Another valuable feature of Sametime Connect is add-ons, also known as plug-ins. Plug-ins are features you can install from IBM or other vendors that extend and enhance your Sametime client. For instance:
- Jessie uses the Calculator application on his desktop frequently, but it would be very convenient if there was a calculator in his Sametime Connect client so that he didn't have to keep two different applications running.
In this situation, Jessie is in luck as a company named Epilio has a calculator plug-in for Sametime. In the following steps, we are going to install that plug-in. These same steps can be followed to install any plug-in that works with Sametime.
In your Sametime Connect client, start the plug-in installation feature from the menu option Tools | Plug-ins | Install Plug-ins. A dialog box will appear, allowing you to select the option to Search For New Features To Install and click on Next.
From the Epilio website, we can see that the plug-ins are found at an update site located at http://www.epilio.com/stupdate.nsf/site.xml. So we click on the Add Remote Location button, give the update site a name such as Epilio Plug-ins (this can actually be any name you want it to be), and then add the URL of the update site. Click on the OK button.
The resulting screen will show the name of the update site you provided, and you click on Finish.
Sametime accesses the update site and returns a list of all the Sametime plug-ins that you can select. In this case, we select the Epilio Calculator and click on Next.
Sametime will confirm that you selected the items you wanted, and you click on Finish. You will need to close and restart the Sametime Connect client when the installation is finished. After you log back into Sametime, you will now have a new feature in your Sametime Connect client—the Epilio Calculator!
