Custom Apps

In this article, you will find all there is to know about custom apps and how to create and utilize them.

What are custom apps and what are their use cases?

Custom apps are widgets within Pages that allow users (admins) to add third-party applications that integrate with Happeo.

• An example of an application includes a website that can communicate with Happeo and fetch information from Happeo 

A platform admin can choose to create a custom app if they wish to refrain from all security that, for example, the iframe widget holds with regards to being secured in a sandboxed environment. 

• With this, it is important to note that a custom app is an insecure iframe that is not secured in a sandboxed environment to allow certain web pages to access Happeo that would otherwise not be possible through the iframe widget
• Moreover, custom apps are only designed for URLs as opposed to embedded content
• If you would like to learn about some use cases for the custom apps you can visit this link

How to create a custom app

To view full technical documentation, please visit our developers page. For a light version, keep reading.

To create a custom app, you must be the platform admin or have admin rights. 

With this in place, you can navigate to the Admin settings by clicking on the avatar on the top, right-hand side of the menu and then click on Apps > Custom apps. 

From there, you can click on “Add custom widget” which will present you with two options.

Embedded widget

An embedded widget is displayed inside an iframe. This means that you can display external sources that do not interact with Happeo. 

When you select this option, you will be asked to provide:

• The widget name
• The widget URL
• Scope
  • User ID
  • User primary email
  • User organization ID

To ensure that the URL works, please note the following: 

The workability of the URL you wish to add depends on the server hosting the domain. For example, that domain might have some security settings in place that could prevent the page from loading in.

To test if the URL will indeed be displayed in the custom app you can navigate to this link, remove everything in the field and enter the following: 

<iframe src="https://www.[your url]"></iframe>

From there, click on “Run” in the top, left menu and if the URL you entered appears on the right-hand preview, it will also work as a custom app URL in Happeo. If, however, the URL preview does not appear, it will also not work as a custom app URL in Happeo. 

• It is also important to note that when you type the URL into the widget URL field, “https://” must be added before the domain. For example, instead of “hs.fi” or “www.hs.fi”, it should be “https://hs.fi” or “https://www.hs.fi”. 

Additionally, suppose you enter the URL incorrectly in any other way than what was presented above (such as a spelling error). In that case, you will be notified of it in the custom app preview. 

Once you’ve added in all the necessary fields and clicked on “Add widget," you will be directed back to the Custom app panel within the Admin settings and will receive a confirmation of the creation of the widget.

Custom app

A custom app is an extension to Happeo's functionality that allows, for instance, the creation of fully integrated Page widgets. If you want to view specific user interactions within Happeo, such as for a Page, a custom app can accomplish this. 

When you select this option, you will be asked to provide:

• The widget name
• Target section
  • Pages refer to Page widgets
  • Search refers to search connectors/apps that integrate into Happeo search
• Slug
  • The slug is the portal to rendering inside Happeo. Use this slug when initiating the Component widget, otherwise, the widget will not start. You can click here to read more
• Code

What is the difference between a custom app and a marketplace app?

Custom apps and marketplace apps are essentially the same. However, marketplace apps are accessible for the public to purchase/install whereas custom apps are only available for your Happeo environment. 

After adding the widget

If you wish to edit, disable or delete the custom app you can do so by clicking on the three dots next to the widget where you will be presented with the appropriate options.

• Note that if you, for example, edit the widget you will also receive a confirmation of that action in the bottom left corner. This goes the same for disabling or deleting widgets. 

Lastly, once you’ve established a generous list of custom apps/embedded widgets and would like to search for a specific one, you can most definitely do so by searching for the app or widget in the search bar within the custom apps panel.

What happens if you disable or delete a custom app that has already been added to a Page?

If you decide to disable or delete a custom app that has already been added to a Page, the preview of that widget will be shown as follows within that specific Page:

These widgets can of course be removed from the Page by the Page editor(s) if they wish to do so.

Why are custom apps only accessible to administrators?

The reason why only platform admins can create custom apps as opposed to, for example, Page owners/editors as well is that due to custom apps being insecure iframes that are not in a secured sandboxed environment, there is a higher risk of security issues emerging if a large number of users are utilizing this tool. 

With this in mind, having a limited number of users that have access to this tool is much safer and more secure. All security risks are now the responsibility of the admin user creating/updating such a widget.

Technical documentation