Geocortex Web allows users to generate customizable social sharing links in the form of either a URL or a QR code. This allows users to effortlessly share their mapping applications (and specific map states) with their co-workers or clients over email or with their networks over social media!
This Geocortex Tech Tip demonstrates how to use and configure the “Get Sharing Link” command in Geocortex Web. Additionally, it provides an overview of the parameters found in sharing links and gives insight into how these parameters can be customized based on the specific map states that a user wants to share.
Video Transcription:
Hi, it’s Paul here from VertiGIS. Today we’re going to look at a new feature in Geocortex Web that allows you to share the state of your application using parameters in a custom URL. Let’s jump in!
We’re going to look at the new Get Sharing Link command in Geocortex Web. This command allows you to generate a URL that includes the map center point, map scale, the selected base map that you have in your application and the selected layers. From there you can share this URL via email or to social networks to allow someone else to see your app in the same state you are viewing it in. Let’s have a look at how that URL gets configured.
Here we are in my application “Components”. I’m going to add this new sharing feature to my “I Want To” menu as a menu item. I’ll click “Add Menu Item”, and in the “Commands” tab I’ll scroll down to find the “Get Sharing Link” command.
Now, when I click on my “I Want To” menu, you’ll see that I’ve got a pre-configured menu item with a title, a description, and an icon for that “Get Sharing Link” command.
If I click on that “Get Sharing Link” menu item, a URL will be generated that includes some parameters. We’re going to break down those parameters in a second.
We’ve also got a QR code. So, if you’ve got a colleague that has their own device and you want them to view the map or your app in the same state that you’re currently viewing it in, you can have them scan this QR code on their device and then the app will generate the view that you see on your device.
Let’s have a look at the parameters inside of this generated URL. You can see that this is encoded right now. I’m going to decode it using a URL Decoder tool. I’ll put the decoded version back into my notepad.
We’ve got a few parameters here that I’m going to break down. I’m going to separate the URL so that it’s easier to see.
We’ve got a “center” point, we’ve got “basemap”, and we’ve got “layers”.
Up here we’ve got the “scale”, this is the ID of the web map that I have in my application. We’ve got a specific scale; you can see that it’s about 52,000 here, but you could change that to any value within the visible scale of the service that you’re using or the web map that you’re using.
The “center” point has some coordinates here. The “basemap” is just the ID of the map. And then we’ve got the “layers” here and it shows in the URL whether they’re visible or not. So, in my current state it’s showing that layers five and six are currently not visible.
That should give you an idea of how these parameters are configured. You could also generate these manually. The map sharing link component generates it for you, but you could use these same parameters in any URL that you create at any time. Hopefully you have a better idea now of how these parameters are created.
That’s all I have for you today. Hopefully you found that useful and have a great day!
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