NorTree - Create Dropdown Menus (using HV_Menu) from Actinic Netquotevar Section Structure.
Updated 18-10-03 - Two new configuration variables Documented.
Updated 14-10-03 - Code that's patched into Act_Primary.html and (optionally) Act_BrochurePrimary.html has changed.
This uses the Actinic Sectiontree Netquotevar structures and is always up-to-date
with the site structure. The menu is automatically rebuilt whenever you upload the site.
This program is capable of creating a set of cascading drop down menus for navigating all the
sections from an Actinic V5 or V6 site. Actinic V4 and below doesn't have these capabilities so the older
NorMenu is still of some use there.
You can have menus laid out horizontally or vertically.
They can start with a single piece of text, an image icon, or show your entire top-level section list.
You can have the menu fixed in place on the page or floating so that it's always in view.
You can see it in use on www.snowlines.co.uk which is a Catalog 5 site.
This uses the javascript HV Menu system from:-
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex1/hvmenu/index.htm
This is an excellent cascading menu system that works in most major browsers.
This program is for HV Menu V5.41 which is free for commercial and non-commercial use.
It's easy to adapt for the current 8.2 HV Menu system but this appears to be free for non-commercial use only.
How it works:
Actinic will automatically generate an array of section names and URL's if you add two NETQUOTEVAR's
to your Act_Primary.html. As these aren't in the format that HV_Menu uses a small Javascript routine
(nortree-menu_create.js) converts these arrays into HV_Menu's type.
There are lots of configuration parameters (in nortree_menu_var.js) and these can be edited manually
or managed via NorTree.exe, which also copies all the javascript files (nortree_menu_var.js,
nortree_menu_create and nortree_menu_com.js) to the selected sites folder.
Installation:
Unpack the zipfile into a temporary folder and run Setup.exe. This will create a folder NorTree in Program Files
containg NorTree.exe and all the supporting files (including this readme).
NorTree.exe gives you a graphical interface to all the configuration variables and when you choose "Create"
it will copy all the necessary configuration and support files into your Site folder (all filenames start "nortree..").
You also have to follow the Configuration instructions below to patch Act_Primary.html
and (optionally) Act_Brochure_Primary.html.
The menu will be automatically created whenever you do a site Preview, Update or Refresh.
You can re-run Nortree at any time to amend configuration parameters, or edit them (nortree_menu_var.js) by hand.
Note that the files nortree_menu_create.js and nortree_menu.com.js are not re-copied into your Site folder
on subsequent runs of Nortree (allowing you to customise these if required). If you want these re-created
just delete them from your Site folder and re-run NorTree.
Configuration:
Before running NorTree:-
Copy the following files from the NorTree installation folder to your Site folder.
Make an additional copy into your sites PreviewHTML folder.
tri.gif // little graphic triangles used for navigation
tridown.gif
trileft.gif
In your Site folder (usually Site1) in Act_Primary.html immediately after the end of the tag
(make a backup copy first) add the following html (use a text editor not a word processor):-
NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONTREE_NAMES
NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONTREE_URLS
(Catalog will detect the references to nortree_menu_var.js and nortree_com.js and upload them for you.)
Also in Act_Primary.html change the line (it's near the top)
to read
Some versions of Actinic also have a line in Act_Primary.html
if you find it - change this to read
The above fixes a bug with Netscape 4 browsers where the text within the menus is invisible.
In Catalog / Advanced / Additional Files - Add tri.gif, tridown.gif, trileft.gif and any SingleRoot images
from your Site1 folder.
Run NorTree, select your Catalog version, edit parameters as required, Save Settings and Create config Vars.
Now run Catalog and preview or update your site and that's that.
NorTree main Configuration Parameters:
Version Set to 4, 5 or 6 for Catalog 4, 5 or 6. I'm not sure if V4 is applicable as
NorTree will only work on versions of catalog that have sectiontree netquotevar's.
Active Site ReadOnly. Shows the Site Name for the selected version of Catalog.
OutputFile Readonly. This is where the javascript file that will be created.
SingleRoot Checkbox. Check to have the menu start with a single item (text or image)
or Uncheck to have the menu start with a list of your base level sections.
SingleRootText If single root is checked this is the code that will start the menu.
You can use an image or text here.
Enter image as e.g.
SingleRootURL Leave blank if you want the Single Root to not be clickable.
