Using The XPages Extension Library In Blogsphere V4

The new XPages Extension Library from OpenNTF really does make development a lot easier so I thought I’d take some time out from coding the next version of Blogsphere to show everybody some of the places where I have used the features from the library in my code.

In the configuration areas you’ll find the xe:navigator control being used to created the menus. Simply dragging the control to the XPage and then setting up a tree of menu options in the controls properties quickly results in a oneUI styled menu.

Here I’m using the xe:slider control in the blogs layout configuration page to allow the owner of the blog to quickly and easily select how many entries should appear on the home page. This is much nicer then having an edit box and hoping that the blog owner will enter in a number.

This is the xe:TagCloud control. Created by dragging the control onto a page and then pointing it to a view within the database. There is no coding on my part except to tell it what view to use. I don’t have to write any javascript and the slider control above the tag cloud is also automatically generated for you.

The slide blocks themselves are created using the xe:widgetContainer control. Again the coding is done for you, just drag on the control and give it a title for the most simplest of implementations. You can add an actions menu to the right side of the control by creating a number of ‘tree nodes’ similar to the way the xe:navigator control is created.

This isn’t part of the XPages Extension Library but I just wanted to point it out. This is the new CKEditor control for Richtext items but I’m using a custom toolbar. For comments on blog entries I don’t think it is necessary for the blog reader to have to select fonts and font sizes so I removed the from the toolbar along with a few other default menu options.

There’s a lot more to come…