9 1:Customization
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[edit] Customization and Branding Strategies
[edit] Overview
Project.net is designed to be re-branded to fit a user's installation; the product's name, logo, URLs and what tools are available to the users are a few of the options.
This document provides an overview of the strategies and options available to those who wish to override or add static resources to their Project.net installation. Static resources include images, cascading stylesheets, javascript and static html pages.
Modern J2EE servers support applications to be deployed as WAR or EAR archive files which contain all static resources in addition to Java classes, JSP pages and configuration. In the case of the Project.net application, all the static resource files for the "Project.net Default Configuration" are included in the EAR file. Administrators cannot simply replace images in a webserver images directory, nor can they add their own images and other static resources.
Customization on Project.net can be described as follows:
Customizing text
Most of the static text within Project.net is contained in a token. You can easily alter the text to match your own wording by creating a custom configuration and changing the appropriate tokens. Project.net is fully localizable and supports multi-byte character sets.
Customizing images
You can replace most of the images used in Project.net through a combination of tokens and the use of a WebLogic or Tomcat Virtual Directory. Alternate or customized images are placed in a virtual directory and their tokens changed to refer to this directory. At runtime, Project.net will use the images in the virtual directory rather than its default image directory. Unless you plan to modify the JSP pages the replacement images must be the same size as the originals.
Altering page header
You can control the height and content of Project.net's page header.
Customizing fonts and text style
Fonts and text styles can be set by overriding Project.net's Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), similar to substituting your own image. You can also modify any CSS file to incorporate dynamic values from an existing or new configuration token.
Altering basic page layout
Beyond this, to change the layout of a Project.net page you will need to alter the Java Server Page (JSP) for that page. The pages are not extremely complicated and the tag library used is well-documented, but you will have to unpack the Project.net deployment EAR (Enterprise Archive), alter the existing JSP file, repacking and re-deploying the modified EAR.
You can also modify any CSS file to incorporate dynamic values from an existing or new configuration token.
Creating a custom login screen
If the standard configuration tokens do not provide enough control over the login page, it is straightforward to replace it with one of your own design.
[edit] Common Customization Choices
This table will help you understand a few of the items you can customize and how.
Logo IF Text T Links T Layout J Top Page Header TJ Bottom of Page branding Fixed Top two bars (grey and black) on pages IF Personal, Business, Project, Resource, Enterprise icons IF Action toolbar icons TJ Control visibility of tools in Navigation Toolbar T Channel bar text T Channel bar icons IF Page Text T Text style (font, size, face) CSS Custom Login Screen TJ
Key
T (Token) - Value set through system administrator interface
J (JSP) - Alter JSP (Java Server Page)
IF (Image File) - an image file stored in a !WebLogic or Tomcat Virtual Directory
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - Modify CSS files for workspace pages
[edit] Next Steps
For step-by-step instructions see the Customizing Project.net page.
[edit] More Help
- Administrator's Manual - Administrator's Manual contents
- Additional help is also available at the Project.net User Forum
