This guide provides an overview of how people start and work with a Google Meet add-on.
Start an add-on from the Activities panel
From a Google Meet call, a user can click the Activities button. This brings up the Activities panel, which shows a list of built-in Meet features and any add-ons the user has installed. Clicking on an icon launches the side panel view of the add-on.
Collaborate with other users
To allow users to collaborate together, the add-on can
set the
ActivityStartingState.
For more information, see Collaborate using a
Meet add-on.
After opening an add-on, side panel users can start
working together once the add-on invokes the
startActivity()
method.
For example, an add-on might want to allow users to
collaborate on a document, but the add-on doesn't know
which document. In this case, the document should be selected from the side
panel view. After ensuring the document can be shared with others, the
add-on can set ActivityStartingState with other
necessary document identifiers.
Collaborate in the main stage
Collaborative activities can be done in the side panel or the main stage. If a
mainStageUrl is listed in the add-on manifest,
invoking the
startActivity()
method automatically opens the add-on in the main stage
and starts the activity.
Once the main stage is open, an add-on might choose to
close the side panel by calling the
unloadSidePanel()
method. To extend the earlier example, a side panel that chooses a document may
no longer be relevant and can be closed.
To re-open the side panel view, the add-on can call the
loadSidePanel()
method. For example, an add-on that creates user polls
might reopen the side panel to display question response rates.
Start an add-on from screen sharing
Users can start add-ons while screen sharing. If a user is screen
sharing a website that has an add-on, that website can
promote its add-on to the user by using the
exposeToMeetWhenScreensharing()
method. This shows the user a notification banner in the Meet
call, prompting the user to either install or start the
add-on. For more information, see Promote an
add-on to users through screen
sharing.
Since additional information can be supplied to the add-on starting state from the website the user is screen sharing, the add-on can skip the side panel and start the activity in the main stage immediately after launching. If the add-on needs to perform additional steps, like changing permissions on a document to share, the add-on can launch into the side panel and follow the flow described in Collaborate with other users.