Adding Instructions and Resources to the Viewer
CloudShare enables you to create an environment that is specifically tailored to your users, making their experience more intuitive and much more productive.
Among the most useful CloudShare environment options is the ability to add and completely customize the following Viewer components:
An Overview tab to introduce users to the environment, class or POC. (Provided by default.)
A Resources tab to provide the user with relevant materials and content. (Provided by default.)
An External URL tab to open a selected web site in an iFrame, or in another browser tab. This is a great way to add a questionnaire or other activity to your environment.
To add a tab:
In Advanced mode, at the bottom of the tab list, click Add Tab.
From the dropdown menu, select the type of tab you want to add. (All types are described above.)
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Click
to confirm. The new tab is added to your environment.
You can click the tab name to rename it, move it to wherever you like in the tab order, and customize it as needed.
Click on the Overview tab to edit it's content. You can use HTML components to display text and images, add company branding, and more. You have complete control over the content, with the ability to create styles, colors, and links.
As you make changes in the code area, you can preview the results in the right hand panel:
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Using Formatting Variables
When editing the content an Overview, you can also make use of default and custom formatting variables, which enable you to display a data item or information that is taken from variables that you have defined. For more details, click here.
You can create Resource tabs to can make various types of content and date resources available to users.
Before you can make them accessible on the tab, files such as documents or manuals must first be uploaded to the Resource Repository.
To add resources and edit the descriptions:
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Add a Resource tab, and optionally rename it. A file browser will be displayed, alongside a preview panel for the tab
In the Resource Title field above the list of files, enter a descriptive name that will be displayed as the title of the Resource tab.
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From the Select a folder dropdown, select the folder in the Resource Repository that contains the resources you want to provide on the tab. The list of selected files or subfolders will be displayed in the preview panel at the right.
You can select only one folder per Resource tab. To access additional folders, you can add multiple Resource tabs to an environment.
In the HTML editor provided below the list of files, edit the detailed description that will accompany your Resource list. Your edited description will be displayed in the preview panel at the right.
An External URL tab can either embed a specified URL in the current tab, or open the URL in a separate browser tab when the user clicks it.
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You can add multiple External URL tabs to your environment.
CloudShare enables you to embed:
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Any website outside the environment. For example, a programming language reference site, a technical help center, or even a survey managed on the another cloud platform to get feedback from your students on the class.
To use this option, enter your external URL in the URL field. When it is valid, the URL Preview field will display your entry, and a live preview of the website will appear below it.
Note
By default, the external URL tab opens the specified URL in an iFrame, which is forbidden by some web sites for security reasons (usually to prevent clickjacking). In this case, use the Open in a new browser tab option and the site will open in a new browser tab instead. If the website forbids iFrame embedding and you do not check Open in a new browser tab, the tab will appear blank.
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A valid web address from a VM in the current environment:
To use this option, activate the Use an environment machine address checkbox and select protocol, Hostname, and Port from the dropdown list. The add the relevant external URL path.
Note that, in order to see a preview of this URL, the VM must be running.
A web application running on a VM inside the environment. See Embed a VM-Native Web Application in the Environment Viewer for specific instructions.
Creating Dynamic External URLs
You can define a dynamic or personalized External URL tab by selecting and appending any of the formatting variables and customized class properties seen at the top of the page to the URL field:
One example for using these variables is to provide access to an external URL whose address specifies the current class or the current environment user.
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