SelfService - V.2

[#1]

Well, it's been fun to discover that the Description field in Self Service policies will accept HTML formatting...
Made a few bold lines, line breaks... then my eyes opened up when I was able to embed a youtube video in there.

Then it hits me in the forehead!
How? or Where do we access the source files to modify this whole experience?
Is it using CSS?

Yeah the blue color on the splash page is nice... but what if I want to brand the whole experience to mimic our corporate image?

One more thing...
How cool would it be to copy a link from within SS and email it to another user. Then by clicking on it, it would be re-directed to open up within SS, the same way iTunes does..
If you do that now, it just opens up in a web browser.

Nick Caro Apple Systems Administrator
Phone 212-839-1587 Fax 212-946-4010 nick.caro at rga.com<mailto:nick.caro at rga.com>

R/GA 350 West 39th Street New York, NY 10018 www.rga.com<http://www.rga.com/>

The Agency for the Digital Age™
Ad Age Digital A-List, 2009
Adweek Digital Agency of the Year, 2008
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R/GA | 350 West 39 Street New York, NY 10018

[#2]

yup, that's our first phase!
We are setting up a separate "how to" category for SS policies that wont install anything. They will just have embedded instructional videos and other media for things like; changing passwords, SSL VPN, etc.
My goal for Q2 2010 is for all of our Mac users to view Self Service as the primary stop for assistance from our desktop group.

It's already gaining ground via word of mouth, now we just need to enter the next level.

[jarednichols]

The place to customize all that appears to be on your JSS in /Library/Tomcat/webapps/jamf

The Self Service CSS is /Library/Tomcat/webapps/jamf/theme/SelfService.css
The Self Service images folder is /Library/Tomcat/webapps/jamf/images/selfservice

Hopefully that’ll start you off.

j

[taugust04]

Hi Nick,

Apologies for resurrecting a dead thread, but I was hoping you could go into a little more detail on how you are using Self Service to post documentation. So you are creating self-service policies that do nothing, then publishing them, and just editing the description area with basic HTML?

This sounds exciting. I've been trying to figure out a way to publish Mac related documentation for a few years now, and this seems like a promising method.

Thanks,

-- Ted August
Salve Regina University

[#5]

Yes, that is the basic idea.

- create a new policy and make it available via SS
- don't attach any packages, scripts or reboot options
- insert HTML coding in the description field

your HTML code can include embedded media such as tutorial videos on a local server or videos straight of youtube.
you could also insert hotlinks to download files, format your text and generally go as far as you want to push it.

(although currently stalled) one of my goals is to get tutorial videos. The first one can be as simple as a walkthrough on how to change your password via the SysPreferences, how to connect to a server, etc...ultimately making the SS app a portal to not only software but also general support.

The next step would be to customize and brand the whole SS experience from start to finish. But that will be challenging if like me, you don't have full access to the JSS server.
Try this;
copy the following in to your description field. Just copy the text between the rows of # signs.

########

hello <b>johny</b> <br> <br> <br> <br> <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CFy5NG0wgS8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CFy5NG0wgS8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

#####

[tlarkin]

yes, just like Nick here suggests. The self service app is basically a
web browser. I use HTML in a lot of my policies with links and
instructions. here is one I put out lately that updates both QT and
iTunes via self service

<p>This will update both iTunes and QuickTime. Please be patient as it
may be slow if the wireless network is experiencing heavy usage. <b><font color="red"><strong>You must quit both iTunes and Quicktime
before installing.</b></font></strong></p> <p> </p> <p> Thanks, Mac Admin </p>

That is just the first self service policy I grabbed, but you could do
basically anything you can do with a web browser. I am sure you could
even edit the CSS and other things to make self service look how you
wanted it to.

[jarednichols]

We actually have a Self Service template that we follow:

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard application for image editing.<br>
<br>
<u>System Requirements</u><br>
*PowerPC G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor<br>
*Mac OS X v.10.4.8<br>
*512MB of RAM<br>
*64MB of video RAM<br>
*2GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during
installation)<br>
*1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card<br>
*QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features<br>
<br>
<u>Universal Application?</u>: Yes<br>
<u>Reboot Required?</u>: No<br>
<br>
<b>Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the most recent update to it will be installed at
the same time. Please be patient.</b>

Before the System Requirements, we put some sort of description of the app,
usually from the manufacturer's website that sums it up. Next, system
requirements, next if it's Universal followed by if a reboot is needed (if
yes, the policy will do the reboot) and lastly any notes such as large
packages for patience.

j

[mvught]

Hello in version 9.4 the "insert HTML coding in the description field" isn't working anymore? I am the only one with this problem? http://imgur.com/TloSHDO

[chisox1]

Hey @mvught I am having the same issue... Have yet to figure it out

[chriscollins]

@mvught][/url, @chisox1][/url

It doesn't taken HTML anymore as far as I understand. With 9.4 though it now takes Markdown formatted text.

http://markdowntutorial.com

[chriscollins]

[mvught]

@chriscollins as you cane see my script is in pl, and stil it not working even if i convert it the tool from mark.

Its in the same language

[mvught]

Ok strange im going to figure it out

[hcodfrie]

Hey @chriscollins what's the code to change the fontsize in markdown

[chriscollins]

Unfortunately you can't change color or font size in Markdown. Normally you would just add HTML tags right in the middle of the block of text to do that, but since the JSS won't interpret that HTML properly, it still won't work.

The way you could at least control the size of the text is that for every # you put in front of a block of text, it sets the level of a header for that text, up to six levels, so you could put ```

This is my text

``` and it will make that text very small, but since its technically formatted as a header, it will be bolded.

http://support.iawriter.com/help/kb/general-questions/markdown-syntax-reference-guide

[tuinte]

You could also use a Self Service plugin(s) for tutorials, etc. Plugins can be any webpage, so just do up a whole web page/site with any kind of info you want, host it somewhere so that everyone can hit it wherever you want them to hit it, and it's right there in the lefthand column in SS.

EDIT: To add: We have separate plugins for Self Service FAQ, IT FAQs, a help desk ticket submission form, and one with the updated guest Wi-Fi password. All are just webpages that we can update whenever.

[emily]

So does this mean that only markdown works in the description text now? Or can you use one or the other (I'm much more comfortable with scripting using HTML and in-line CSS).

[chriscollins]

@emilkhausalik It would appear that is the case.