5.3 Web links or URLs

5.3.1 Web links - application

5.3.2 Creating links to web pages

5.3.3 Business Collaborator’s unique IDs

5.3.4 Creating links to Business Collaborator objects

5.3.5 Changing web links

5.3.6 Using relative links

5.3.1 Web links - application

A web link or URL (Universal Resource Locator) identifies a particular web address and so can be used as a shortcut to objects stored anywhere on the Internet, including a Business Collaborator server. When a user clicks on a web link, Business Collaborator will check whether they should have access to the object which the web link (URL) points to (see section 4.6 for more information on Access Rights). If they do have access to it, their web browser will display the object in the usual way (see section 3.2.1 ). If they do not have access to the object, an error message will be displayed informing that they have insufficient access rights.

Duplicating documents in two or more locations always creates maintenance problems and often leads to the documents becoming inconsistent when someone updates one copy but not the other. In order to avoid such duplication, web links (URL)s can be used to take workspace members directly to the required document no matter where it is located on the server, thus avoiding the dangers inherent in maintaining different copies.

Web links can also be used to provide shortcuts between different folders in a Business Collaborator hierarchy simply to speed up navigation for workspace members. They can even be used as entry points into a workspace hierarchy from outside the Business Collaborator server. For instance, you could place a link into a workspace in a web page (see Section 10 - Website publishing).

Web links can be sent by email to workspace members to inform them of changes in the workspace, e.g. the creation of a new folder or important alterations made to a document.

One great advantage of using web links (URLs) is that Business Collaborator's internal addresses are short and they do not change when the object is moved to another folder, when a folder is renamed etc.

5.3.2 Creating links to web pages

If you wish to share a useful web page with other members of your workspace or shared folder:

• click  Add  |   Web Link  to create a new Business Collaborator web link object (a placeholder for the web address)
• in the "URL" text box of the New URL link form (shown in Figure 5.3-1), type in the web address you want your colleagues to investigate (e.g. www.bbc.co.uk
)
• optionally, type the name of the web page into the ‘label’ box (e.g. BBC web pages)
• optionally, type in a description of the web page (e.g. why you think it should be of interest to them)
• finally, click on (Create URL link) to add the URL object to the folder

Once you have added the web link, click on its name to ensure that it takes you to the correct web page.

Figure 5.3-1: Adding a web link (URL).

5.3.3 Business Collaborator’s unique IDs

Business Collaborator generates a unique internal address (or ID) for every object. You can see this web link (URL) in the 'Location:' (Address) window of your browser while it is displaying the object. For instance, if you are in a folder called Presentations, the following URL might be displayed:

        http://myserver/bc/bc.cgi/0/3014
    

(You can use such internal addresses in link tags in any HTML document:

        http://myserver/bc/bc.cgi/d16950/new.txt
    

can be abbreviated to

        /bc/bc.cgi/d16950/new.txt
    

if both documents reside on the same server.)

Note

If you want to allow anonymous access to new.txt, the address will have to be modified to

        /pub/english.cgi/d16950/new.txt
    

as described in section section 4.6.6.

5.3.4 Creating links to Business Collaborator objects

If you wish to insert a link to another object on the Business Collaborator server into a folder:

• obtain the address of the object to which you wish the web link (URL) to point by right mouse clicking on the object and selecting "Copy Shortcut" (or "Copy Link location") from the menu which appears
• go to the location where you wish to add the web link and click  Add  |   Web Link  to create a new Business Collaborator web link object
• in the "URL" text box of the New URL link form, paste the address which is stored in your clipboard
• optionally, type the name of the object into the ‘label’ box
• optionally, type in a description of the document (e.g. where the document is located or why you have added a link to it)
• finally, click on (Create URL link) to add the URL object to the folder

Once you have added the web link, click on its name to ensure that it takes you to the correct object.

It is often preferable to provide people with web links to folders rather than documents. This allows them to see where the document is located and may direct them to other documents of interest in the same folder which they might otherwise have missed. In addition, links to folders give users a clearer picture of how the hierarchy is constructed and will help them to gain confidence in navigating around Business Collaborator.

Note 1

Make sure that members of the workspace or shared folder where you add the web link at least have ‘Get’ access for the object to which the web link points.

Note 2

If you are sent a web link which contains a reference to a specific interface, this interface will be displayed when you use the web link to go to that location. Otherwise, you will be shown the location in your preferred interface.

Note 3

If you are check the check-box shown in Figure 5.3-1 and labelled "Put the URL into document description", the description of the web link object will display the address to which it is pointing. This is purely for display purposes.

5.3.5 Changing web links

The name displayed for a web link can be edited by clicking on  |  Rename  . However, this will not effect the actual address to which the web link points. If the web link is incorrect, it may be edited by clicking  |  Edit Web Link  . (Note that if the web link is also displayed in the description, it should also be edited to keep it consistent with the correct web address.)

5.3.6 Using relative links

For objects inside your home folder, Business Collaborator can convert pathnames containing the names of folders as indicated in the location bar of folder views, to the corresponding internal addresses.

Take as an example a document called article.html that contains a picture named pic.gif and refers to a second document doc2.html. The text of article.html might then contain the links

        <IMG SRC="pic.gif">
        ...
        <A HREF="doc2.html">this document</A>
    

If the three files article.html, pic.gif and doc2.html are in the same folder, Business Collaborator will convert the links correctly.

Files in sub folders, in folders higher up the directory tree or in a different branch of the tree of workspaces and folders can be addressed in the same way, following standard UNIX notation. If the image file pic.gif is in the subdirectory pictures and the second document is in the folder documents in a folder more, then Business Collaborator will convert the links

pictures/pic.gif

...

more/documents/doc2.html this document

correctly.

Similarly, if the document doc2.html contains a link

../../article.html

this is again converted correctly, if doc2.html has an address path with at least two directories before the name of the object.