The final process of implementing a menu system with
DHTML Menu Builder involves the ability to save the menus in a
folder on your computer.
To do this, DHTML Menu Builder needs to know where to save the
compiled JavaScript files and the images that your menus use.To access the Configurations editor click
File->Project
Properties->Configurations
By default, when you create a new project DHTML Menu Builder will
create a new configuration called "Default".
Bellow is a list of the settings that need to be made:
- Local Path to the Root Web
This is the route or path to the folder containing your main
HTML page. Typically, this is index.htm, default.htm, index.html or default.asp.
Always avoid typing the path manually; use the browse button
to select the folder and avoid typographical errors.
- Folder to Store Compiled Files
This setting must point to a folder inside your root web
where you will store the JavaScript files compiled by DHTML
Menu Builder. These files are the scripts that build and handle
the menus. Again, always avoid typing the path manually and use the browse button
to select the folder and avoid typographical errors.
- Folder to Store Images
This path is where you want DHTML Menu Builder to store the
images files used by your menus. This folder must also
be inside your root web.
As always, avoid typing the path manually and use the browse button
to select the folder and avoid typographical errors.
DHTML Menu Builder needs some additional information about
your web site and the files in it.
For example, if your site uses frames you will have to set up frames support and specify the necessary settings related to
frameset structure of your web site.
Another group of settings will let you use the HotSpots Editor to
automate the process of inserting the code necessary to run the
menus on your web site.
Setting up the document that will
trigger the menus
Besides the standard path
settings described above, each configuration must have information about the document on your
web site that will be used to trigger the menus.
The menus can be triggered from the
toolbar created by DHTML Menu Builder or through the use of
HotSpots.
NOTE: This file will be modified by DHTML Menu Builder to include all the code necessary to make the menus
work. It is a good practice to always keep a backup copy of this file.
As you can see, DHTML Menu Builder gives you the option to
install the menus onto a single file. However, you may want to install the
menus on all the files on your web site, and there are several ways to
this:
Ideally you should install the menus onto a single file and then
share this file across all the other documents on your web site.
- Some applications, such as Macromedia's Dreamweaver let you create a
template from which all the documents on your web site inherit their
style. This template is where you should install the menus so every
time you create a new document it will automatically inherit the
code that loads the menus. For more information about templates,
consult your Dreamweaver documentation.
If your HTML editor does not support templates you could then use some sharing technique that is either supported by your web server or your HTML authoring application.
- For example, Microsoft's FrontPage supports something known as the Page Inclusion component. This component allows you to include a page inside another page. For more information about the Page Inclusion component, consult your FrontPage documentation.
Finally, many web servers support SSI or Server Side Includes. To
know if your web server supports this feature and for information on
how to use it, consult your web server's documentation or ask your server
administrator.
Setting up your project to support frames
DHTML Menu Builder has 100% support for implementing the menus on
web sites that use frames.
A common issue when using frames is that most of the time the menus
will not fit on the frame where you have designed the toolbar. The
only solution, since it's not possible to display anything above the
division of two frames, is to have the menus appear on another,
larger frame.
More information about the setting up your menus to work with frames.
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