How to Add Toolbar Icon to IE?

[Sarahz]

This may not exactly be a ColdFusion question, but I just don't know where to begin..

My company wants to offer a service on one of our CFMX web sites in which users can register for an auto-login feature. This feature will install a custom icon on their browser (IE) that, when clicked, would direct them to our web site and automatically log them in.

I'm all set with installing and recognizing user cookies for the auto-login feature, but I have no idea how to add a toolbar icon.

Can someone please point me in the right direction --- how do I add a new icon to Internet Explorer's Standard Button toolbar?

Thanks so much!

 

[Extras]

The only thing I can think of is that they mark the page as a favorite.

I think you would get a chance for a more useful response in the forums associated with IE... Maybe the forum below would help.

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=608&newpid=608

BTW if you do get a useful answer - please post the response back on this thread - as this is useful request!

 

[csteinhilber]

If you display a link on your page like:

<a href=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://yourdomain.com/&quot;>System[/URL] Autologin</a>

you can then provide the instructions for your user to click (hold) and drag the link to their link toolbar (we actually produced a small animated GIF to demostrate the process)... this will automatically produce a new button on the toolbar with the text "System Autologin" that will take the user to the URL "

http://yourdomain.com/".

This works in most of your more recent browsers.

One of the cooler advantages to this is that, in ColdFusion, you can produce custom links unique to each user viewing the page... so you could make a link like:

<CFOUTPUT><a href=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://yourdomain.com/auto_login.cfm?userid=#userid#&group=#group#&quot;>System[/URL] Autologin</a></CFOUTPUT>

and when they drag the link to the toolbar, that userid and group information comes with it. Of course, it's not secure... so you wouldn't want to include someone's password, creditcard number, or whatever.

The worst issue we've had with this solution is that folks sometimes don't click and hold... but in this case, the only fallout would be that the user is taken to the desired URL anyway... where they can add the page to their favorites on their own.


Another solution is to use javascript to add a link to the favorites menu:

window.external.AddFavorite(theURL, theTextForTheButton);

this only works in IE.
A distinct disadvantage is that there isn't a way, that I know of, to designate where in your favorites tree the link is added. It usually pulls up a dialog and asks you where you'd like the link created... but very few users know to select the "Links" folder for the link to appear on their link toolbar.

A third option would be to create your own toolbar. You can do this using something like WebToolbar (

http://www.hexatech.com/webtoolbar.htm).

-Carl