The Design tab was primarily designed for use by Interchange developers, and as such should only be accessed by Administrators that have a high level of experience with Interchange.
The Design tab consists primarily of two tabs, Menu Editor and Menu Loader. A third tab, File transfer shows up in multiple locations and its operation has already been described in another area. The Menu Editor and Menu Loader are commonly used in conjunction with each other, normally using the Menu Loader to select a menu, and loading it into the Menu Editor. So in many cases, you will use the Menu Loader first, then the Menu Editor. But because the tabs are arranged with the Menu Editor first, we will cover it first here as well.
The Menu Editor screen is displayed above. We will start at the top of the screen, discussing the various individual controls in the upper right area.
Delete/Manage – This button will simply bring you to a folder in the File Transfer tab, usually the /include/menus/ folder, where menus are stored. Menus are stored in a simple .txt format. Here you can use the standard File Transfer functions, such as upload, download, view, delete and so on to Manage or Delete your menus.
Menu name – The Menu name drop down box displays previously saved menus. You can load any of these menus for editing, or to use as a template for a new menu, by selecting the Menu name and clicking on the Load button. That will load the selected menu into the Menu Editor. Tip: If there are no menus available, click on the edit link of one of the existing Menus in the UI, make sure the “Save to New Menu” window automatically fills itself, or enter a new name to save the Menu as, and press publish. That will give you a menu to play with, as well as numerous examples of menu design.
Moving down the screen slightly, and still on the right hand side we have:
Save to new Menu – This text box allows you to give a name to the current menu. If you are editing a menu, you would simple click on Publish to save it. However if you are creating a new menu from scratch, or a new menu based on an existing one, putting a name in this window prior to publishing will allow you to save a “new” menu. It is similar to the “Save As” file command in many applications.
Set Tree Mode / Set Simple Mode – This button is two sided, and will display only one of the two titles. Tree mode sets the Menu selected to be viewed in the tree mode. This is where the items are grouped by whatever criterion was specified. The simple mode on the other hand, simply displays the items singularly, each on its own line. The menu is displayed on the left hand side of the screen under the Append Menu Item button.
Publish – As described above, Publish saves your changes to the current menu, either in a “Save” mode, where changes to the current menu are saved as the current menu. Or, in a “Save As” mode, where you have entered something into the Save to New Menu window, in which case a new file will be created.
Cancel – Pull the ripcord and bail…
Now we will move into the Menu Editor main window, which is just below the items we just finished describing. Here we will begin to describe how to create a very simple menu.
Append Menu Item Button – To start creating a new menu, click on this button and a new Menu Item will be created, as shown below. When editing an existing menu, this button will create a new menu item that will be inserted into the last position.
Now that you have created a new Menu Item, it will be displayed as shown above. Now you will want to access this item and name it and give it some attributes so you will click on the:
Load Item icon (Simple mode) – This action
will load your item, (new or existing) into the Item Editor located
on the right side of the screen. This screen has the General and
Advanced tabs.
Load Item icon (Tree mode) – This action
will load your item, (new or existing) into the Item Editor located
on the right side of the screen. This screen has the General and
Advanced tabs.
The General page has 7 areas of entry, Name, Page, Form Values, Detailed Description, Options, Inactive, and Menu Group. At the bottom of the screen is the Save Menu Item button.
Name – The name that will be displayed on the Menu, and on the Menu Item list on the left hand side of the page.
Page – The Name described above will be displayed on the menu, and it will be displayed as a link. This window, “Page” will provide the path to the location that this link will point to
Form Values – This window is used to display a search or other Interchange formatted group of form values that will be executed when the menu link is clicked. You can use the Create Search Button to access the Interchange Search Builder Wizard, which will take you through a series of steps and then return the code for whatever criteria you have entered. In addition the wizard has a button that will post the newly created code back to the Form Values window so you do not have to cut and paste! Clear Search button simply clears the text box.
