data-id=tracker-api

Tracker API

This chapter presents information on the Tracker URL API, XML feed extensions, and a JavaScript-based user interface driver for customizing the Tracker user interface.

data-id=28803

data-id=tracker-url-api

Tracker URL API

Tracker responds to the execution of URL commands for adding, updating, selecting, and removing subscriptions to RSS feeds, converting subscriptions to PDF files, and displaying the Tracker window within Acrobat. This section describes URL commands that can do the following tasks:

• Add a subscription
• Update a subscription
• Select a subscription
• Remove a subscription
• Convert a subscription to a PDF file
• Display Tracker

Note

For all of the Tracker URL commands, Acrobat is launched if it is not already open.

data-id=18543

data-id=add-a-subscription

Add a subscription

acrobat:Inbox?addFeed=<URL>

Adds the RSS feed specified by URL, and opens the Tracker window. A security dialog box may appear, indicating the source of the subscription and providing the user with the option to cancel the feed subscription.

data-id=27784

data-id=update-a-subscription

Update a subscription

acrobat:Inbox?updateFeed=<URL>

Asynchronously updates the RSS feed specified by URL, and opens the Tracker window.

data-id=34948

data-id=select-a-subscription

Select a subscription

acrobat:Inbox?selectFeed=<URL>

Selects the RSS feed specified by URL, and opens the Tracker window.

Alternatively, the following notation can be used to select an item within a feed:

acrobat:Inbox?selectFeed=<URL>#<GUID>

In this case, GUID is the RSS GUID item. For example, if the user subscribes to the RSS feed at http://example.org/RSS/example and the item within the feed has a GUID of http://example.org/RSS/abc, the following notation is used:

acrobat:Inbox?selectFeed=<http://example.org/RSS/example>#

  <GUID>@<http://example.org/RSS/abc>

data-id=20604

data-id=remove-a-subscription

Remove a subscription

acrobat:Inbox?removeFeed=<URL>

Removes the RSS subscription specified by URL. A verification dialog box appears, providing the user with the option to cancel the subscription removal.

data-id=70156

data-id=convert-a-subscription-to-a-pdf-file

Convert a subscription to a PDF file

acrobat:Inbox?convert=<URL>

Converts the RSS subscription specified by URL to a PDF file. The user is not required to subscribe to the feed, and in such cases the feed does not remain in Tracker after the conversion has taken place.

data-id=49265

data-id=display-tracker

Display Tracker

acrobat:Inbox?show

Displays the Tracker window.

data-id=19240

data-id=rss-xml-feed-extensions

RSS XML feed extensions

You can add XML extensions to RSS 2.0 feeds to customize the user interface for the subscriptions in Tracker. The extensions are based on the following specifications:

• Namespace
• Channel extensions
• Item extensions

data-id=29789

data-id=namespace

Namespace

Tracker extensions use the namespace defined at http://ns.adobe.com/Acrobat/RSS/Inbox to extend RSS 2.0. You can set the namespace prefix by adding the following XML attribute to the RSS node:

xmlns:inbox="http://ns.adobe.com/Acrobat/RSS/Inbox"

For more information on XML namespaces, see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/.

data-id=71290

data-id=channel-extensions

Channel extensions

You can add extensions as children of the RSS 2.0 <channel/> element. These can be used to perform the following actions:

• Customizing the user interface
• Grouping items within a feed
• Sorting items within a feed
• Assigning icons to feeds
• Marking feed items as unread

data-id=10491

data-id=customizing-the-user-interface

Customizing the user interface

<inbox:feedUI/>

Provides a URL for a JavaScript user interface driver. For security reasons, the URL for the driver must be relative to the URL of the XML document containing the RSS feed. For example, the following code uses myCustomUI.js :

<inbox:feedUI>myCustomUI.js</inbox:feedUI>

Note

This type of URL is known as a code subscription feed. Code subscription is done through the same mechanism as RSS and the contents are stored locally. However, the files are standard JavaScript files. Code subscription feeds are checked for updates infrequently, and update only the local copy since code changes do not occur dynamically. The code changes do not take effect until the next time Tracker is started.

