Your First Lotus Connections 2.5 Customisations Made Easy

Your First Lotus Connections 2.5
Customisations Made Easy
(DEV05)
Stuart McIntyre, Collaboration Matters Limited

29th October 2009

Your Host
✤ Stuart McIntyre

✤ Technical Director, Collaboration Matters

✤ Connections Specialist

✤ Blogger

✤ Feel free to contact me:

blog.collaborationmatters.com
facebook.com/stuartmcintyre
lotusconnectionsblog.com
twitter.com/stuartmcintyre
quickrblog.com
www.linkedin.com/in/mcintyre
lotusliveblog.com
stuart@collaborationmatters.com

This Session
✤ Your First Lotus Connections 2.5 Customisations Made Easy

✤ Topics:

✤ Demonstrate some of the key areas where Lotus Connections 2.5
can be customised

✤ Themes and skins

✤ Proﬁles

✤ What next?

✤ Q&A

First, some questions...
✤ Administrator?

✤ Administrator?
✤ Developer?

✤ Administrator?
✤ Developer?
✤ Something else?

✤ Administrator?
✤ Developer?
✤ Something else?
✤ Edited HTML?

✤ Administrator?
✤ Developer?
✤ Something else?
✤ Edited HTML?
✤ Edited CSS?

✤ Administrator?
✤ Developer?
✤ Something else?
✤ Edited HTML?
✤ Edited CSS?
✤ Worked with TDI?

✤ Administrator?
✤ Developer?
✤ Something else?
✤ Edited HTML?
✤ Edited CSS?
✤ Worked with TDI?
✤ Customised Lotus Connections?

Interactivity is good!

Image: http://www.slideshare.net/Niezette/100-pictures-for-powerpoint-presentations

Profiles

Wikis
Bookmarks

Communities

Blogs

Activities
Homepage

Files

Lotus Connections 2.5

Introducing LC2.5

✤ Whilst only a point-release, LC2.5 probably the most signiﬁcant update
to product so far

✤ Announced on 18th August, shipped on 28th August

✤ Generated massive demand for adoption amongst existing users and
outside

✤ All information in this presentation is correct for Connections 2.5.
Details may be different in 2.0.x - we’ll try to point this out as we go

Profiles Communities
Quickly find the people you need by All your social software needs Create, find, join, and work with
searching across your organisation and communities of people who share a
ready for business common interest, responsibility, or area
connecting to others. of expertise

Bookmarks Blogs Activities
Save, organize and share bookmarks; Use a weblog to present your idea and Organize your work, plan next steps, and
discover bookmarks that have been get feedback from others; learn from the easily tap your expanding professional
qualified by others with similar interests expertise and experience of others who network to help execute your everyday
& expertise blog deliverables, faster

Homepage Files Wikis
Manage your attention by viewing Upload and share any type of file with Create wiki spaces for individuals,
relevant social data aggregated across colleagues and communities. Store groups, and communities to coauthor
your subscriptions, notifications, and versions and view downloads, comments pages. View changes across pages,
network of colleagues. and ratings. ratings, and comments.

Introducing LC2.5 (cont.)
✤ Principal new features:


✤ River of news


✤ River of news

✤ Status updates


✤ River of news

✤ Status updates

✤ Customisable Communities


✤ River of news

✤ Status updates


✤ Improved Discussion Forums


✤ River of news

✤ Status updates


✤ Improved Discussion Forums

✤ Files & Wikis

Areas for Customisation
✤ Look and Feel
✤ Logo
✤ Header
✤ Footer
✤ Themes
✤ Login Pages
✤ Profiles
✤ Changing which fields display & order
✤ Changing editable fields
✤ Changing field names
✤ Adding extension fields

Key Resources

✤ Lotus Connections Infocenter http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ltscnnct/v2r0/
index.jsp

✤ Lotus Connections Wiki http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lcwiki.nsf

✤ Luis Benitez blog http://www.lbenitez.com

✤ Curious Mitch http://www.curiousmitch.com

✤ The Connections Blog http://www.lotusconnectionsblog.com

✤ developerWorks https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/products/connections/

