when I wrote my gadget in July 2008, a documented method was exactly as I/you describe, a "url" type gadget was specified to take all preferences as url arguments. There was a documented field one put in the preference markup which was used as the argument name, and values came from the gadget. changing preferences resulted in another GET, with the arguments changed. It's how I hacked together my gadget in the first place.
Sure, it's "legacy" now, but don't let minitru fool you. -G Gavin McDonald EVI Logistic Enterprises 604-313-3845 - VE7HXR On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 4:40 PM, SerranoABQ <[email protected]> wrote: > Really? I was never aware of this. I recall in the legacy api using > simple variable substitution to pass the preference value to a type > URL gadget as a query string. It was something along the lines of > "http://something/gadget.php?query_param=__UP_name__"; where the > "__UP_name__" got replaced with the preference value. This and the > library injection method I mentioned were the ones I was familiar with > through the documentation. > > On Apr 24, 4:59 pm, Gavin McDonald <[email protected]> wrote: > > in 2008, the "officially supported" way was passing arguments via the > query > > string. > > > > -G > > > > Gavin McDonald > > EVI Logistic Enterprises > > 604-313-3845 - VE7HXR > > > > > > > > On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 3:56 PM, SerranoABQ <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > I don't think that UserPrefs in type URL gadgets is not being > > > supported. It seems > > > to me that people were parsing the URL to get user preferences, when > > > the "officially > > > supported" way (at least the one I've seen in the docs) is through the > > > API Prefs functions. > > > If some were using an undocumented "feature," then support wasn't > > > "dropped"; it was > > > never provided. That it might have worked seems to have been more luck > > > and coincidence > > > than by design. > > > > > PS. I've had success with the injection of the API libraries into my > > > gadget using > > > the approach given in the legacy API docs ( > http://code.google.com/apis/ > > > gadgets/docs/legacy/fundamentals.html#Libs). > > > both in PHP and pure Javascript and I haven't seen the problems being > > > reported > > > here. > > > > > On Apr 24, 12:00 am, Jeremy Blythe <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > So, basically what you're saying is that you're dropping support for > > > > UserPrefs in URL content type gadgets. You should make this clear in > > > > the documentation: > > >http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/reference.html#Userprefs_Ref > > > > > > On Apr 23, 7:51 pm, Rob Russell <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > 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]> > <google-gadgets-api%[email protected]<google-gadgets-api%[email protected]> > ><Google-Gadgets-API%2Bunsubs > > > [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]> > <google-gadgets-api%[email protected]<google-gadgets-api%[email protected]> > ><Google-Gadgets-API%2Bunsubs > > > [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]<google-gadgets-api%[email protected]> > <google-gadgets-api%[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]> > <google-gadgets-api%[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]> > <google-gadgets-api%[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]<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. 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