually via [Update now] or not.

With the exception of the navigator widget, the content of a desktop widget is displayed as a list of entries, i.e. a list of contacts, appointments, search results or events. If not all entries fit into the widget window, you may leaf through the whole list using the [next] and [previous] buttons. You get more information on an entry in the form of a tooltip when you position the mouse over the entry. With search results, you may have this tooltip displayed below a search result using the button. The calendar widget offers an additional monthly calendar to be shown (and hidden again) using again the button.

The navigator widget shows the contents of its root folder as a folder hierarchy where you can navigate by folding and unfolding the subfolders. If necessary, you may scroll the display with scroll bars appearing at the right and lower side of the widget window.

In both the widget lists and the folder hierarchy of the navigator widget, a click on one of the entries shown opens the respective page in a new tab of your Web browser. This page then shows e.g. a BSCW folder, a document or an appointment. With events, a click opens the ob- ject concerned. The display of BSCW contents from within a desktop widget requires that you are logged in to your BSCW server with your Web browser.

Note for Windows: When you close the window of a desktop widget, the widget continues to

run in the background. Click on its tray icon in the task bar to restore the widget window. A right-click on the tray icon shows the context menu of the widget where you may terminate the widget.

7.1.2.3 Functionality of desktop widgets

In the following, we describe the functionality and the preference options of the different desktop widgets.

Navigator

The navigator widget supports quick and simple navigation to a certain folder or document by folding and unfolding folders and other container objects of your folder hierarchy. Clicking on a folder or document opens it in a new tab of your Web browser.

You can also upload documents to BSCW via ‘drag & drop‘. Select a document or a group of documents on your local computer, move them with mouse button down to the navigator widget and drop them into one of the folders there by releasing the mouse button.

Preferences:

• Root folder: Origin of the folder hierarchy shown in the navigator widget.

• Context: Folder up to which the folder hierarchy is automatically unfolded when the

navigator widget is started.

Address book

The address book widget shows the contacts and contact lists contained in your personal address book in BSCW. The tooltip of a contact entry shows a selection of the contact data, the tooltip of a contact list shows the names of the contacts contained. To the right of a contact entry that is associated to a registered user, the online status and the date of last login is shown. The online status is shown as a coloured dot: green or grey, when the user has been active in BSCW during the last 5 minutes or the last hour, respectively. An online status in red indicates that the last user activity is older than an hour, the user is not logged into BSCW

or that the contact cannot be associated to a user at all. In addition, there are the colour values of yellow and orange for users who have logged into BSCW, but have set their online status to “busy” or “do not disturb”.

Instead of your address book, you may also view the contacts of an arbitrary contact list in the address book widget.

Preferences:

• Context: Address book or contact list whose contacts are to be shown in the widget.

With you choose a contact list, with you return to your personal address book.

• Number of entries: Maximal number of entries shown at a time.

• Filter: Hiding of contacts where the associated user has not been active in the period

of time selected. Applying such a filter hides also all contact lists of your address book.

• Update interval: Time interval for automatic update of widget content.

• Sort: Criteria for sorting the address book entries. The criterion ‘your preselection’

sorts the entries like they are currently sorted in your address book or contact list.

Calendar

The calendar widget lists the appointments of your personal calendar. The essential properties of an appointment are shown as a tooltip. In the preferences, you may change the period of time for which appointments are to be listed. You may sort the appointments and filter them by status. Instead of your personal calendar you may also choose a group calendar for display in the widget.

For better orientation, there is a monthly calendar where the current date is underlined and dates with appointments are coloured in orange. This calendar may be folded and unfolded using . When you select a certain date in the monthly calendar, all appointments in the wid- get list which take place at that date are highlighted in grey.

Preferences:

• Context: Calendar whose appointments are to be shown in the widget. With you

choose a group calendar, with you return to your personal calendar.

• Number of entries: Maximal number of entries shown at a time.

• Filter: Hiding appointments according to attendance or status.

• Period: Period of time for which appointments are to be shown. ‘Seven days’ is the

period of seven days from today.

• Sort: Sorting appointments in ascending or descending order.

Tasks

The tasks widget lists the tasks of your personal task list along with status and deadline if given. The tooltip of a task shows the essential properties of a task. You may sort and filter the tasks according to various criteria, and may have only tasks shown whose deadline falls into a certain period of time.

Preferences:

• Period: Showing only tasks whose deadline falls into the period selected.

• Sort: Sorting the tasks by various criteria.

Search

The search widget works similar to the search field in the navigation bar of the standard user interface. Using the search widget, you may search from your desktop for BSCW objects whose name, description, tags or content contains the text entered into the search field (option “all”). You may restrict the search to objects where only the name or the tags contain the search string, or to documents containing the search string. You can also limit the search to certain folders.

The tooltip of a search result, which shows its place in the folder hierarchy, may also be un- folded below the search result as a clickable folder path using . By clicking one of the fol- ders here, you can also have the folders displayed that contain the search result.

Preferences:

• Context: Folder to be searched.

• Number of entries: Maximal number of entries shown at a time.

Events

The events widget offers an overview of the current events in your workspaces, i.e. of events which have not been caught up by you yet. The events are shown in chronological order. The tooltip of an event gives object, action, user and action date. Clicking on an event opens the object concerned in your Web browser. You may [Catch up] with the events shown.

Preferences:

• Context: Folder whose events are to be shown.

• Number of entries: Maximal number of entries shown at a time.

• Filter: Hiding of events that were either caused by you or not caused by you.

• Update interval: Time interval for automatic update of widget content.