Look and Feel - Themes

Standard
LC2.5
‘OneUI’
theme

Look and Feel - Themes

An example
customised
LC2.5
theme

Theme Components

✤ Each theme is made up of multiple components:

✤ CSS

✤ header.html

✤ footer.html

✤ images

CSS Theme File

✤ CSS ﬁle affects the design (look and feel) but not
the layout or functionality of Connections UI

✤ Controls all of the colours and background
images

✤ Allows Web Designer to make changes to
elements like link colours and background
images

Header.html 1/2

✤ Controls appearance of banner, including logo and feature tabs

✤ Links to CSS file

✤ Found in:

✤ <Profile_Home>/installedApps/<nodename>/<feature EAR>/<feature WAR>/
nav/templates/header.html

✤ e.g. /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/
machineNode01Cell/Blogs.ear/blogs.war/nav/templates/header.html

Header.html 2/2


<div class="lotusRightCorner">

<div class="lotusInner">



<a href="#mainContent" id="lotusAccessLinkMainContent" accesskey="S" class="lotusAccess">

<img src="{{default images}}/blank.gif" alt="Skip to main content link. Accesskey S" />

</a>

<a href="#tabNavigation" id="lotusAccessLinkTabNavigation" accesskey="1" class="lotusAccess">

<img src="{{default images}}/blank.gif" alt="Skip to tab navigation link. Accesskey 1" />

</a>

<a href="#subNavigation" id="lotusAccessLinkSubNavigation" accesskey="2" class="lotusAccess">

<img src="{{default images}}/blank.gif" alt="Skip to sub navigation. Accesskey 2" />

</a>

<div class="lotusLogo" id="lotusLogo"><span class="lotusAltText">Lotus Connections</span></div>

<ul class="lotusInlinelist lotusUtility lotusNowrap" id="headerMenuContainer"

><li class="lotusFirst" id="headerUserText" style="display: {{ header username display }};"><span class="lotusUser" id="headerUserName">{{ header username }}</
span></li

><li class="{{ header help class }}" id="headerHelpLi"><a href="{{ header help link }}" id="headerHelpLink">{{ label.header.help }}</a></li

><li id="logoutLi"><a href="{{ header loginout link }}" id="logoutLink" >{{ header loginout label }}</a></li></ul>

<ul class="lotusInlinelist lotusLinks">{{application links: li }}</ul>

</div>

Footer.html 1/2

✤ Controls appearance of footer

✤ Great place to add links to other corporate sites, resources or tools

✤ Default has many IBM-speciﬁc links

✤ Found in:

nav/templates/footer.html

machineNode01Cell/Blogs.ear/blogs.war/nav/templates/footer.html

Footer.html 2/2 (subset)
<table cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr>
<th>{{ label.footer.connections.heading }}</th>
<th>{{ label.footer.help.heading }}</th>
<th class="lconnFooterToolsHeader">{{ label.footer.tools.heading }}</th>
<th class="lotusLast">{{ label.footer.about.heading }}</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><ul id="lotusFooterULConnections">
{{ footerlink.connections.home }}
{{ footerlink.connections.demo }}
</ul></td>
<td><ul id="lotusFooterULHelp">
{{ footerlink.help.help }}
{{ footerlink.help.forums }}
</ul></td>
<td class="lconnFooterToolsCell"><ul id="lotusFooterULTools">
{{ footerlink.tools.browserplugins }}
{{ footerlink.tools.adminpage }}
{{ footerlink.tools.metrics }}
</ul></td>
<td class="lotusLast"><ul id="lotusFooterULAbout">
{{ footerlink.about.about }}
{{ footerlink.about.connectionsonline }}
{{ footerlink.about.submitfeedback }}
</ul></td> </tbody> </table>

Images 1/2

✤ Contains 400+ images used to build a Connections page

✤ Found in:

nav/common/styles/images

machineNode01Cell/Blogs.ear/common/styles/images

Images 2/2

✤ Many images are transparent and can be used across all themes

✤ Others are closely tied to default theme colour scheme,and must be
regenerated - not so many with 2.5
2.0.x vs. 2.5

So why so many copies of themes?

