Using HTML and URL’s in answers

HTML
RefTracker is an HTML based product, so, in addition to the editing features provided by the Formatted text editor it automatically hyperlinks URL’s.

HTML can be used directly in may places that do not use the Formatted text editor.  System administrators will see a “Switch to HTML” view button to the right of Formatted text boxes so they can edit at the HTML level should that be required for support purposes.

If you enter HTML in the Formatted text editor box (in the Design mode mode which is the only mode available to Supervisors and below), it will be taken literally and presented as the characters you entered rather than being executed.  This means that you can provide answers that include HTML instructions, and clients can include HTML instructions in their questions without any security risks.

Note that for security reasons, clients are only allowed to submit HTML formatted text in the Question field of the client interface as it is a Formatted text box that will never execute any code supplied in it.  System administrators can use Parameter 2.41 to allow HTML to be entered in more or less client interface fields according to your IT department’s desired level of security.

URL’s

In addition to the Hyperlink capability of the Formatted text editor box, RefTracker provides the following additional features that make handling URL’s easy: 
 

If you enter a URL it is automatically displayed as a hyperlink by RefTracker, after processing, even if it is not displaying as a hyperlink after entering or pasting it into the Formatted text editor box – so URl’s in the correspondence that the client see’s are always hyperlinked, and when viewed in RefTracker after saving they are also always hyperlinked.  Using the Hyperlink button is only necessary if you if you want to hide the URL behind some text.

  • Enter a URL such as http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IP_address.html and it will be displayed as http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IP_address.html
  • Enter a URL that starts with www. such as www.abc.net.au, and it is automatically recognised as a URL and displayed as a http://www.abc.net.au after processing (no need to enter http:// if the URL starts with www)
  • Double quotes may appear in the URL for some web pages (usually when you have used a search term surrounded by double quotes to get to that page).  Double quotes are an invalid character for a URL and suppliers of web pages that use them in their URL’s should be asked to not do so.
    If you notice a URL that you want to quote includes double quotes, just paste it into the draft answer or workflow notes box you are using, ensuring that the quotes are replaced by %22 – some browsers do this automatically) – do not use the Hyperlink button with it as using the Hyperlink button will result in an invalid URL – one that stops at the first double quote (because the HTML used to create the hyperlink presumes that the first double quote it encounters determines the end of the URL). 
  • Hyperlinked URL’s are always displayed as the full URL or hyperlink in the formatted text editor, but URL’s may appear in other places (like emails and search results), automatically shortened to prevent display issues:

Exercise

Try using some of these HTML and URL formatting techniques in the draft Answer field – note that you won’t see the effects of their use until after the screen is saved.

To see the results of what you have done you will need to choose “Leave open” and an appropriate “How complete” value.   You will  be able to see the results of your formatting in the Details tab of the Summary screen.