Embed JIRA gadgets in Sharepoint

[Peter Callies]

It's possible to add standard Google gadgets to a Sharepoint page (http://gabriel.mongefranco.com/2008/11/how-to-add-google-gadgets-to-sharepoint-pages/). I though it might be possible to add JIRA gadgets to a Sharepoint page since JIRA and Google share the same Opensocial Gadget API as their foundation.

I displayed the source of a dashboard page in JIRA to see the code used to display the gadget. I tried using the value of the gadgetUrl property in Sharepoint and that didn't work. I tried using the value of the renderedGadgetUrl property, but that also didn't work.

Is it possible to embed a JIRA gadget in a Sharepoint page?

[Peter Callies · Accepted solution]

I recently purchased the eazyBI plugin for JIRA. This plugin generates different types of tables and charts. I have been able to display these in Sharepoint. While it's not as ideal as being able to display any gadget, it meets my needs.

[jurfalino]

Two years and no news for this capability? This would be so great for sharing key metrics and implementing gamification techniques... At least JIRA could allow a gadget-only view stripped from menu/ frames, to be used in i-frames inside sharepoint or other places..

[Joe Clark]

The approach mentioned in that blog sounds like a bit of a hack. The 'correct' way to embed OpenSocial gadgets into another application is to use an OpenSocial client that understands how to parse and display the gadget XML file... sadly SharePoint (and .NET in general) lacks a robust OpenSocial implementation that would allow this.

Microsoft have, for the most part, bet their money on their proprietary standard - ASP.NET web parts - instead of OpenSocial gadgets.

[Peter Callies]

I'm not sure that it's a hack. I look at it as the Web Content web part is the container that is supposed to handle the gadget.

I know Confluence competes with Sharepoint, but you guys are an open, forward-thinking company that understands the concept of "frienemies". There are many of us who have control over selection of issue tracking systems who have no say in the selection of enterprise collaboration and content management tools. As much as Sharepoint pains us, many, many IT shops have implemented it. It would be nice to see someone, Atlassian or not, acknowledge this and create an web part that can handle OpenSocial gadgets.

[Joe Clark]

I definitely agree. A good OpenSocial implementation in SharePoint would solve so many problems. In case you are interested, they are a couple of open source projects attempting to implement OpenSocial in .NET (http://code.google.com/p/pesta/, http://opensocial.codeplex.com/, http://code.google.com/p/opensocial-net-client/, http://raya.codeplex.com/, http://code.google.com/p/negroni/) but I'm not sure how "ready" they are for prime time, and if they will be able to remain up-to-date with the OpenSocial spec.

[Ganga_Selvarajah]

any updates?

[WilliamH]

Looks like I spoke too soon. I'm using a URL like this: http://gadgets.biogenidec.com/ifr/DEVELOPMENT/21_Thompson_tracker/21_Thompson_tracker0.xml from our internal Gadgets server in a Sharepoint 2010 PAGE VIEWER WebPart (not a content editor webpart) and it is rendering fine in Sharepoint.

I've tried to add http://track.biogenidec.com/rest/gadgets/1.0/g/com.atlassian.jira.gadgets:average-age-chart-gadget/gadgets/average-age-gadget.xml from our JIRA server, but it's not working - I'm getting text rather than the rendered gadget web page. I've not figured out why yet.

Haven't yet sorted out the issue, but I'll dig into it more with a colleague on Monday as I'd like to be able to do this as well. At least you can add Google Gadgets and similar to SP 2010 - e.g. http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/115321514350875010675/rsc_journals.xml worked as well (though http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/115321514350875010675/rsc_journals.xml did not - Note the IFR wrapper).

I think we need to figure out the 'ifr' version of the JIRA and Confluence Gadget URL's.

[Peter Callies]

Thanks, William. I haven't had time to get back into this. Please post a follow up with any progress you make.

[Ganga_Selvarajah]

any updates

[WilliamH]

Good news - if you are using the most recent Sharepoint 2010 - looks like this issue has been fixed. I entered several internal Google Gadgets (Shindig-based OpenSocial Gadgets) into the Sharepoint 2010 Content Editor Webpart and they are working. Let me know if I need to get you the specific patches that have recently been applied. It started working again within the last two months.

[Peter Callies]

Again, thanks, but how do I make that work with JIRA gadgets such as the Greenhopper Agile Gadget? Which code gets saved into the Webpart?

[WilliamH]

Here is how you can embed Google Gadgets or OpenSocial gadgets into SP2010 using the Content Editor Webpart - thanks to PortalEco.wordpress.com for providing details on how to do this:

SP2010 Google Gadget instructions (Google Translation into English from German)

[Peter Callies]

Thanks, but how do I make that work with JIRA gadgets such as the Greenhopper Agile Gadget? Which code gets saved into the text file?