Using i!-ConnectLinx
7
i!-ConnectLinx
Action Persistence and Distribution
i!-ConnectLinx stores the supported actions in a XML file called
i!-ConnectLinx.xml
located in
the
doc:\user\connectlinx directory
. All action information is stored in this file. i!-ConnectLinx
compatible technologies retrieve this file directly from the NetLinx Master.
It may not always be practical to keep all the i!-ConnectLinx action list files on the NetLinx Master.
For instance, in a corporate environment with 20 NetLinx Masters in various conference rooms, a
user outside the company needs to have direct access to each NetLinx Master through the firewall
in order to download the files. Additionally, each NetLinx Master needs it’s own DNS entry, so
users do not have to remember an IP Address.
To simplify action list management, i!-ConnectLinx compatibly technologies support an action list
index file format. This index file lists the names of various files and a URL where the file can be
retrieved. This allows you to move all the action list files from the NetLinx Masters to a web server
for easy retrieval. Place this index file in a directory called
connectlinx
off the root directory of the
web server and name it
i!-ConnectLinx.xml
. However, it can contain links to any URL with any
file name in any folder.
In the above example, the IT department might collect all the action list files and place them in the
connectlinx directory of the company’s web server. Each file should be renamed to reflect the room
that the action list is for. Then a web developer should edit the supplied i!-ConnectLinxList.xml file
to reflect the names and URL’s of each of these files and rename it to i!-ConnectLinx. Now anyone
can retrieve an action list for the company’s system by pointing to the company’s main web address
and selecting a room file from the list.
If desired, the action list index file can be viewed in an HTML browser by using an eXtensible
Style Language file. A web developer can make any adjustments to the XSL file so the index file
has the look of the company’s web site when viewed in an HTML browser. A sample XSL file,
i!-ConnectLinxList.xsl
, is supplied with i!-ConnectLinx and should be placed in the same
directory on the web server as the index file.
The URL contained in the index file can point to an additional index file to allow for tree style
navigation. For instance, the main file might list cities where the company has offices, which point
to an index file for each city. Each city index file might contain a list of buildings and point to
building index files. Then each building index file contains the list of rooms in that building and
points to the actual action list for each room.
