Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications > Configuring Special Purpose Controls >

HTML Content Controls

HTML content controls allow you to display HTML content in fields in the user interface. The HTML content can be static HTML or HTML from an external content source.

Configuring fields to display HTML content is a matter of setting properties of the control in Siebel Tools and defining any necessary supporting information, such as URL, host name, syntax, and authentication parameters using a set of administration views in the Siebel Web client.

Control Properties

The key Control object type properties for displaying HTML content are the following:

• Field Retrieval Type. This property determines the type of HTML to be displayed in the field. Possible values are:
  • Symbolic URL. This value specifies that the content will come from an external host based on a symbolic URL. You need to define the necessary information needed to access the external source. This includes the syntax used for the request, the host name, necessary arguments, and so on.

    For more information about defining symbolic URLs, see Siebel Portal Framework Guide.

  • Field Data. This value specifies that the HTML content will be stored as data.
  • Service. This value specifies that the field will be rendered by a business service. The control must have a User Prop defined with the name Field Retrieval Service and the value is the name of the business service.

    For example, you can define a control to display a Content Center asset by setting the Field Retrieval Type to Service and then adding a Control User Property child object with the name Field Retrieval Service and the value ContentBase - Asset Publish Service.

    For more information about Content Center Assets, see Applications Administration Guide.

  • HTML Attachment. This value specifies that the field will display an HTML attachment. The control will render the HTML Attachment identified by the underlying field.
  • URL. This value specifies that content will be displayed from an external source based on the simple URL specified in the underlying field.
• ContentFixupName. This property determines how to correct links post processing. It provides the name of a Fixup as displayed in the Fixup Administration View. This value does not work if Field Retrieval Type is HTML Attachment or Service.
• HTML Display Mode. This property should be set to DontEncodeData so that the HTML content renders properly in the browser. Possible values are:
  • DontEncodeData. Use this value when the field value is actual HTML text and you want it to be shown as such.
  • EncodeData. If the field value contains HTML reserved characters, such as angle brackets (< >), ampersand (&), and so on, they are encoded before they are displayed so that they appear correctly within the browser.

Administration Views

There are four administration views that allow you to specify the necessary information related to HTML content controls. This includes information such as host name, URL, required arguments, authentication parameters, and so on.

The views used to enter this information are described in Table 66:

For an overview of content agents and symbolic URLs as well as procedures for administering content agents, see Siebel Portal Framework Guide.

The Host Administration View

The Host Administration view is used to specify hosts that either require fixup processing, authentication, or to simply obscure the true host name. Only links associated with a specified host are fixed up.

For each host, you need to specify an external content host server. The specification of a host enables one or more of the following features:

• It obscures the true servername in the generated HTML.
• It allows the specification of a set of NCSA Basic Authentication credentials for content hosts that require authentication.
• It allows administrators to control fixup at the host level.

Fixup Administration View

Administrators can use this view to control the behavior of links embedded within the external content. A fixup has a Link Context, which corresponds to the fixup type. There are four types of fixups:

• Do Nothing. This fixup does not affect any of the links. The links (relative or absolute) remain as they are with the content being passed back in its original form.
• Outside Application. This fixup converts all of the relative links to absolute links using the host and path of the parent URL. No links are proxied.
• Inside Application. This fixup converts all of the relative links to absolute links and any links using a host from the Hosts table (for example, navigated to by choosing Integration Administration > Host Administration) are proxied in order to maintain all of the SWE context.
• Inside Applet. This fixup performs the same as the Inside Application fixup.

NOTE:  Fixup is required for all links within applications that use high interactivity.

Proxied Links

When using either the Inside Application or Inside Applet fixup type, any link using a host from the Hosts table is proxied. Any relative link is first converted to an absolute URL, and then if the host is in the Hosts table, the link is proxied.

Default Link Targets

There are no default link targets applied to a fixup. However, a fixup may have a link target specified for it, in which case the link target will be added to the fixup.