The Capsule Blog

New API documentation

We’ve recently updated the Capsule API pages. The API itself is more or less the same, there’s a few updates and we have improved the design and overall look and feel of the API documentation.

The API closely follows RESTful principles with every resource like person, opportunity or tag having its own URL. Resources can be manipulated using standard REST commands GET (view), POST (create), PUT (update) and DELETE.

We’ll be removing the old documentation shortly so you should update your bookmarks with the new URL. Check it out here: http://developer.capsulecrm.com/

New Capsule Support Portal

We have updated the Capsule support portal. It now includes full content search and it can be accessed from the support link on our main site.

For those who haven't used the support portal, it includes a range of help articles and instructions for using Capsule. It's a good place to start if you're ever unsure of anything.

View the support portal

Launch of Capsule Mobile

We're pleased to announce the launch of Capsule Mobile for the following devices:

• iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4
• Android phones running Android 2.1+ such as Motorola Droid X, Motorola Droid 2, HTC Evo, Samsung Galaxy S
• BlackBerry phones running BlackBerry OS 6 such as BlackBerry Bold and Torch

We're sticking with the beta label on Capsule Mobile for now. It's had extensive testing over the past 6 weeks with help from a small group of beta testers and the feedback has been very encouraging. We figure it's time to open the beta up to all users since we know how popular the mobile application has been on our uservoice forums!

Getting it

Enter the the following URL into the browser on your phone to install Capsule Mobile:
https://[your-account].capsulecrm.com/m

Be sure to replace the [your-account] bit with the relevant part from your Capsule account URL. You'll be prompted to enter your username and password and a pop-up message will ask your permission to allow additional storage space to be used on your phone. It may take several minutes for your contacts to be downloaded to your phone. Note that the application will only run on the default webkit browser. It won't run on Opera or Firefox.

Adding a short cut to your home screen on Android

• Bookmark Capsule in the browser
• Open the bookmarks page
• Long-press the Capsule bookmark
• Select Add to Home screen

Adding a short cut to your home screen on iPhone

Once you've logged into Capsule Mobile you can add a short cut to your home screen by tapping the bookmark button in the middle of the toolbar below the browser and then Add to Home Screen button.

A bit of background on the native vs web app decision

It was clear by August last year when we started looking at a mobile application that we couldn't just focus on the iPhone. The Android has exploded in popularity and the BlackBerry continues to be a popular choice for business users. We spent time looking at options for our mobile application including building native applications for each platform. The obvious drawback is that each of these platforms has its own unique development and deployment environment. The other drawback is lack of control. For example if we had fixes we wanted to release quickly for a native iPhone app we'd need to wait for Apple to review and approve the update.

The great news is that the web browser has rapidly become a potent deployment environment for applications on newer phones especially those using the webkit browser like iPhone, Android, Blackberry 6 and WebOS. It turns out that the webkit browser on the current generation of smart phones is pretty powerful and can offer most of what users have come to expect from native apps.

Here are some of the things to expect from our application:

• Offline storage: Capsule Mobile uses your browser's own internal storage to install a copy of the contacts on your phone. You can access and make changes to your contacts even during periods where you are out of network or wifi coverage. Each time the application starts it synchronises any changes you made while offline and retrieves the latest copy of the contacts from the server.
• Responsive UI: When you navigate between screens in Capsule Mobile they are being redrawn by your Phone's web browser using cached information where possible. This gives the application a faster response time than you would traditionally get from a web application get where the screen is redrawn on the web server. This is important on a phone because the phone network speeds fluctuate widely.
• Phone integration: Tapping a phone number will start a call for you. Tapping an email address will open a compose window in your email client and BCC the dropbox automatically. Tapping an address will show you the contacts location on Google Maps.
• Automatic application updates: Each time we release an update to Capsule Mobile your phone will automatically download it. There's no need to update Capsule Mobile manually. You'll always be running with the latest features and fixes. This also means We don't have to wait for approval from another organisation to release an update to Capsule Mobile.

Building a browser based mobile application has been a steep learning curve, particularly with regards to offline storage. However we are very happy with the result and it's reassuring to see other application vendors treading the same path by releasing browser based mobile applications rather than native apps.

Keep in mind this is our first release and we will continue to refine. We hope to add support for opportunities and cases soon.

Windows phone 7 and other devices

Unfortunately Windows phone 7 doesn't support the necessary standards for Capsule Mobile. It's unclear at this stage when or how Microsoft will implement the latest HTML5 standards on their platform. At this stage we don't have any plans to support Windows phone 7 devices.