Detailed Description – Should more aptly be name “Alt Text” as this is what is displayed when hovering over the Menu item link.
Options –
Label Only – Designates this Menu Item as a label, disables the ability to make the Menu Item a link in any way. Use when you simply want a title for your menu or sub menu.
Break Line – Inserts a break between lines, or adds a blank tab between tabs. Simply Append Menu item, then Save Menu item. Do not enter anything into the Name field.
Inactive – Use this box to temporarily prevent this item from being displayed in the Menu. Uncheck to display again.
Menu Group – Advanced feature for grouping types of menu items. Places contents into the mgroup field in the menu_name.txt file, as well as the mgroup field of the Interchange DB “tree”. See your Interchange Developer for more details.
The Advanced page has 12 areas of entry, Go to next line, Indicator Variable, Exclude on, Include on, Only for Super user, Help tag, Image Down, Image Up, Image Down, Title Icon, External URL, member. At the bottom of the screen is the Save Menu Item button. These areas are for advance use of the menu builder, and as such you will need to contact your Interchange Developer regarding the use of them.
Go to Next Line – Breaks menus at next Line or Level.
Indicator Variable – Form parameter to cause Highlighting.
Exclude on – Form parameter to exclude this option if otherwise included.
Include on – Form parameter needed to cause inclusion of this option.
Only for Super User – Will only be displayed if the person accessing the UI has Super User privileges.
Help Tag – The page name for the help you should be pointed to when following this link. Can be used differently by different menus, sometimes not used at all.
Image Down – The image for presentation on hover -- for menus that support images.
Image Up – The image for normal presentation -- on menus that support images
Image Down – The image for presentation on selection of the item, for menus that support images.
Title Icon – Icon image for display to the left of the name text. To replace name entirely, leave name blank (or make it an HTML comment).
External URL – On some menus, causes a link to an external URL instead of the internal one generated by page and form.
Member – Allow which members can access menu link.
And finally, there are several checkboxes that show up at the top of the page when you load a menu item. Here is what they do:
Show item info – On Netscape or Mozilla works correctly. Does not work on MSIE. Will show information for each of the above mentioned areas of entry.
Tree Mode – This is checked when you are in the Tree mode, as opposed to the simple mode. Checking or unchecking does nothing?
Write tree to DB – If checked tree will be written to the Interchange table “tree”, if not will only be written to the .txt file of the same name as the menu and located in catalog/include/menu directory. Checked by default.
Show numerical level – Checking this box will place a number just to the left of each Menu item that is above the base level. The base level is level 0, and each level under that (or over depending on how you want to look at it) increases by 1. In the example above, About Us is level 0, About our Pets would be level 1, and Pets Toys would be level 2, and so on.
Collapse Tree – Click in this checkbox to collapse the tree in the Menu Item display. (will hide all sub categories)
Explode Tree – Click in this checkbox to explode the tree in the Menu Item display. (will show all sub categories)
The Menu Loader section of the design tab is used to get menus into the Menu Editor. It consists of 4 tabs, each with different uses.
Group and Category Fields – This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) which are both located in the same table. This will produce a two level tree, with the individual products or items that relate to each category or subcategory from the table forming the 3rd level. The items forming the final level are called leaf items, using the analogy to a “tree”.
Combined Category Field – This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of one field in a table. The contents of the field, sometimes called a “combined field”, must be formatted properly, and is simply another way to categorize items or products.
Separate Category File - This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) which are both located in the same table. This will produce a two level tree, with no “leaf” items. Once you have it in the Menu Editor, you can add additional items to each category.
Top and Sub Level Tables - This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) each of which are located in separate tables. This will produce a two level tree, with no “leaf” items. Once you have it in the Menu Editor, you can add or delete items to or from each category.
8.2.1 – Design – Menu Loader – Group and Category Fields
The group and category tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) which are both located in the same table. This will produce a two level tree, with the individual products or items that relate to each category or subcategory from the table forming the 3rd level. The items forming the final level are called leaf items, using the analogy to a “tree”.
