Add a gadget with text and links on the Jira Dashboard

[Michaela Gluchow]

Hi everyone,

I am currently configuring a Jira instance for some users new to Jira. To help them find there way through the menus I want to write them some instructions. They should describe the most common use cases and offer links directly to the relevant boards etc.

I want to realize this with a gadget on the dashboard. I've seen that I can use the introduction gadget. This works how I would like it, except that I only have one text. I want to offer different texts to different kind of users.

Is there any other way to accomplish that?

We are using jira Server, soon with 7.4, currently 7.3.8.

Best regards

Michaela

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

The gadgets that offer static text don't make their content variable by user, so no, there's no way to do it natively.

You could find or write a gadget that is aware of a user's groups, and offers different text by group.

I tend to document in Confluence and then use links in gadgets with simple text with links like "PM Guide to JIRA", "Every one can use Dashboards" and so-on.

[Michaela Gluchow]

Hi.

I am sorry, I didn't make it clear, how I choose which users get which texts. I created different dashboards, which then each have a static text gadget. So there is no need choose text by user groups or similiar. 

Writing our own add-ons is currently of my list, as I am not aware how much work this will be until I reach what we want to achieve.

The idea of confluence is nice, but we are currently not using it.

Which gadgets offer static texts beyond the introduction gadget?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ah, ok, if people have different dashboards, we can do this.

The introduction gadget draws a common block of text from an admin setting.

What you can do is use the "text gadget".  Text gadgets take their text from their own configuration, not from the admin settings.  So you can have different content on each dashboard.

It is usually disabled by default because it does allow for some html, which allows bad people to do insecure things with the text.  But if you are ok with that because you trust the users who you've given "create shared objects" to, then that's fine. 

Log in as an admin, go to Admin -> Manage add-ons and look for the gadget add-ons.  The text gadget is a module within one of them, and you'll find that one module is disabled.

[Michaela Gluchow]

Oh man, this was easy. Thanks for the good description. I guess this will work for us!

[Marie-Josee Parent]

Hi Michaela, 

after installing text gadget, do you lost the third button on blue top ? 

we lost the delete and modify  and colors option ?

So if we wrote a error on text, we delete the all dashboard and start again a new dashboard

Thanks

[Thomas Becker]

As we also run the version @Michaela GluchowMichaela runs I wonder where to find the text-option. I followed the steps@Nic Brough posted but there is no gadget called "add-ons". No other gadget even holds the word "text" in its name or description.

Can you give me a detailed hint, where to find the setting to activate "text-gadget"?

Kind regrads and many thanks in advance.

[Jozsef Lehocz]

I also look for the text gadget. Where /how can it be found?

[Jozsef Lehocz]

Finally I have found how to enable this gadget..

[rfcorcoran919]

The current "text" gadget is disabled by default because of potential bad HTML creating a XSS security issue. My company will not enable the gadget for this reason.

Dashboards without a text gadget to give context is a real drawback. 

Is there an existing request for a simple text gadget that is safe from security holes that I can vote for product managers to consider?