Devices other than those we've listed above that deploy a recent WebKit browser may work with Capsule Mobile. However we haven't tested on these and so your millage may vary. This includes the likes of the PalmPre. We'd welcome any feedback on experience running Capsule Mobile on WebKit based devices that we haven't listed.

Capsule contextual gadget for Gmail

One of the projects we've been busy with recently is the development of a Gmail contextual gadget. A Gmail contextual gadget is a gadget that is triggered by clues in Gmail, such as the contents of Subject lines and email messages. For example, Gmail already provides a YouTube contextual gadget. If the body of an email contains a link to a YouTube video, a clickable thumbnail view of the video appears at the bottom of the email.

Rather than replicate the CRM functionality in a small window at the bottom of each email, we've designed the Capsule contextual gadget to improve the workflow around receiving an email and the actions that you need to take as a result.

Here's a summary of Capsule contextual gadget functionality:

• Add new contacts straight into Capsule
• See details you hold about the sender and click through to their page in Capsule
• Store messages in Capsule without using the dropbox
• Create an opportunity or case linked to the email
• File the email under an existing opportunity or case
• Create a follow-up task

If you are already using Capsule and want to take advantage of the gadget you'll need an administrator of your Google Apps domain to grant access to the gadget for the new information required to support the gadget. To do this visit your Google Apps dashboard by following Manage this domain from Gmail. Scroll down to the Service Settings section where you will find Capsule listed and follow the View and grant access link:

Then accept the new data access requirements by following the Grant data access link.

It can take up to 10 minutes for the gadget to propagate through Google's caches and appear in your account so hold tight if it doesn't appear straight away.

Here's just a sample of the positive feedback we've had from users of the gadget:

The gadget is phenomenal. If we had known about this beforehand, we would not have hesitated to use Capsule. It's a gamechanger for our business.

I think Capsule just gave me the excuse I needed to finally ditch Outlook!

This is great productivity tool. Really integrates your email with Capsule

It has by far pushed the use of Capsule here to a higher level due to the simplicity of connecting the emails to the contacts and opportunities.

We hope you find this addition useful. Thanks as always to our beta testers and customers on uservoice for their feedback and suggestions on this.

Javelin is now Capsule

As per our previous blog post and email notification to users, Javelin is renaming to Capsule. The switch over of the branding and the change of the domain name from javelincrm.com to capsulecrm.com has been completed today. We've sent an email to users with instructions for accessing accounts and support. If you have any trouble, let us know on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

And now for a bit of nostalgia here is the old logo alongside the new:

Capsule API for Developers

We're pleased to announce the Capsule API is now available. Developers can use the API to access Javelin whether you're planning on creating a clever add-on you want to share with the community or hooking in one of your internal applications. The API is implemented using XML or JSON over plain old HTTPS allowing developers to use existing tools and languages.

The API closely follows RESTful principles with every resource like person, opportunity or tag having its own URL. Resources can be manipulated using standard REST commands GET (view), POST (create), PUT (update) and DELETE. For more details and to get started visit our API guide.

We would love to hear ideas you have on how you plan to use the API. Drop us a note at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Javelin Affiliate Program

A number of you have been recommending Javelin to your clients, associates and even random fellow Twitter users.  We are very grateful for this support and we’d like to say a big thank you for bringing customers to us.

In return we are launching an affiliate program where you can earn money for referrals.  The Javelin Affiliate Program is a revenue share between you, the affiliate, and us.  You’ll receive 20% of our revenues from a referred customer for the life of their account. 

The sign-up process for the affiliate program is easy and we’ve kept the program as simple as possible.  There’s no fee or other obligation in joining.  To get started, visit the affiliate program overview.

We’d love to hear how you get on, and feel free to drop us any questions on our support email address .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Farewell beta, hello the new Javelin

Today is a milestone for Javelin as we farewell the beta and relaunch the Javelin website with our shiny new branding. A big thank you to all users who participated in the beta! Your feedback and kind words of support have been greatly appreciated.  If you had a beta account, it continues as before with a limit of 2 users, 250 contacts and 10MB of file storage. With the full launch of Javelin, we’ve introduced the the Professional Edition with a huge 50,000 contact capacity and generous file storage.  The professional edition has a simple fee of $12 per month, per user (£8 if you’re in Europe).

Javelin in private beta

Today we are making Javelin available for invite only beta.

This is the culmination of many months of design, development and testing. We are proud of the result, which provides businesses with an intuitive easy to use system for managing relationships, tasks, communications with contacts, and deals in the pipeline. Javelin raises the bar by keeping it simple, but at the same time giving users more power by letting them decide the information that is relevant to their business.

We look forward to working with a small number of beta users over the coming months. If want to take a look, be sure to register your interest for the beta via our home page.

The Javelin Team