Efficient Gadget Development

[Absaar Javed]

Hello Finesse Experts

I am developing finesse gadgets, and using external tomcat for hosting gadget specification files.

During development process of gadgets, whenever there is a slight change in code, i have to redeploy my code on external tomcat and than restart the tomcat. Secondly i have to re-login in to finesse agent desktop.

Now the issue is that the update/change takes nearly 10 minutes and countless reloads and re-logins to appear on the agent desktop.

I have tried adding "?nocache" parameter at the end of finesse desktop URL, still no difference.

This is frustrating and very time consuming procedure, and causes time wastage when deadlines are short.

Is there any better solution available for this purpose, or this is all we have currently?

Regards

[golmsted]

Are you developing your Gadget in external Tomcat as a JSP or XML Gadget?

g.

Gary Olmsted

Technical Leader, UCD (UI/UX) Architect, & Finesse Architect

CBABU - Contact Center Software Development

[Absaar Javed]

thankyou gary'

I am using XML to make gadgets, as last time I read somewhere on CDN that third-party .jsp pages cannot be directly embedded as gadgets, they have to be wrapped in open-social gadgets'

Regards

[golmsted · Accepted solution]

If you are hosting your Gadget on an external Web Server you are free to utilize .jsp Gadgets. These are in the same format at .xml Gadgets (have the OpenSocial Gadget structure, just in .jsp form). If you are putting your Gadgets on the Finesse Server (in the 3rdpartygadget location), then you can only use .xml files. I ask, because if you are using .jsp on an external WebServer then that WebServer will cache and use the compiled .class files unless you are running that in Debug mode.

Over to Shindig itself. Shindig will cache Gadget Specs (the retrieved parsed HTML) for 5 minutes. If you use the ?nocache parameter it forces Shindig to re-render the Gadgets. Now, one thing to know is that the CSS, JS, and Images that are pulled into the Gadget are sent with Cache-Control turned on. So, if you change those files they get cached longer than 5 minutes (within the Browser).

Here is what I do when working on a Gadget...

Use the ?nocache to continually load new versions of the artifacts. If I change stuff, I generally clear my Browser Cache often. A quick CtrlShiftDelete typically does that. Once I get the Gadget fully working I Stop/Start Tomcat.

Another technique is to rename the directory the Gadget (or the Gadget itself) to pull stuff.

Hope this helps...

g.

[Absaar Javed]

Hi Gary

I was going through Cisco Finesse's "Manage Third-Party Gadgets" guide and it says as follows:

I am a bit confused now, whether i can use .jsp or not. kindly comment on this.

Regards

[ewindgat]

Yes, for 3rd party development, gadgets must have their HTML defined in a gadget XML file.

[golmsted]

This applies to Gadgets that are hosted in the Finesse Server’s 3rdpartygadget location. If you host your Gadget in an external Application Server you are free to use what you like. Know that hosting outside the Finesse Server means you have to deal with the failover implications of having Gadgets in an external server.

g.