Alternatively enter URL for this link.
e.g. http://www.mysite.com/navigationhelp.html
Max Depth The maximum number of levels to expand. Set to 0 for all levels.
LinkPrefix If set to the URL of your catalog directory ( e.g. http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/ ) - don't
forget that trailing "/" - then NorTree will generate static links to your pages.
This should considerably speed up page load / reload times.
If you leave this field blank then the Actinic generated URL's
(which go through the SearchScript.pl cgi-bin routine) will be used.
First Level
Width The width of the root level menu.
Height Ditto for height.
BackGround You can have a background image to the cell(s).
Sub Levels
Width The width of cells in subsequent menu columns.
Height Ditto for height.
BackGround You can have a background image to the cell(s).
AutoSize If checked, tall menus will be scaled to fit the screen.
AutoMinHeight The minimum cell height that NorTree scale down to.
Further HV Menu Configuration:
The default configuration works as supplied and can easily be fine tuned.
For further configuration see config.htm, but read below for differences between
this and the NorTree way.
If you're running in frames then install-frames.htm has relevent info.
Preview should work OK.
Removing NorTree from a live system:
Just restore Act_Primary.html to its original state and remove the Additional Files
from Actinic / Advanced / Additional files.
You can uninstall NorTree via Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs
Brochure pages:
If you want to use menu from within Brochure then you'll need to have the menu structure
active in Act_Primary.html as above (to generate the sectiontree files).
Copy the files tri.gif, tridown.gif and trileft.gif to whatever folder your new pages are in.
to your site root so that your home page can find them.
Then add the following code (again just below the tag in Act_Brochure_Primary.html:-
Non Catalog created pages.
If your pages are outside of the Acatalog folder then apply the Brochure patch above to your other pages.
In these patches amend the 5 "src=" bits to contain the path from these pages to your acatalog folder.
Copy the files tri.gif, tridown.gif and trileft.gif to wherever your new pages are.
Other files provided:
install.htm and config.htm - original install and info files from www.digitaldrive.com.
Note that these are originals and don't refer to the nortree system.
Config.htm is worth reading with the following amendments:
All the var lines can be modified by NorTree to suit your requirements.
There are additional var's that deal with first and subsequent level sizes.
The entire Menu Tree is dynamically generated by Javascript so you don't need to do anything there.
Support:
None. Zilch. Zip. Polite questions might get answered but I'm pretty busy. I would like to have
a look at sites you use it on so please send me a URL.
All the usual disclaimers apply.
You might want to follow the link to the HV Menu author on dynamic drive above, especially if you
want the current 8.2 version.
Norman Rouxel rouxel@attglobal.net
SingleRootURL Leave blank if you want the Single Root to not be clickable.
Alternatively enter URL for this link.
e.g. http://www.mysite.com/navigationhelp.html
Max Depth The maximum number of levels to expand. Set to 0 for all levels.
LinkPrefix If set to the URL of your catalog directory ( e.g. http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/ ) - don't
forget that trailing "/" - then NorTree will generate static links to your pages.
This should considerably speed up page load / reload times.
If you leave this field blank then the Actinic generated URL's
(which go through the SearchScript.pl cgi-bin routine) will be used.
First Level
Width The width of the root level menu.
Height Ditto for height.
BackGround You can have a background image to the cell(s).
Sub Levels
Width The width of cells in subsequent menu columns.
Height Ditto for height.
BackGround You can have a background image to the cell(s).
AutoSize If checked, tall menus will be scaled to fit the screen.
AutoMinHeight The minimum cell height that NorTree scale down to.
Further HV Menu Configuration:
The default configuration works as supplied and can easily be fine tuned.
For further configuration see config.htm, but read below for differences between
this and the NorTree way.
If you're running in frames then install-frames.htm has relevent info.
Preview should work OK.
Removing NorTree from a live system:
Just restore Act_Primary.html to its original state and remove the Additional Files
from Actinic / Advanced / Additional files.
You can uninstall NorTree via Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs
Brochure pages:
If you want to use menu from within Brochure then you'll need to have the menu structure
active in Act_Primary.html as above (to generate the sectiontree files).
Copy the files tri.gif, tridown.gif and trileft.gif to whatever folder your new pages are in.
to your site root so that your home page can find them.
Then add the following code (again just below the tag in Act_Brochure_Primary.html:-