Using XaraWebStyle 3.1 navigation bars with ColdFusion (.cfm) and ColdFusion MX files

[Cecilia]

According to the Xara website, Xara WebStyle 3.1 doesn't support ColdFusion .cfm files. I found this out after creating a huge navigation bar - only to find that it could only be read within a .HTM file.

My only hope now is to:
1. Have the home page as a .htm file and hope nobody notices the nav bar is missing in the ColdFusion applications ....or

2. Hope that Dreamweaver MX somehow integrates with ColdFusion MX so that this isn't a problem. Since my MX is on order, I don't know if this will work.

3. Convert the WebStyle navigation bar to Fireworks which may (or may not) integrate with ColdFusion.

4. Write out all the Javascript in ColdFusion (yeech).

Anybody face this problem or have any suggestions? The XaraWebStyle 3.1 navigation bar is incredible. It truly is the most advanced utility of this kind on the planet and I hate to give it up.

Thanks.

[toograffic]

Cecilia,
I hope I understand your problem correctly - you're afraid your nav bar won't work on a .cfm page. Well, I believe you are worried for nothing!

I use Cold Fusion daily when building sites for my employer's clients, and I use all sorts of DHTML and javascript menus, scrollers, etc. on .cfm pages without any conflicts.

A .cfm page is basically the same as any .htm or .html page, with the exception of the Cold Fusion tags. The .cfm extension tells a server that is running Cold Fusion that this web page has some Cold Fusion code in it and needs to be run through the "Cold Fusion" engine to parse that code. In fact, a server can be told to treat all web pages as if they could contain Cold Fusion, making it possible to save your Cold Fusion pages as .htm, .html, .shtml, etc. and still contain functional Cold Fusion.

By choice, I do not use Web Styles, so I am ignorant as far as how it builds menus, etc. But if it generates DHTML or javascript code for your nav bar, I guarantee it can work on a properly built .cfm page. If I have made this even more confusing, feel free to email me with your questions, and I'll try to answer them clearly. I try to visit the forums here at least once a week, more if time permits, but for quicker answers you should email me.

I hope I can be of some help.

Gary V.

"I'm not an artist, but I play one on the internet!"

[Cecilia]

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. Thanks very much for your offer of help. Anyway, I contacted Xara Technical Support and they gave me the workaround. It is below. The only minor problem is the procedure works only if your Navbar is working off the web root, which most do. However, if you have a sub-folder of a folder, NAVBAR won't see it. My workaround was to create a seperate NAVBAR for that sub-folder.


Cecilia,
I hope I understand your problem correctly - you're afraid your nav bar won't work on a .cfm page. Well, I believe you are worried for nothing!

I use Cold Fusion daily when building sites for my employer's clients, and I use all sorts of DHTML and javascript menus, scrollers, etc. on .cfm pages without any conflicts.

A .cfm page is basically the same as any .htm or .html page, with the exception of the Cold Fusion tags. The .cfm extension tells a server that is running Cold Fusion that this web page has some Cold Fusion code in it and needs to be run through the "Cold Fusion" engine to parse that code. In fact, a server can be told to treat all web pages as if they could contain Cold Fusion, making it possible to save your Cold Fusion pages as .htm, .html, .shtml, etc. and still contain functional Cold Fusion.

By choice, I do not use Web Styles, so I am ignorant as far as how it builds menus, etc. But if it generates DHTML or javascript code for your nav bar, I guarantee it can work on a properly built .cfm page. If I have made this even more confusing, feel free to email me with your questions, and I'll try to answer them clearly. I try to visit the forums here at least once a week, more if time permits, but for quicker answers you should email me.

I hope I can be of some help.

Gary V.

"I'm not an artist, but I play one on the internet!"[/QUOTE]