If you have ever written a Zimlet that includes HTML markup directly in JavaScript, you know that escaping and formatting the HTML can be a cumbersome and error prone process. There is an easier way: Templates. Templates allow you to separate HTML markup from JavaScript code. This enables you to leverage HTML in your Zimlets without the formatting hassles. The Problem A common technique for using HTML markup within JavaScript is to use an Array() and append HTML markup data as array entries. Once you have all of the HTML markup in the Array(), you perform an Array.join() to create a single String that represents the HTML markup.… Read more »

New with Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0 is the ability to create Zimlets that show-up as tab applications in the Zimbra Web Client.  This powerful new feature, unique to the Zimbra platform, enables partners & customers to more easily integrate third-party applications with the Zimbra Web Client. And there are already new Zimlets taking advantage of this feature, like the Social Zimlet or the BroadSoft Zimlet. Let’s take a look at how to implement some of the basic operations of this new feature…But first, some background: the Zimbra Web Client displays multiple default applications across the top of the interface as "tabs". These applications include (based on your deployment configuration):… Read more »

When developing a Zimlet, you are constantly making code changes and then packaging and deploying the Zimlet to be able to test those changes. This is the Zimlet development process and is done over & over again until your Zimlet is "ready" for production. An iterative development process like this that involves packaging and deploying with each code change can be quite time consuming and really impact your developer productivity. That’s where the Zimlet Development Directory comes in. By using the Zimlet Development Directory, you can develop your Zimlets without having to package and deploy the Zimlet with each code change. You can make your code changes directly in the Zimlet files and just refresh your browser to see the changes take affect. This will greatly reduce your development time and overall, make it much easier to build Zimlets.… Read more »

This is one people have asked about a lot. Starting with Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0, we will be providing a formal Zimlet Developer’s Guide and API Reference. The goal of this documentation is to make it easier for partners and customers to build Zimlets and to integrate with the Zimbra platform. As we’ve built this documentation, here are some of our guiding principles: Easy to find. Make the documentation online and "wiki-based" for easy access. Reduce "wondering" between versions.… Read more »

Zimbra’s open source roots have always been of great importance to both the company and the Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS).  When we set out to build a new collaboration system over five years ago, we wanted to bring a fresh perspective to the market, and a big part of that was our commitment to being open source.  We understood sharing ideas within the open source community keeps you a one step ahead of competitors by iterating faster to give users what they want.  A great example demonstrating how the community has flourished is the Zimlet development program. Zimlets are simple but powerful extensions of ZCS that connect users’ email, calendar, and contacts with any number of outside services (for a couple of recent examples see Alfresco and Peru and TripIt).  Zimlet development growth in the community has been strong and steady, and we are excited to continue supporting the community’s work by providing a place where developers can feature the best of their integrations to share with other Zimbra users.   So, today we are launching an updated Zimlet Gallery where you can pick and choose from many handy new ZCS extensions. At the same time, we also love seeing our Yahoo!… Read more »