Split Page in Frames

• Overview
• Define frameset presentation
• Create changed template
• Define the frames using the administration interface
• Specify the frameset in the site structure
• Define the functions to be loaded in the frames
• Gather information for administrator

Overview

Websydian Express uses frames to define the structure of the page shown in the browser.

This section includes the steps necessary to split a page (or a frame) in two or more frames..

A content loader handling the loading of a frameset is provided as part of the Websydian Express runtime. This frameset content loader is already defined in the delivered Websydian Express installation.

In by far the most situations, you will be able to use this frameset content loader to define your own page structures.

This section will therefore just go through the necessary steps to define a new template defining the split of the page and the corresponding new presentation making this new template known to the Websydian Express framework.

Define frameset presentation

To utilize the frameset content loader, you must define your own presentation for the generic frameset content loader.

Select the menu item "Content Loaders -> Framesets" in the administration menu.

The grid shows available frameset content loaders. The one with Program ID "WSFRMP" is the generic process delivered with the run time.

Select this frameset content loaders and press the button "Presentations".

On the page shown press "Insert". On the next panel you must enter the name you wish the presentation to be known by and the suffix you wish to use for finding the template used for splitting the page.

Create changed template

Copy the WSFRMP.htm template to a new file named according to the suffix or override name specified above.

(If you have indicated a suffix _SUF - the name of the file will be WSFRMP_SUF.htm).

In the HTML template you must define how the frameset must split the page into frames.

The template must contain a /(NAME-framename) replacement marker for each frame you want to use..

Define the frames from the frameset in the administrator interface

If another person is going to define the frameset in the Websydian Express framework you can just go to the section Gather Information for the Administrator.

It is necessary to define the frames in the framework.

You define the frames by creating a record for each frame defined in the template. Use the menu item "General->Frames" in the administration interface.

Having the frames defined in one place only makes it possible to select the frame you wish to populate using a specific function - instead of having to enter it, with the risk of misspelling the name of the frame.

Specify the frameset in the site structure

Use the menu item "Site structure->Site Structure" to show the present site structure tree.

Select the Frameset, Menu or Site Root element you wish to use as the parent of the frameset and press "Add"

Select "Frameset" and "New. If the parent is a frameset you must also specify which frame to load the frameset in (in this case the specified frameset is used to split the frame - not the page). Press "Next".

On the next page, select the presentation you specified for the frameset content loader by pressing "Select" on the grid row containing the presentation you created.

On the next page specify the name of the frameset, when it is shown in the site structure tree. If the parent is a menu - this will also be the name of the menu point shown in the menu.

If the parent is a menu item you will also have to specify the alignment and sequence of the menu point in the menu.

Press "Next".

Assign roles for the new frameset. And press "Finish".

You will now have defined the frameset as being part of the structure.

If the parent is a menu, the frameset will occur as a menu item in the menu. When the menu item is activated, the function loading the frameset will be called.

Define the functions to be loaded in the frames

In the HTML template you will have defined one or more frames using the /(NAME-framename) replacement marker.

To make it possible for the system to decide which function to load in the specific frame, you have to define the functions, which it is possible to load in the frame as a child of the frameset element in the site structure.

It is possible to define several child elements for the frameset for the same frame. The authorization level of the user compared to the authorization level of the elements will decide which child element to use when populating the defined frame.

If a frameset loader finds a /(NAME-framename) replacement marker, which refers a frame for which no functions are defined in the structure (for the authorization level of the user) - it will throw a message in the message log.

You add a child to the frameset by selecting the frameset in the site structure tree and pressing "Add" and go through the wizard.

Gather information for the administrator

As the developer in many situations will not do the final definitions in the production environment it is often necessary to deliver the information about the new frameset to an administrator.

To ease this information flow we have created an example form, which contains the information needed by the administrator. You can use this or make your own solution.