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DHTML Menu Builder provides a series of tools to help you with the
process of installing the menus on your web site. The menus
are stored in separate JavaScript files (with an extension of .js)
which are generated when you compile your project (using the
Tools->Compile option). After they are compiled, you have to add some special code (known as Loader Code) to your pages so that the browser can load these JavaScript files and display the menus.
Starting with version 4.0, DHTML Menu Builder offers a new tool
called "Install Menus". It is found on the
Tools menu.
The Install Menus tool is divided into two panes and three main
sections:
- The left pane (source files) is divided into
- The directory structure of your web site
- The files on the selected directory or folder
- The right pane (selected files)
- The selected files that will receive the menus (the
list of files into which DHTML Menu Builder will copy the
Loader Code )
The web's directory structure section
In
this section you will see the folders on your web site.
Clicking any folder will display the list of HTML documents
under the selected folder.This section also lets you do
global operations on the files under the selected folder.
For example, to remove the menus from the files under a specific
folder and all the folders inside it (if any) right click on the
desired folder and select the Remove Menus
option.
Another option would be to install the menus on all the
documents under the selected folder. To do this right click the
desired folder and select the Install Menus
option.
You may also drag and drop folders to the pane on the right. |
The files section

This section shows the documents inside the selected folder.
Besides the standard information for a document such as its name,
size, and date of modification, this section also displays the
type of loader code, if any, currently installed on each file.
The loader code is a series of JavaScript
instructions used by the browser to locate the .js file(s)
containing the menus.
DHTML Menu Builder uses two different types of loader code
depending on various settings:
- Standard: used to load the main .js file
which contains the information to display
the toolbar (if any). On projects that don't use DHTML Menu Builder frames support, this
loader code is also used to handle the menus.
- Frames: used to load the menus on projects with frames support.
It is important to understand that the menus and the toolbar(s)
are created, displayed, and handled differently. This is why the toolbar is stored in a separate file from
the menus when using frames support: separate types of loader codes are required to load
them both.
A file containing no loader code will be displayed in black, a
file with the standard loader code in blue and a file with the
frames loader code in green. Files displayed in light gray are
documents that do not support any type of loader code.
Just as with the folders pane, you can perform several actions
on the files displayed in the files pane. Right click a
file and select a command from the context menu or simply drag and
drop the file to one of the panes on the right. (Unless you have chosen Frames Support, there will only be one pane displayed on the right .) |
The list of selected files to receive the menus
This
pane displays the list of documents that will receive the loader
code. For those documents that already contain the loader code,
this display will be updated.
Clicking Install will result in the loader code being copied to the files displayed in
this pane. As a result, the menus
will be loaded into these documents when viewed from a browser.
To remove any file from this pane, right click it and select Remove From List.
Note that if the selected file contains some loader code this
option will not remove the code; the file will be simply removed from
the list and will not be updated.
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| When working with frames
Remember, when frames support is enabled, DHTML Menu Builder splits the code that it generates into two sections, generating two
files. Each of these sections/files must be copied into different web pages:
- One section/file contains the code that handles the menus. If the project has been set up to use a toolbar, it will
also contain the necessary information to render the toolbar.
- The other section/file will contain the necessary code and
information to display the menus.
As a result, when frames support is enabled, DHTML Menu Builder will split the right pane into two panes: one of them to receive the standard loader code and the other to receive the frames loader code.
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The Auto button
Some times it can be difficult to determine which files should
receive the loader code. When the frames support is enabled, it
can be even more difficult to determine which files should receive
which loader code.
To make this task as simple as possible, the
Auto button automates this process by analyzing the default
configuration, the menu items on the project, and the files on your web
site.
Performing over a hundred different tests, the Auto function will
quickly determine which files require which loader code either
because they don't have any or the type they have is outdated.
Although the process has been tested under many scenarios, it is not guaranteed that it will always detect the appropriate files. In some circumstances, it may even fail to provide any help at all.
In this cases, add the files yourself. If the menus don't work, do the following:
- analyze the results
- fix the problem
- remove the loader code from the whole web site
Repeat the operation and check the results again.
IMPORTANT: The Auto feature must not be used when the menus
are going to be installed on a shared document (a document
that is included by either your HTML authoring application or your web
server). For example, if you plan on installing the menus into a Dreamweaver template, a FrontPage Shared Border, or an SSI
document, then add this shared document yourself and do not use the Auto
feature.
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