data-id=grouping-items-within-a-feed

Grouping items within a feed

<inbox:groupBy/>

  <inbox:grouping/>

Provides the name of an element that should be used for grouping items within a feed. For example, author would indicate that the RSS <author/> element should be used for grouping items according to author name, as shown in the following code:

<inbox:groupBy>author</inbox:groupBy>

If the grouping element is an XML namespace, the elements can be specified using the following notation: namespace:local name. For example, if the namespace is http://example.org/myInfoNamespace/ and the local name is timeZone, the notation would appear as follows:

<inbox:groupBy>http://example.org/myInfoNamespace/:timeZone</inbox:groupBy>

The <inbox:groupBy/> element can use multiple child <inbox:grouping/> elements. This allows for multiple levels of grouping for feed items. In the following example, items will be grouped according to author name, and within those groups there will be subgroups of items grouped according to the year:

<inbox:groupBy>
     <grouping>author</grouping>
     <grouping>year</grouping>
 </inbox:groupBy>

data-id=sorting-items-within-a-feed

Sorting items within a feed

<inbox:sortBy/>

Provides the name of an element to be used for lexically sorting items within a feed. For example, author would indicate that the RSS author element should be used for sorting items according to author name, as shown in the following code:

<inbox:sortBy>author</inbox:sortBy>

If the grouping element is an XML namespace, the elements can be specified using the following notation: namespace:local name. For example, if the namespace is http://example.org/myInfoNamespace/ and the local name is timeZone, the notation would appear as follows:

<inbox:sortBy>http://example.org/myInfoNamespace/:timeZone</inbox:sortBy>

data-id=30285

data-id=assigning-icons-to-feeds

Assigning icons to feeds

<inbox:icon/>

Provides the URL of an icon to be used for the tree view item icon for a feed. For security reasons, the URL for the icon must be relative to the URL of the XML document containing the RSS feed. You can subscribe to icons provided they are in PNG format and are less than 20 by 20 pixels in size. For example, the following code assigns the icon contained in Circle.png to the feed:

<inbox:icon>Circle.png</inbox:icon>

data-id=marking-feed-items-as-unread

Marking feed items as unread

<inbox:markUnread/>

Indicates whether unread items in the feed should be highlighted. The default is for the items to be marked. The following code indicates that unread items should be marked:

<inbox:markUnread>true</inbox:markUnread>

data-id=item-extensions

Item extensions

You can add extensions as children of the RSS 2.0 channel element. These can be used to perform the following actions:

• Nesting feed items
• Hiding feed items

As with channel extensions, item extensions can also be used to perform the following actions:

• Customizing the user interface
• Assigning icons to feeds

data-id=51517

data-id=nesting-feed-items

Nesting feed items

<inbox:subfeed/>

Provides a URL to an RSS feed to be nested under the current Tracker item. This allows a multi-level hierarchy of information to be displayed in Tracker. For security reasons, the URL for the nested feed must be relative to the URL of the XML document containing the current RSS feed.

data-id=58221

data-id=hiding-feed-items

Hiding feed items

<inbox:hidden/>

Indicates that the item should not be displayed in Tracker. This can be used to force the display of empty groups.

data-id=52247

data-id=user-interface-driver

User interface driver

The Tracker extensions provide the inbox:feedUI element, which consists of a URL to a code subscription feed. If no user interface driver is specified, a generic driver is used. If only some of the methods are implemented in the user interface driver object defined in the JavaScript file, the default RSS driver is used to implement the remaining methods.

The user interface driver JavaScript file should return a driver object as the event result, as shown in the following example:

var ui = { /* User interface driver object */ };
 event.result = ui;

The user interface driver is active when a feed or any of its elements are selected. Multiple feeds can use the same driver.