✤ WAS apps are typically self-contained

✤ It is possible (though not necessarily desirable) to customise each
theme individually

✤ Allows those customers using just Proﬁles or Activities to
customise without additional steps

✤ Recommended to move to a single copy of theme on the HTTP
server ASAP, certainly before customisation for production

Creating a custom theme

✤ Five step process:

✤ Move default theme to HTTP Server

✤ Conﬁgure LC2.5 to use HTTP-based theme

✤ Test

✤ Customise theme

✤ Test

Moving theme to HTTP server 1/3
✤ Create directory on HTTP server for theme

✤ e.g.

✤ c:IBMHTTPServerhtdocsen_USmytheme

✤ /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/htdocs/en_US/mytheme

✤ Create sub-directory for css and html:

✤ c:IBMHTTPServerhtdocsen_USmythemecss_html

✤ /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/htdocs/en_US/mytheme/css_html

✤ From proﬁles application, copy across header.html, footer.html, defaultTheme.css and themeImages
directory into mytheme/css_html

✤ Copy images directory into mytheme/images

✤ c:IBMHTTPServerhtdocsen_USmythemeimages

✤ /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/htdocs/en_US/mytheme/images


# cd /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/htdocs/en_US/mytheme
# ls -lR .
drwxr-xr-x3 root system 256 2009-09-11 06:14 css_html
drwxr-xr-x3 root system 20480 2009-09-11 06:00 images
./css_html:
-rw-r--r--1 root system 64094 2009-09-11 05:47 defaultTheme.css
-rw-r--r--1 root system3910 2009-09-09 08:27 footer.html
-rw-r--r--1 root system1696 2009-09-11 05:56 header.html
-rw-r--r--1 root system 64093 2009-09-09 07:38 mytheme.css
drwxr-xr-x2 root system4096 2009-09-09 07:38 themeImages
...
./css_html/themeImages:
-rw-r--r--1 root system 202 2009-09-09 07:38 btnSpecialBkgd.png
-rw-r--r--1 root system 19091 2009-09-09 07:38 loginBkgd.png
...
./images:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system 15163 2009-09-09 07:06 16pxIcons.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system1203 2009-09-09 07:06 2secondary_cols.jpg
...

✤ Check you can access the ﬁles via a browser:

✤ e.g.

✤ http://connections.myorg.com/images/logo.png

✤ http://connections.myorg.com/mytheme/header.html

✤ http://connections.myorg.com/mytheme/footer.html

✤ http://connections.myorg.com/mytheme/defaultTheme.css

Configure Connections to use

✤ Edit LotusConnections-conﬁg.xml *

✤ Search for ‘style enabled’, change lines:
<style enabled="false">

<header url="admin_replace"/>
<footer url="admin_replace"/>
<images ssl_url="admin_replace" url="admin_replace"/>
<caching value="private, max-age=3601"/>
</style>

✤ to: <style enabled="true">

<header url="http://connections.myorg.com/mytheme/css_html/header.html"/>
<footer url="http://connections.myorg.com/mytheme/css_html/footer.html"/>
<images ssl_url="https://connections.myorg.com/mytheme/images" url="http://
connections.myorg.com/mytheme/images"/>
<caching value="private, max-age=3601"/>
</style>
* Using appropriate wsadmin commands to checkin/checkout

Configure Connections to use

✤ Tell Connections to use CSS from mytheme directory

✤ Edit mytheme/css_html/header.html, add relative (not absolute)
link to CSS ﬁle just below
<div class=”lotusInner”>:
<div class="lotusRightCorner">
<div class="lotusInner">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/mytheme/css_html/defaultTheme.css" type="text/css">

✤ Save ﬁle. Restart WAS. Restart HTTP.

