Customize the footer

We can edit the files that control the content of the Connections footer to improve the footer's functionality.

The footer.jsp file defines the content of the footer in Connections. The style used by the footer is defined in the defaultTheme.css file. In addition to defining the style of Connections, this file also sets the font color and background color of the navigation bar and footer.

1. Turn on the customization debugging capability. See Enable and disable customization debugging.

2. Make a copy of the footer.jsp file. We can access the file from the following directory:

   WAS_HOME/profiles/profile_name/installedApps/cell_name/
   application_name.ear/application_name.war/nav/templates

   where:

   • WAS_HOME is the directory where IBM WebSphere Application Server is installed.

   • profile_name is the profile where you installed IBM Connections.

   • cell_name is the cell where you installed the application.

   • application_name.ear is the name of the application EAR file. To customize interface styles that are common to all applications, use the Common.ear file.

   • application_name.war is the name of the application WAR file.

     For a list of the web application source directories that are packaged with Connections, see Application WAR files and OSGi bundles.

   • version is the version number of the Connections release plus the date and build number of the JAR file.

   The footer.jsp file is the same for each application. You only need to make a copy of one instance of the footer.jsp file.

3. Paste the copy of the footer.jsp file into the appropriate subdirectory in the customization directory, which is most likely the common directory. See Determine where to save the customizations for more details.

   For example, to change the look of the footer in all applications, copy the file into the following directory:
   customizationDir/common/nav/templates

4. Open the copied footer.jsp file in an editor, and then determine the section of the footer to which to add the link.

   For example, to add a link to the company's help page to the Help section of the footer, find the Help section of the footer by searching for the following HTML markup:

   The help links.  Points to the end-user help for the current application, and to the public IBM forums for Connections  
   --%><lc-ui:templateLink key="help.help" appname="${appName}"&gt;<fmt:message key="label.footer.help.help" />
      </lc-ui:templateLink><%--
                   --%><li><%--
                      --><a href="<c:out value="http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lcforum.nsf" />"><%--
                         --%><fmt:message key="label.footer.help.forums" /><%--
                      --%></a><%--
                   --%></li>

   Add the company help link to the section by adding the link as an <li> element to the <td> block.

   The help links.  Points to the end-user help for the current application, and to the public IBM forums for Connections  --%><lc-ui:templateLink key="help.help" appname="${appName}"><fmt:message key="label.footer.help.help" />
      </lc-ui:templateLink><%--
                   --%><li><%--
                      --%><a href="<c:out value="http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lcforum.nsf" />"><%--
                         --%><fmt:message key="label.footer.help.forums" /><%--
                      --%></a><%--
                   --%></li>
                  <li>
                     <a href="http://www.mycompany.com/help">My Company Help</a>
                  </li><%-- 

   We do not need to add the <lc-ui:templateLink> or <fmt:message> elements. We can just add the link within a standard <li> element.

5. Save and close the footer.jsp file.

6. Restart the applications, and then refresh the web browser to see the changes.

7. If we enabled custom debugging, turn off the debugging capability when we are ready to publish your changes. See Enable customization debugging.

8. See Required post-customization step for information about how to apply the changes permanently.

Parent topic:
Customize the user interface

Related:
Enable live user interface customization editing mode
Determine where to save the customizations
Required post-customization step
Application WAR files and OSGi bundles