You can use the xMatters APIs to develop custom subscription panels, custom messaging panels, and custom pages using Java Server Page technology. This takes advantage of the potential for JSPs to use XML and HTML in conjunction with Java code.
Developers must have experience with Java and Java Server Pages to create custom panels in the xMatters system, and it is recommended that they be familiar with Cocoon Forms, as the Subscription API relies on the Cocoon Forms widget.
Custom panels are backed up during an xMatters upgrade. This means that you will need to copy the files from the backup directory after upgrading.
JSP was chosen for several reasons; notably, it is the Java answer to dynamic web content and has built-in XML support. The web server is built using the Cocoon XML framework through the use of Java servlets. JSP allows developers to use XML and Java to create dynamic pages that will integrate easily into the xMatters application.
Although the details of JSP development are out of scope for this document, the documentation for Cocoon 2.1.7 is installed with xMatters, under the installation directory in the webserver/documentation/cocoon folder. To view, open the index.html file in a web browser, and then click User Guide > Forms.
JSTL version 1.1.2 is also included with xMatters. This is a collection of standard tag libraries from the Jakarta project that include simple functionality via the named resource in the URI namespace, http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core.
Custom panels permit users to supply their own representation of data that is usually within xMatters. Users can develop any of the following types of custom panels:
Each JSP file provides the body content of a web page within the xMatters web application. The content of the file can be a combination of different languages such as HTML, XML, and Java, as illustrated in the following example:
<page>
<left-menu key="PARENT" banner-menuid="${cocoon.session.selectedBannerMenuId}"/>
<website>
<H1>Hello World</H1>
</website>
</page>