Testing

✤ Access the site via a browser

✤ Should see Connections appearing same as previously, but with
images, header and footer from HTTP site

✤ Test by ‘View Image’ on Lotus
Connections logo, or by adding
comment to HTML ﬁles and
using ‘View Source’

Trouble-shooting

✤ If content is not appearing from HTTP server:

✤ Clear Browser Cache

✤ Restart WAS again - sometimes this takes 2 restarts

✤ Check paths used and validity of LotusConnections-conﬁg.xml

Customising Images

✤ Recommended to use web standard image sizes, formats and
dimensions when creating theme images (copy default theme for
guidance)

✤ Plan design and create images before creating/editing CSS

✤ Do not use transparent 24-bit PNG - not all supported browsers
support them

✤ Keep all images in HTTP Server mytheme/images directory and
reduce size wherever possible

Changing Lotus Connections logo

✤ In LC2.0.x logo image was set in header.html

✤ In LC2.5 it is in the CSS file:

✤ Open mytheme/defaultTheme.css, search for lotusLogo:
.lotusui .lotusLogo, .lotusLoginLogo{height:18px;width:104px;background-image:url(../images/
logo.png);background-repeat:no-repeat;}/*height, width values are in this file to aid in
retheming*/
✤ To link to your image:
.lotusui .lotusLogo, .lotusLoginLogo{height:73px;width:160px;background-image:url(./images/
acme.png);background-repeat:no-repeat;}/*height, width values are in this file to aid in
retheming*/

Changing Lotus Connections logo

✤ Note, height and width do not scale image, just crop:
lotusui .lotusLogo, .lotusLoginLogo{height:18px;width:39px;background-image:url(../images/
acme.png);background-repeat:no-repeat;}/*height, width values are in this ﬁle to aid in
retheming*/

✤ Instead, but resize the image itself
.lotusui .lotusLogo, .lotusLoginLogo{height:18px;width:39px;background-image:url(../images/
acme18.png);background-repeat:no-repeat;}/*height, width
values are in this ﬁle to aid in retheming

✤ Recommended to keep to 18px height, so long rectangular logos
work best

Adding additional links to Header

✤ Connections automatically populates the list of features at the top
of each page from those installed and enabled

✤ It is straightforward to add additional links to the list

✤ Edit header.html, and adjust after the line,

<ul class="lotusInlinelist lotusLinks">{{application links: li }}

✤ e.g. <ul class="lotusInlinelist lotusLinks">{{application links: li }}
<a href="http://quickr.acme.com">Places</a>
</ul>

✤ Need to restart the WAS server to take effect

Adding/editing links in Footer

✤ The links in the LC2.5 footer are very IBM-centric and are ripe for
replacing with organisational resources (Help desk, training,
homepage etc.)

✤ To change, edit footer.html, e.g:
<tr>
<th>ACME Connections</th>
<th>{{ label.footer.help.heading }}</th>
<th class="lconnFooterToolsHeader">{{ label.footer.tools.heading }}</th>
<th class="lotusLast">{{ label.footer.about.heading }}</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><ul id="lotusFooterULConnections">
<a href="http://www.acme.com">ACME Home</a><br>
<a href="http://helpdesk.acme.com/request">Raise a Help Request</a><br>
<a href="http://helpdesk.acme.com/password">Reset My Password</a>
</ul></td>
✤ Must restart WAS server to take effect

Lotus Connections Branding

✤ Changes covered so far do not change look and feel of
Connections features

✤ Signiﬁcant modiﬁcations are possible using CSS and image
changes

✤ Additional UI changes can be accomplished within JSPs and by
using iWidgets (out of scope of this session)

Included Themes
✤ In addition to defaultTheme, there are four other LC2.5
themes shipped with the product: goldTheme,
greenTheme, metalTheme and redTheme

✤ These can be used by copying to HTTP server and
linking to the CSS ﬁle from header.html

Custom Themes 1/2

✤ Most organisations wish to create their
own theme according to corporate UI
guidelines or branding Lotus Connections Theme Editing Guide

Editing or Creating a New Lotus Connections Theme
Page 1 of 4

It is recommended you have knowledge of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) HTML and image creation/editing techniques before editing or creating a new theme.

