Menu Maker and DreamWeaver Template

[an303]

Hi - I've was looking on this forum to see if I could find a solution to the problems I had been having trying to use Menu Maker (MM) with Dreamweaver (DW) templates - but without any luck. However, I think I have now cracked it, so it only seemed polite to join up and share what I have discovered:

Step 0 - install MenuMaker and the Dreamweaver extension

Step 1 - create your DW template with a space where you intend the menu to go. In my case this was a table cell running the width of the page. The template is stored, as usual, in the Templates folder.

Step 2 - insert the MM menu into the template using the DW menu Insert > Xara Menu Maker > NavBar/Menu

Step 3 - use MM to create your menu in the usual way... but when you come to save the menu make sure you save it at the root level of your website (i.e. not in the Templates folder or some other sub-directory). I found it useful to set the Name (bottom left corner of the save files daialog)to something sensible like 'navbar' - this controls the names of the graphics (e.g. navbar_b1.gif) and the javascript menu config file (navbar.js)... I'll use these examples from now on for clarity.

When you are creating menu links, type them in 'from the root' - e.g. to create a link to a file called foobar.htm in a directory called pugwash, you would type pugwash/foobar.htm as the link. Don't type /pugwash/foobar.htm or it will all go horridly wrong.

You'll find that the file xaramenu.js is stored in the Templates folder while all the menu graphics and the config file navbar.js are stored in the root location. Don't move any of these files or it all stops working...

Step 4 - you need to edit the line of code in the template that defines the menu... for example mine looked like this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"><script menumaker>document.write('<scr'+'ipt
src="xaramenu.js">'+'</scr'+'ipt>');document.write('<scr'+'ipt
src="../navbar.js">'+'</scr'+'ipt>');/*img src="../navbar.gif"
moduleid="clt-new (project)\navbar3_off.xws"*/ </pre>

Vital bit >>>> Insert /Templates/ before xaramenu.js and delete .. before /navbar.js and .. before /navbar.gif so it reads

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"><script menumaker>document.write('<scr'+'ipt
src="/Templates/xaramenu.js">'+'</scr'+'ipt>');document.write('<scr'+'ipt
src="/navbar.js">'+'</scr'+'ipt>');/*img src="/navbar.gif"
moduleid="clt-new (project)\navbar3_off.xws"*/ </pre>

Save the template file and use it to create pages in the usual way - it will still work even if they are in sub-directories etc.

Step 5 - One more wrinkle... if you need to edit the menu, open up your DW template file, click on the MM menu, click the Edit button in the Properties Inspector... which opens up MM... do your editing and then click Save > Save and Exit to return to DW. You'll need to carry out Step 4 again to add /Templates/ and delete the '..'s to fix the code before you save the template and update all the files that use it.

Well, that was a fun afternoon at work - perhaps the next version of MM ought to make this process a bit easier?

Anna

[thevirtualwrite]

Anna, you are the queen of the jungle. Thank you from my bottom to my heart - bad scripting, from the bottom of my heart. This solved one big problem and now if I can only figure out why I am getting a message that the parentObj has no properties.

I copied your solution to Word and saved it. This company should hire you to write the instructions.

Thank you very much
The Virtual Writer

[An72]

In menu maker and Dreamweaver Template, graphics come in many flavors but not all file formats are suitable for all purposes. In general, there are graphics formats suitable for printing and those for on-screen viewing or online publishing. Within each group there are also formats that are better than others for the same task. This simple chart outlines the best use for several common formats. Match the format to your job either by starting with graphics in that format or by converting other artwork to the desired format.