Updated for current code:
Cobalt 3.7
The Web Element Designer is a simple tool that allows staff to configure and customize the portal without a code change. It can be used to customize the Home Page display on the portal, and generate the code blocks to embed both out-of-the-box and custom web elements into your main organization website.
There are two different Web Element Designers. One is for the standalone portal and the other is for the embedded portal. The Web Element Designer that you will use will depend on which portal has been set up for your organization.
Standalone Portal: All of the portal functions/elements are in one place and are separate (standalone) from the main organization website. Often this displays as end-users clicking a link/button on the main website and they are navigated away from the main organization website to the standalone portal where they can view their profile, register for meetings/classes, pay for orders, etc.
Embedded Portal: Elements of the portal have been embedded within iframes on the main organization website. Often times the portal functions are placed on different pages of the main website, and therefore, end-users click on different links/buttons to get to a single element to register for meetings/classes, pay for orders, etc. Since the web element functionality is embedded, the end-user remains on the main organization website.
This article provides the steps to navigate to the embedded portal Web Element Designer. Click here for the article that has steps to navigate to the standalone portal Web Element Designer.
Cobalt Support will provide you with the link to the Web Element Designer and it should follow this structure:
https://[PortalURL]/WebElementDesigner.aspx
e.g. https://cobaltuat38portal.cobalttest.net/WebElementDesigner.aspx
NOTE: The URL is case sensitive so make sure that yours matches WebElementDesigner.aspx exactly.
There is a specific order of operations and steps to get to the embedded portal Web Element Designer because if you navigate to the designer before logging in, it will open the designer within an iframe. As a result, only the main screen of the Web Element Designer will display, which is the web element preview screen. It will not include the Web Element Generator on the left-side that is necessary for making any configuration and customization changes.
Example of Web Element Designer opening within an iframe:
2. Login to the portal with credentials for a user that falls into the Staff Contacts CMS User Role
As of Cobalt 3.7, staff must be logged in to access the Web Element Designer. The reason for this change was to add security measures on who has access to updating the portal.
3. In the URL bar, remove all of the extra values, leaving only the embedded portal URL. Do not press enter.
4. Add "WebElementDesigner.aspx" to the end of the embedded portal URL.