The default (blue) theme is controlled by the css file "defaultTheme.css" located here: common/styles/defaultTheme.css

IMPORTANT: Please make a backup copy of the original "defaultTheme.css" before making any changes.
To create a new theme based on one of the existing themes, just choose a theme, duplicate it (copy, paste) and then proceed to change the colors, background images (if
you have new images to replace the originals) and styles to create a custom branded theme for your Lotus Connections software.

TIP: If creating a new theme using new images, place any new images into a new folder and reference where the css file should look for the new images.
E.G. the default theme buttons are stored here: /images/buttonBkgd.png
the RED theme buttons are stored here: /images/red/buttonBkgd.png

Take the included theme CSS that is
HTML / CSS Class Name Description Default Blue Theme Red Theme Comments

✤ body
Page
Background
Color
#fbfcfd #efe6cc

Some
background
Page images may
Background need to be
images/background.png images/red/background.png
Image (can be repeated
repeated) horizontally,
vertically or

closest to desired look and feel, and
both.

Main Content border-top-color: #568dd0 border-top-color: #9b3031
#lotusMain, Area
.lotusMain (central page Left side panel background image Left side panel background image (grey
area) (light blue blend) blend)

Default Link
a:link, a:visited
color

a.lotusAction, a.lotusAction:visited Action Links
(more actions
.lotusActions a, .lotusActions a:visited etc.)

.lotusVCard a:link, .lotusVCard a:visited, #105cb6 #9f060d
Popup person

copy to new ﬁle, e.g. acmeTheme.css
.lotusVCard a:hover, .lotusVCard a:focus, a:active
card link color
(V Card)
.lotusVCard .lotusPersonActions .lotusInlinelist li

.dijitCalendarYearLabel .dijitCalendarPreviousYear,
.dijitCalendarYearLabel, .dijitCalendarNextYear

Mouse Over
a:hover, a:focus, a:active Default Link
color

a.lotusAction:hover, a.lotusAction:focus,
Action Links
a.lotusAction:active, .lotusActions a:hover,
mouse over
.lotusActions a:focus, .lotusActions a:active,
(more actions
.lotusTags a.lotusAction:hover, .lotusTags #05386b #6f0207
etc.)
a.lotusAction:focus, .lotusTags a.lotusAction:active

Change
color and
a.lotusMyLink:hover, a.lotusMyLink:focus,
My Links border
.lotusMyLinks a:hover, .lotusMyLinks a:focus
bottom
color

Person Name
a.lotusPerson, a.lotusPerson:visited
Link color
#578cca #a7853c
.lotusTags a:link, .lotusTags a:visited,

Use theme colour chart (for 2.0.x but still
Tag link color
a.lotusTag:link, a.lotusTag:visited

✤
Change
.lotusTags a:hover, .lotusTags a:focus, .lotusTags
Tag links and color and
a:active, a.lotusTag:hover, a.lotusTag:focus,
underline mouse #05386b #ba9a55 border
a.lotusTag:active, a.lotusPerson:hover,
over color bottom
a.lotusPerson:focus, a.lotusPerson:active
color

Change details
.lotusView background-image: url background-image: url
view buttons
(images/views.gif); (images/red/views.gif);

Change
color and

relevant) from LC Wiki to assist with
.lotusActionMenu li.lotusMenuSeparator
Action menu border top
#b3cae9 #9b3031
separator color

.dijitMenuSeparatorTop

Dividers
between links in
#lotusBanner ul li, .lotusBanner ul li the top right border-left-color: #639ade border-left-color: #ac9e69
(name | help |
login)

#lotusBanner ul.lotusLinks li.lotusSelected a, Background box
.lotusBanner ul.lotusLinks li.lotusSelected a color on
selected main background-color: #649de1 background-color: #cfb275
.dijitMenu

colour transformations
navigation
ul.lotusActionMenu links

file://C:UsersKarl ThompsonDocumentsUI designsConnectionsThemesTheme M... 14/05/2008

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lcwiki.nsf/dx/Creating_a_Connections_Theme_Dec2008.pdf/$ﬁle/Creating_a_Connections_Theme_Dec2008.pdf

Custom Themes 2/2
✤ Get your web designers, communications department etc. on board

✤ Start on paper!

