Lotus Instant Messaging/ Web Conferencing ... - IBM Redbooks

►►►Agents listen for users entering/leaving the agent and customer sections(SectionListener).Agents listen for attribute changes on customers and other agents(UserInPlaceListener).Customers do not listen for attribute changes.We do not make use of any of the special characteristics of the stage section;however, placing customers and agents in separate sections allows us to easilyidentify the type of user. The communications channel between UserInPlaceobjects comes “for free” as part of the Places service, so we do not need to setup and use the instant messaging service.The choice of Place member attributes for storing user characteristics isimportant. The Sametime server handles sending attribute information to allinterested parties (UserInPlace listeners). This service saves you from having toimplement some sort of protocol between the customer and agent applets forexchange of data. With server management of data, any agent that comes intothe system receives all the information existing agents have. One point to note isthat excessive distribution of attribute values can cause performancedegradation, so one should limit listeners to minimum necessary. As notedabove, agents listen for changes in customer attributes while customers do notlisten to agent attributes.The customer appletThe following section describes the customer applet, including the customer UI,the customer attributes, and the different states that may be associated withthem.Customer UIWhen the customer logs onto the Web site, they are presented with a screenshowing their open problem reports. This is shown in Figure B-3 on page 459.458 Lotus Instant Messaging/Web Conferencing (Sametime): Building Sametime-Enabled Applications