The user interface driver requires the following object definitions:

• Dialog object
• Driver object
• Layout description object
• RSS object
• Selection object

data-id=49449

data-id=dialog-object

Dialog object

The dialog object is described in the JavaScript for Acrobat API Reference. However, when using Tracker, it is augmented with the following methods:

• getSelection
• isFeedSelection
• isItemSelection
• isGroupSelection
• getFeed

data-id=35313

data-id=getselection

getSelection

This method returns the current selection object. This can be a subscription feed or a group or item within a feed, and it can be identified using the isFeedSelection, isGroupSelection, and isItemSelection methods.

data-id=62860

data-id=isfeedselection

isFeedSelection

This method returns true if the current selection object is a subscription feed as described in the RSS.getContents method.

data-id=78914

data-id=isitemselection

isItemSelection

This method returns true if the current selection object is an item within a subscription feed.

data-id=59598

data-id=isgroupselection

isGroupSelection

This method returns true if the current selection object is a string representing the name of a group within a subscription feed.

data-id=40650

data-id=getfeed

getFeed

This method returns the subscription feed of the current selection.

data-id=24450

data-id=driver-object

Driver object

The JavaScript driver feed is a script that is executed. The script should set the event.result property to an object implementing some or all of the methods defined in this section.

data-id=22830

data-id=createtoolbar

createToolBar

This method displays a toolbar at the top of Tracker when items that use the driver are selected. The method should return an array of objects (one for each toolbar button), each containing the following properties:

data-id=createcontext

createContext

This method displays a window at the bottom of Tracker when items that use the driver are selected. The method returns a layout description object (see Layout description object for more information). If the driver does not provide this method, the default behavior is for the HTML content in the RSS feed to be rendered in the context window.

data-id=51037

data-id=getinitiatename

getInitiateName

This method provides a user interface name for an initiation workflow provided by the getInitiateMenu method.

data-id=getinitiatemenu

getInitiateMenu

This method provides a menu item in the context menu of the Acrobat Send for Review menu. This allows a user interface driver to provide a workflow initiation user interface. The method returns an array of objects corresponding to menu items, each having the following properties:

data-id=26634

data-id=getfeedcontextmenu

getFeedContextMenu

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and returns an array of objects corresponding to menu items in a context menu, each having the following properties:

data-id=45057

data-id=getitemcontextmenu

getItemContextMenu

This method is passed a feed and feed item as parameters, and returns an array of objects corresponding to menu items, each having the following properties:

data-id=10839

data-id=getfeedtitle

getFeedTitle

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and returns a display string for the feed title.

data-id=59756

data-id=getitemtitle

getItemTitle

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and returns a display string for the feed item text.

data-id=32456

data-id=getgrouptitle

getGroupTitle

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and returns a display string for the text used for a group.

data-id=99454

data-id=getfeedtip

getFeedTip

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and returns a display string for the feed tooltip.

data-id=60396

data-id=getgrouptip

getGroupTip

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and returns a display string for the tooltip used for a group.

data-id=52475

data-id=onselectfeed

onSelectFeed

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a feed is selected.

data-id=30828

data-id=onselectitem

onSelectItem

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a feed item is selected.

data-id=75311

data-id=onactivatefeed

onActivateFeed

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a feed is double-clicked.

data-id=76321

data-id=onactivateitem

onActivateItem

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a feed item is double-clicked.

data-id=34959

data-id=onactivategroup

onActivateGroup

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a group is double-clicked.

data-id=34860

data-id=candeletefeed

canDeleteFeed

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called to determine if a feed can be deleted. If the feed can be deleted, the method returns true.

data-id=98962

data-id=ondeletefeed

onDeleteFeed

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a feed is deleted. If the method returns true, the feed has been deleted. In this case, the method should modify the subscription accordingly.

data-id=31466

data-id=candeleteitem

canDeleteItem

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called to determine if an item can be deleted. If the item can be deleted, the method returns true.

data-id=66274

data-id=ondeleteitem

onDeleteItem

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when an item is deleted. If the method returns true, the item has been deleted. In this case, the method should modify the subscription accordingly.

data-id=77034

data-id=candeletegroup

canDeleteGroup

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called to determine if a group can be deleted. If the feed can be deleted, the method returns true.

