The gadgets API is a Javascript API. An API is meant to be an abstraction on
top of a system, so the details like where the UserPrefs are stored ideally
shouldn't matter to the gadget. I understand that the API doesn't cover all
cases perfectly but it is the only thing that we can reliably test.
As a gadget developer, putting the code to access preferences in Javascript
then calling your server side script from there has a couple benefits.
First, you have an extra point for debugging and troubleshooting between
your gadget and Google servers. Second, your gadget can be cached by Google
for faster initial delivery to the user.
Caching on Google can be helpful in different ways depending on your gadget
architecture. Take a structure like this for example:
<Module>
...
<Content type="url" href="example.com/ssgadget.php">
Then ssgadget.php includes some Javascript inline and some gadget code. Some
of the page is changed to suit the UserPrefs. When the user loads their
iGoogle page, the browser requests all the gadget resources from example.com
.
Now consider restructuring this to get some benefit from Google caching it:
<Module>
...
<Content type="html">
<script>
(some code to put up a "loading..." message)
...
(big chunk of Javascript that used to live in ssgadget.php)
...
(snippet to collect prefs)
gadgets.makeRequest("example.com/gadgetservice.php",...)
...
(replace loading message with content from server)
This modified gadget is still initially served from your server (at
example.com/gadget.xml, for example) but it will be cached by iGoogle. The
results of gadgetservice.php will not be. This means:
1. There can be a significant amount of script pulled out of the earlier
ssgadget.php which can be served from the cache on iGoogle, saving you
bandwidth.
2. Since the second gadget is served from iGoogle's cache, it will likely
load faster in the user's browser. What the user sees is a loading message
but that can be better than an empty box waiting for everything to come from
example.com.
3. It's easier for the developer to test changes to gadgetservice.php since
they can now do more development and testing independent of iGoogle.
Rob Russell
Google Developer Relations
On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 11:08 AM, Nick <[email protected]> wrote:
> Please support them in both the query string and fragment in the
> future. This will go along way, for customers who can't modify the
> gadget to include JavaScript easily.
>
> On Apr 23, 1:55 pm, "Rob Russell (Google)" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > Summary:
> > UserPrefs are back in the query string right now. They may move to the
> > URL fragment again. If you have gadgets which rely on the position of
> > the UserPrefs in the URL, please update them to use API functions. Use
> > gadgets.Prefs or _IG_Prefs as appropriate for your gadget.
> >
> > A little more detail:
> > As you probably already realize, iGoogle is a large piece of software
> > with a lot of moving parts. We work hard to maintain the code and to
> > improve it for developers that use our APIs and end users on iGoogle
> > in a number of ways.
> >
> > Launching new features and maintaining existing ones requires frequent
> > changes to the software which happen on an on-going basis. The change
> > which moves UserPrefs from the query string to the URL fragment is
> > only one of several changes that can depend on each other and are all
> > released together. The release which included moving the UserPrefs has
> > been reverted for the time being.
> >
> > Rob Russell
> > Google Developer Relations
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "iGoogle Developer Forum" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
> .
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> [email protected]<google-gadgets-api%[email protected]>
> .
> > For more options, visit this group athttp://
> groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API?hl=en.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "iGoogle Developer Forum" group.
> To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> [email protected]<google-gadgets-api%[email protected]>
> .
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API?hl=en.
>
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"iGoogle Developer Forum" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API?hl=en.