✤ For each of the colours in the colour chart, match to appropriate
colour from corporate guidelines/branding

✤ Then edit CSS, and test in browser

✤ Some images will need to be changed for colour match

✤ Don’t forget that fonts and font sizes can be changed as well as
colours

✤ Recommend the user of Firebug for ad-hoc testing and dedicated
CSS editing tools

Customising Communities
✤ It is also possible to personalise the look and feel of individual
communities, including theme templates

✤ Use same CSS templates as overall theme - create some to
complement your overall custom theme

Customising Profiles

✤ The other principal area where most organisations customise Lotus Connections
(even for pilots) is Profiles

✤ Common changes include:

✤ Customising which fields are populated from LDAP

✤ Changing field labels or field order

✤ Enabling/disabling editing of fields

✤ Adding custom fields

✤ Adding additional profile types

✤ There are many more expert topics (integration of data from other sources etc.),
but these are the basics

Customising Profiles population

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ltscnnct/v2r0/topic/com.ibm.connections.25.help/
t_prof_install_proﬁles_db.html
✤ Topic is well covered in the InfoCenter

✤ Population Wizard has also made it more straightforward,
however worth covering the options

✤ Recommend that one always uses manual process after initial
population, to control who gets added and how

✤ Manual import can be scheduled using CRON or Windows
Scheduler


✤ Import is a two stage process (even if driven by Wizard), first
collecting the relevant entries from LDAP, then populating Profiles
with specified information

✤ Collection of names is driven by collect_dns script, according to
settings specified in profiles_tdi.properties

source_ldap_collect_dns_file=collect.dns
source_ldap_search_base=o=acme
source_ldap_search_filter=(&(uid=*)(objectclass=inetOrgPerson))
source_ldap_url=ldap://ldap.acme.com:389
source_ldap_use_ssl=false
source_ldap_user_login=cn=LDAPBind
source_ldap_user_password={encr}<encrypted password>


✤ Names that reside within search base and match search filter are
deposited in collect.dns CN=Neil Burston,ou=it,o=acme
CN=Mitch Cohen,ou=it,o=acme
CN=Sharon Bellamy,ou=it,o=acme
CN=Stuart McIntyre,ou=it,o=acme

✤ Some pilots have specified only selected users to be imported,
hence manual editing on collect.dns - not recommended!

✤ Populate_from_dn_file is then run to load new users within
collect.dns into Profiles, acting upon settings in
map_dbrepos_from_source.properties


✤ map_dbrepos_from_source.properties specifies match between
LDAP and Profiles fields:
alternateLastname=null
bldgId=null
✤ Customise according to your org’s blogUrl=null
populated fields in LDAP calendarUrl=null
countryCode=c
courtesyTitle=null
✤ Watch for field lengths and validation deptNumber=null
description=description
(see validate_dbrepos_fields.properties) ...

✤ Some field lengths are very restrictive, particularly Department (16
characters) and Country alternateLastname=64
(3 - for ISO codes) blogUrl=256
bldgId=64
calendarUrl=256
✤ Can be a good use for extended fields to courtesyTitle=64
deptNumber=16
replace default attributes description=1048576
...

Controlling attributes listed

✤ Attribute listing and whether editable is controlled in profiles-
config.xml, set by Profile Type

✤ Initially there is just the ‘default’ Profile Type

✤ Order of attributes in configuration file controls order on screen

✤ How many of you use ‘IP Telephony Number’? So how to stop it
appearing?

