Available and Selected List

All containers must define a list of available and selected channels. The presence of these is what mainly distinguishes a container from a channel.

Conceptually, the available list defines the set of channels that can be displayed in the container. The selected list defines those that are actually displayed in the container.

To take a specific example, consider the table container. Table containers use the available channel list to store channels that the user may add to their Desktop. The selected list is used to store the set of channels that are visible in their portal page. Typically, the selected channels are a subset of the available channels.

Containers are not required to make use of the available and selected channel lists in the display profile. A container may manage its contained channels in other implementation dependent ways. However, it is recommended that containers use the display profile available and selected channel lists in order to standardize how they are administrated.

The list of required container properties and their description are:

Available

Defines a list of all available channels for this container. The <Available> and </Available> tags define the list, and the <Reference value=> tag defines the list items. For example:

<Available> <Reference value="App"/> <Reference value="Bookmark"/> </Available>

Selected

Defines a list of selected channels for this container. Only selected channels are displayed on the Desktop. The <Selected> and </Selected> tags define the list, and the <Reference value=> tag defines the list items. For example:

<Selected> <Reference value="App"/> <Reference value="Bookmark"/> </Selected>