Project Properties

Every menu system you create with DHTML Menu Builder is stored in a project file with a DMB extension.
Many settings affect your entire project; these are set through the pages of the Project Properties dialog.

To access the Project Properties dialog, follow any one of the following steps:

• From the File menu, choose Project Properties.
• Press the CTRL+P shortcut
• Click the Project Properties icon on the toolbar

The Project Properties dialog is divided into 5 main sections. Along with their main purpose, they are listed below:

• General: specify your project's name and location of the project files.

This is the main section of the Project Properties dialog.
It is where you configure the most basic settings of your project.
To access this dialog click File->Project Properties

Click any part of the dialog to get information about its purpose.

• Configurations: specify the location of your web and the JavaScript files DHTML Menu Builder needs to implement the menus . This section is also used to set up frames support.

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.

• Global Settings: change several settings that affect the whole project.

This is the Special Effects page of the Global Settings section of the Project Properties dialog.
Settings that will affect the way your menus behave are configured here.

To access this dialog click File->Project Properties and click on the Global Settings tab.

Click any part of the dialog to get information about its purpose.

• Advanced: change some of the advanced options of your project (e.g. type of optimization to be applied to the generated code files).

This is the Advanced tab of the Project Properties dialog.
In this section you set up advanced features for your project.
To access this dialog click File->Project Properties and then click on the Advanced tab.
Click any part of the dialog to get information about its purpose.