Deep Linking into a Plugin

Deep linking takes users to a sub-page or specific part of a webpage using a custom URL. Deep linking to a plugin allows you to link to a specific page in a custom plugin or to embedded content in an Embedded Pages plugin. To create a deep link, you need to append an additional path to the app URL of the plugin. The additional path in the URL allows the Staffbase platform to interpret the custom URL and redirect the user to the specific content.

There are many business use cases for creating deep links to a custom plugin or embedded content. Two common use cases are:

• Link content: If you have an ideation plugin and want to link submissions from users on a page so that others can view the ideas submitted.
• Share content: If you want users to share a specific page in your custom plugin.

Your custom plugin and the Embedded Pages plugin both have a main URL. You need to create a custom URL to direct users to a specific page using deep linking.

The URL to the plugin has two parts:

• Base URL: The URL that directs users to their employee app or intranet.
  For example, https://mycompany.com
• Base URL with Parameters: The parameters in the URL that directs users to the specific instance of the plugin.
  For example, https://mycompany.com/content/{pluginID}/{pluginInstanceID}

To create the custom URL for deep linking, you need to append the main URL with the additional path to the content to which you want to direct users.

Use the following scheme to add the custom URL: https://mycompany.com/content/{pluginID}/{pluginInstanceID}/{deeplinking}
For example, if the path is /custom/page, this path needs to be appended to the main URL. The resulting URL will look like this: https://mycompany.com/content/{pluginID}/{pluginInstanceID}/custom/page

Additionally, you can also add query parameters to the main URL. These parameters will be appended to already existing parameters in your custom plugin URL.
For example, https://mycompany.com/content/{pluginID}/{pluginInstanceID}/content/page?utm_source=”app”

When users access the custom URL, the path is interpreted by the Staffbase platform and opens the specific page. Once the specific content or page opens, the appended part in the URL disappears leaving only the main URL visible.