Profiles-config.xml

Each attribute listed in <profileLayout profileType="default">
<jobInformation>
<editableAttribute showLabel="false" hideIfEmpty="true" prependHtml="<strong>" appendHtml=
Profile and Edit My strong><br/>">jobResp</editableAttribute>
<attribute showLabel="false" hideIfEmpty="true" appendHtml="<br >">employeeTypeDesc<attrib
profile is controlled by <attribute showLabel="false" hideIfEmpty="true" appendHtml="<br/>">organizationTitle<attribu
...
an entry in profiles- </jobInformation>
<contactInformation>

config.xml 
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" disabled="true" prependHtml="<strong>"
appendHtml="</strong><br/>">displayName</editableAttribute>






<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">bldgId</editableAttribute>
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">floor</editableAttribute>
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">officeName</editableAttribute>
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">telephoneNumber</editableAttribute>
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">ipTelephoneNumber</editableAttribute>
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">mobileNumber</editableAttribute>
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">pagerNumber</editableAttribute>



<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">faxNumber</editableAttribute>
<attribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" email="true">email</attribute>
...

Hiding a Profiles attribute

✤ Connections 2.5 now has the intelligence to hide fields when empty, but
still appear in Edit My Profile. So how to hide completely?

✤ Edit profiles-config.xml, find the <profileLayout profileType="default">
stanza, and the relevant attribute:
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true">ipTelephoneNumber</
editableAttribute>
✤ Simply comment out the entry:


✤ Restart the WAS server

IP Telephony no longer appears to
the user

Controlling editable attributes 1/2

✤ A familiar request is to stop the Assistant attribute being editable by
the end user, but for that attribute to still appear in the proﬁle

Controlling editable attributes 2/2

✤ Again, edit profiles-config.xml, find the ‘default’ profile type
definitions, and the appropriate attribute:

<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" hcard="true" email="secretaryEmail"
uid="secretaryUid" userid="secretaryUserid" appendHtml="<br/>">secretaryName</editableAttribute>

✤ To stop the attribute being editable, modify ‘editableAttribute’ to be
‘attribute’:
<attribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" hcard="true" email="secretaryEmail"
uid="secretaryUid" userid="secretaryUserid" appendHtml="<br/>">secretaryName</attribute>

Assistant no longer
appears in the Edit
My Profile screen

Controlling attribute labels 1/2

✤ When proﬁles are displayed, some attributes are displayed with
labels, others are not:

The secretary/assistant’s name is
displayed with a label, whilst the phone
number and email address are not

✤ So, how to show the label for the Phone number?

Controlling attribute labels 2/2
✤ Again, edit profiles-config.xml, find the ‘default’ profile type
definitions, and the appropriate attribute:

<attribute showLabel="false" hideIfEmpty="true" appendHtml="<br/>">telephoneNumber</attribute>

✤ To make the default attribute label appear, change the showLabel
value:
<attribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" appendHtml="<br/>">telephoneNumber</attribute>

The label for the
phone number is
now shown

Changing Profiles attribute labels

✤ Default attribute labels (designed to be multi-lingual) can be
irrelevant or misunderstood in many organisations, and thus need to
be changed

✤ Also, it is often it is easier
to change labels than to
create new attributes from
scratch

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ltscnnct/v2r0/topic/com.ibm.connections.25.help/
t_admin_profiles_add_custom_strings.html

✤ In Connections 2.5, process has changed
✤ LC2.5 provides external resource bundle loader
for adding and updating strings to Profiles and
Communities.
✤ Mechanism used when performing the following
tasks:
✤ Adding custom extension attributes
✤ Customizing the Profiles business card
✤ Adding custom widgets to Communities and Profiles
✤ Configuring the vCard export feature
✤ Too complex to describe here

Adding new attributes

✤ Concept of Extension Attributes included in profiles

✤ Three step process:

✤ Add new attribute to profiles-config.xml (in ExtensionAttributes
stanza and again where it should be displayed) - mandatory

✤ Add label for attribute using Bundle file (optional)

✤ Add to TDI import process (optional)