data-id=75040

data-id=ondeletegroup

onDeleteGroup

This method is passed a selection object as a parameter, and is called when a group is deleted. If the method returns true, the group has been deleted. In this case, the method should modify the subscription accordingly.

data-id=68897

data-id=shouldsort

shouldSort

This method determines whether the feed items should be sorted. If it returns true, the items will be sorted.

data-id=85516

data-id=sortcompare

sortCompare

This method is used to sort feed items. It is passed a feed description and two item descriptions A and B as parameters, and returns one of the following values:

• If A < B, the method returns -1.
• If A = B, the method returns 0.
• If A > B, the method returns 1.

data-id=86375

data-id=shouldgroup

shouldGroup

This method determines whether the feed items should be grouped together. If it returns true, the items will be grouped.

data-id=98368

data-id=groupitem

groupItem

This method is used to group the items in a feed. It is passed an item description as a parameter, and returns either a localized category name for the method or an empty string indicating that there is no grouping category.

data-id=95742

data-id=shouldfilterfeed

shouldFilterFeed

This method determines whether an entire feed should be displayed. It is passed a feed description and the document ID of the current document as parameters. If it returns false, the feed is hidden, otherwise it is displayed.

data-id=25530

data-id=shouldfilteritem

shouldFilterItem

This method determines whether a feed item should be displayed. It is passed an item description as a parameter. If it returns false, the feed is hidden, otherwise it is displayed.

data-id=36459

data-id=getidleperiod

getIdlePeriod

This method returns the period in seconds that the idle method should be called while the user interface for this driver is active and displayed.

data-id=26012

data-id=idle

idle

This method is passed the periodicity, obtained from the getIdlePeriod method, as a parameter, assuming that the periodicity was a positive value. It should run for the number of seconds specified by the periodicity.

data-id=19710

data-id=gethtmlrendition

getHTMLRendition

This method returns an HTML representation of the selection object. The HTML representation is typically used to convert the content to a PDF file using the WebCapture plug-in.

data-id=43506

data-id=canchangegroups

canChangeGroups

This method indicates whether the user interface driver supports drag and drop operations on items between groups in the feed. The method returns true if the operations are supported, false otherwise, and its outcome is based on the values returned by the canModifyItemGroup and modifyItemGroup methods.

data-id=13700

data-id=canmodifyitemgroup

canModifyItemGroup

This method determines whether the user can perform a drag and drop operation on an item within a group. It receives three parameters: a selection object for the currently selected item, an array of the group labels to which the item currently belongs, and an array of destination group labels. The method returns true if the operation is allowed.

data-id=44926

data-id=modifyitemgroup

modifyItemGroup

This method is called when the user performs a drag and drop operation on an item within a group. It receives three parameters: a selection object for the currently selected item, an array of the group labels to which the item currently belongs, and an array of destination group labels. The method returns true if the operation is allowed.

data-id=26052

data-id=layout-description-object

Layout description object

The layout of Tracker’s context window is described by a layout description object. This object contains a hierarchical set of views and a set of event handlers for those views. Each view has a view identifier (its item_id property) that provides access to the view value as well as a notification callback. The layout description object is returned by the user interface driver object’s createContext method.

data-id=63607

data-id=rss-object

RSS object

The RSS object is used to add, remove, and update RSS feeds, and manage their content and user interface behavior.

data-id=addfeed

addFeed

Adds the feed specified by cURL to the subscriptions managed by Acrobat.

Parameters

data-id=removefeed

removeFeed

Removes the subscription specified by cURL that was previously added by calling addFeed.

Parameters

data-id=getcontents

getContents

Returns the current contents of the RSS cache for the feed specified by cURL.

Parameters

Returns

Object

If the feed has not yet been fetched, the result is a null object. Otherwise, the object returned depends on the type of feed. If the subscription is an RSS or ATOM feed, it returns an object with the following properties.

data-id=update

update

Forces the update of the subscription specified by cURL.

Parameters

data-id=addui

addUI

Adds a user interface driver for a feed.

Parameters

data-id=38710

data-id=selection-object

Selection object

The selection object is passed to many of the user interface driver methods and indicates the selection context for the method.