Using Ektron's Micro-messaging Bookmarklet

A Micro-messaging bookmarklet, a feature of Ektron's Community Management, lets you use a micro-message to inform colleagues about a Web page without leaving it. To create this micro-message:

  1. Navigate to a Web page.
  2. Click a Share This link on the browser's Bookmark or Favorites menu/toolbar.

    NOTE: In Internet Explorer, these toolbar shortcuts are known as favorites. In Firefox, they are known as bookmarks. This documentation calls them bookmarks.

  3. That action generates a link to that Web page as a micro-message. You can add a comment.

Submitting a Web page link as a micro-message

Submitting a Web Page Link as a Micro-message

Prerequisite: To enable the Bookmarklet feature, a developer places a Using Ektron's Micro-messaging Bookmarklet on a page and (if desired) Review and Modify the Post to Profile Form.

Before anyone can use the Micro-messaging bookmarklet feature, you must add a Bookmarklet link to your bookmark toolbar or menu.

  1. Navigate to a page that contains a Micro-messaging bookmarklet link.

    NOTE: The text of the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link changes according to the user's browser. Also, the image above text reflects default text; developers can easily change it.

  2. Right click a bookmarklet link and follow the screen instructions to add it as a Bookmark. The Bookmarklet appears on the toolbar.

  3. Navigate to a page that you want to post as a micro-message.
  4. Click the bookmarklet link. The following screen appears.

    NOTE: If you are not logged in to Ektron, you are prompted to do so.

  5. Add comments to replace What would you like to say?
  6. Click to edit the title and description.

  7. Click Share. The post is shared in a micro-message with colleagues.

    The micro-message appears in the user's Activity Stream if it is set up to track micro-messages.

Using the Micro-messaging Bookmarklet server control

Using the Micro-messaging Bookmarklet Server Control

The Bookmarklet server control is a template-based server control. For more information on these types of server controls, see Using Ektron Building Block Server Controls.

Three samples of this control appear on the Developer Sample > Social Networking > MicroMessage > Bookmarklet page. Within the Ektron developer sample site, this template (bookmarklet.aspx) is installed to siteroot/Developer/Micromessaging.

The Micro-messaging Bookmarklet server control detects the user's browser and modifies the text accordingly.

Micro-messaging Bookmarklet server control properties

The following are Ektron-specific server control properties. You can find information about native .NET properties such as font, height, width and border style in Visual Studio® help.

  • Authenticated (String)

    Indicates if you are logged into the CMS Explorer and can use it to browse to content, collections, and so on. See Also: Browsing Your Ektron Site Using CMS Explorer.

  • CssClass (String)

    Use this field if you want to change the .css class used in the default template’s outermost wrapper (DIV tag). This lets you change the styling and appearance of the server control without having to change the markup.

  • FormURL (String)

    The path to the page that appears when a user clicks the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link. By default, when a user clicks a Micro-messaging bookmarklet link, the user is redirected to the siteroot/Workarea/share.aspx page.

  • Hide (Boolean)

    Hides or displays the output of the control in design time and run time.

    • True—Hide the control output.
    • False—Display the control output.
  • ID (String)

    A unique name you apply to this instance of the control.

  • IncludeCSS (Boolean)

    Lets you include or exclude the control's default .css file, which provides the "look and feel" of the control on a Web page.

  • Language (Integer)

    Set a language for viewing content; shows results in design-time (in Visual Studio) and at run-time (in a browser).

  • LinkText (String)

    The text that appears on the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link.

    To modify the look and feel of this area, edit the ektron.micromessaging.bookmarklet.css file in the siteroot/Workarea/csslib folder.

  • OutputLinkIcon (Boolean)
    • False—suppress the icon
    • True—show the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link icon on the button

    To modify the look and feel of this icon, edit the ektron.micromessaging.bookmarklet.css file in the siteroot/Workarea/csslib folder.

  • PopupHeight (Integer)

    The height of the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link window in pixels

  • PopupWidth (Integer)

    The width of the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link window in pixels

  • SiteName (String)

    The name of the Web site using this server control. The SiteName value is embedded in the instructions for adding the bookmarklet to the toolbar. See example below.

  • Visible (Boolean)
    • True—the control is visible and rendered
    • False—the control is not visible

Review and Modify the Post to Profile Form

Ektron provides the following sample form to appear when a user clicks the Micro-messaging bookmarklet link on his browser's Bookmarks menu.

The sample form is siteroot/Workarea/share.aspx. To modify this form or create your own, enter the new path into the Micro-messaging Bookmarklet server control's FormURL property.

NOTE: If you specify an external file, do not store this file in the Workarea folder. If you store this file in the Workarea folder, the file will be lost when you upgrade.

Here are a few things to note about this form's behavior.

  • If a user is not logged it, a Login server control must be added to prompt him to do so.
  • The form lets the user enter or update 3 fields
    • comment entered by user
    • title tag text
    • meta description
  • All text on the form (including the URL) cannot exceed 2000 characters.
  • The form accepts plain text only—no formatting or images are allowed.
  • This size of the screen is determined by the Bookmarklet server control's PopupHeight and PopupWidth properties.
  • The form generates a Micro-message, so it follows the conditions for how Micro-messages are published.
Customizing the Micro-messaging Bookmarklet server control

Customizing the Micro-messaging Bookmarklet Server Control

The Micro-messaging Bookmarklet server control is template-based which means you can change the control's appearance without an extensive XSLT or EkML file.

The Javascript used to render the Bookmarklet control is loaded into the Href property of the control's anchor tag.

The following code shows the first Bookmarklet server control in bookmarklet.aspx.

<li>
<div class="controlWrapper">
<h3>Default</h3>
<CMS:micromessagingbookmarklet ID="bookmarkletDefault" runat="server" />
</div>
</li>

Because Bookmarklet is a templated server control, you can enter any valid markup, and it will be rendered exactly as you entered it. As examples, you can enter the following items within the <div> tags that surround the control.

  • another Ektron server control
  • any third-party server control
  • HTML syntax
  • databinding syntax
  • style classes
  • style tags, such as <strong>