Adding a new attribute 1/2

✤ First add to Extension Attribute stanza:
<profileExtensionAttributes>
<simpleAttribute extensionId="homeAddress" length="64" />
<xmlFileAttribute
extensionId="profileLinks"
...
</xmlFileAttribute>
</profileExtensionAttributes>
✤ Then within the Profile Type(s) it should appear in:

<contactInformation>
...
<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" email="true">groupwareEmail</editableAttribute>


<editableAttribute showLabel="true" hideIfEmpty="true" blogUrl="true">blogUrl</editableAttribute>
<extensionAttribute showLabel="false" editable="true" extensionIdRef="homeAddress" />
</contactInformation>

✤ Save and restart the WAS server

Adding a new attribute 2/2

New attribute will appear for editing
and display (if populated), but will not
have appropriate label

Adding label for new attribute 2/2

Attribute is now correctly labelled

Populating extension attributes

✤ Steps so far will allow new attributes to be populated by the user

✤ However, it is possible to populate via TDI too

✤ Add to <TDISOL>/conf/LotusConnections-conf/tdi-profile-
config.xml

<profileExtensionAttributes>
<simpleAttribute extensionId="homeAddress" length="64" userLabel="Home Address"
userTypeString="String" sourceKey="homeAddress"/>
<xmlFileAttribute extensionId="profileLinks" schemaFile="profile-links.xsd" indexBindingExpr="/
linkroll/link/@name | /linkroll/link/@url">
<indexFields>
<indexField fieldName="linkName" fieldExpr="/linkroll/link/@name" />
</indexFields>
</xmlFileAttribute>
</profileExtensionAttributes>

Troubleshooting

✤ Many issues are caused by caching within the WAS server and
HTTP server - always restart WAS if editing XML, JAR or HTML
files - CSS changes do not require restart

✤ Most files within Connections/WAS are case-sensitive - check and
double-check case and syntax

✤ Always use appropriate WSADMIN checkin/checkout procedures
for XML configuration files - saves a lot of pain with typos

✤ It is worth investing in a pre-production/test system configured
as live for testing customisations first

What next?

✤ Other areas where customisation may be desired:

✤ Additional Profile Types (e.g. Active vs. Leavers, Students vs. Staff)
✤ See CuriousMitch article at http://www.curiousmitch.com/CuriousMitch/mitch2.nsf/d6plinks/MCON-7LK2X2 and Infocenter http://
publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ltscnnct/v2r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.connections.25.help/
c_admin_profiles_add_profile_type.htmlc_admin_profiles_add_profile_type.html

✤ Business Card
✤ See Infocenter http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ltscnnct/v2r0/topic/com.ibm.connections.25.help/
c_admin_profiles_customize_biz_card_links.html

✤ Search Results
✤ See Infocenter http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ltscnnct/v2r0/topic/com.ibm.connections.25.help/
t_admin_profiles_customize_search_results.html

✤ Notifications
✤ See great developerWorks paper on Notifications http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/documentation/d-ls-lcnotifications/?
S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=LP

Lotus Connections Resources
Infocenter http://tinyurl.com/20infocenter

Wiki http://tinyurl.com/connectwiki

Support Page http://tinyurl.com/consupport

Support Forum http://tinyurl.com/20forum

developerWorks articles http://tinyurl.com/condevworks

Software Catalog http://tinyurl.com/consoftcat

Product Page http://tinyurl.com/conhome

With thanks to Mitch Cohen http://curiousmitch.com

But in truth, social software

users do and the business
problems the tools address.
Jakob Nielsen, Usability Guru

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/marknadsstod/getting-real-about-enterprise-20

My Takeaways

Lotus Connections supports (and
embraces) customisation
Many areas appropriate for
customisation - a never-ending feast!
Agree and document your scope and
priorities - stick to it!
Use appropriate change management,
versioning and testing processes
Have fun and make Connections work
for you and your organisation...
Image: http://www.slideshare.net/Niezette/100-pictures-for-powerpoint-presentations

Your First Lotus Connections 2.5 Customisations Made Easy

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