Global View Extensions

In the vSphere Client, you can create global view extensions to create custom solutions for the user interface.

A global view extension can have nearly any function, including aggregating data about different types of vSphere objects onto a single screen, or displaying data from sources outside the vSphere environment. A global view can be a simple single-level data view that uses the entire vSphere Client main workspace, or a complex nested view with its own internal navigation structure and organization. Creating a global view extension has a few restrictions:

Global views are displayed in the vSphere Client main workspace, but exist outside of the virtual infrastructure hierarchy. The user selects a global view directly, either through a pointer in the object navigator or a shortcut on the vSphere Client home screen.
To create a global view extension, you must define the extension by using the XML elements in the plug-in module manifest file, and create the HTML code that appears in the main workspace.

Use Cases

You can use global view extensions to create dashboard-style data views or console-style applications.

A dashboard aggregates data from different sources in the vSphere environment together in one unified data view. For example, you can create a dashboard that brings together status information about vSphere objects from different vCenter Servers.

Console-style applications are displayed in the vSphere Client main content area. For example, the vSphere Client Task Console and Event Console are console-style applications.

Creating Global View Extensions

You create global view extensions by using the vise.global.views extension point. To define a global view extension, you need only the view name and the content URL.

Since there is no context object for a global view extension, the global view document is opened with a request that contains only the locale parameter.