Shown above is the Menu Loader – Group and Category Fields tab window. There are 5 areas to select and input into on the screen. They are:
Table – This is the table that the two fields will be chosen from. The default in the Demo is “products”. In fact, you can only use products. NOTE:IF I CHANGED TABLES IN DEMO, FIELDS DID NOT CHANGE TO MATCH TABLE ON THIS TAB, I TESTED ALL 4 TABS, ONLY COMBINED CATEGORY FIELD TAB CHANGED FIELDS TO MATCH TABLE.
Top Level Field – This will be the top-level field, AKA the 0 level, or main level. The default in the Demo is “prod_group”.
Sub level field – This will be the Sub level field, AKA the 1 level, or sub level. The default in the Demo is “category”.
Sort String – This information will be added to the search link. Did not work for me, or I am confused as to where the string should be appended to….
Options – Overide, build even if large. Normally, if the menu tree table is going to be larger than XX Interchange will not allow you to build it. This option overrides that check. You may not want this in all cases, if a menu is going to be that large, it may be better to re categorize. The menu may not fit on your page!
Load Menu – Ok, if I have to tell you this one you need to re-read the entire section!
8.2.2 – Design – Menu Loader – Combined Category Field
Shown above is the Menu Loader – Combined Category Field tab window. There are 5 areas to select and input into on the screen. They are:
Table – This is the table that the two fields will be chosen from. The default in the Demo is “products”.
Field to use – This will be the field that is used to create the menu. It will be the combined category field in your table. It must be properly formatted, see more on that here. The default field in the Demo is “comb_category”. Mike, this field no longer exists in the demo?
Sort field – This will be the field that the menu is sorted on, normally the same field as the one used to create the menu, but not necessarily. The default in the Demo is “comb_category”.
Sort String – This information will be added to the search link. Did not work for me, or I am confused as to where the string should be appended to….
Options – Override, build even if large. Normally, if the menu tree table is going to be larger than XX Interchange will not allow you to build it. This option overrides that check. You may not want this in all cases, if a menu is going to be that large, it may be better to re categorize. The menu may not fit on your page!
Load Menu – Click it if you dare!
Combined field formatting: when you want to use combined field instead of multiple fields for categorization, you must set it up as follows. First, lets assume that you have 3 levels of categorization, Group, Category, and Subcategory. Now, lets assign some example names to these levels.
In the Groups we might have:
Fish
Birds
In the Category we might have:
Saltwater
Freshwater
Wild
Domestic
In the Sub category we might have:
Salmon
Trout
Prey
Chicken
Using these examples the comb_category field might look like this
|
Code |
comb_category |
Name |
|
1 |
fish:saltwater:salmon |
Sockeye |
|
2 |
fish:freshwater:trout |
Rainbow |
|
3 |
fish:saltwater:salmon |
Chum |
|
4 |
birds:wild:prey |
Red tail Hawk |
|
5 |
birds:domestic:chicken |
Road Island Red |
|
6 |
birds:wild:chicken |
Prairie chicken |
|
7 |
birds:wild |
Big Bird |
Note in the example that each record in the comb_category field is formatted by placing the Group level of categorization first, as in fish:saltwater:salmon. Each level is separated from the other by a colon “ : ” Next after the Group level would come the category, and finally the subcategory. And if there were additional levels they would follow in sequence, from top to bottom, left to right.
With the example above, the resulting menu you loaded would contain 2 main or Group links, Birds and Fish. Each group link would contain 2 category links, Fish would contain saltwater and freshwater, and Birds would contain wild and domestic. Each of those links would contain the corresponding subcategories such as Birds:wild would contain prey and chicken, and so on.
8.2.3 – Design – Menu Loader – Separate Category File
Shown above is the Menu Loader – Separate Category File tab window. This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) which are both located in the same table. This will produce a two level tree, with no “leaf” items. Once you have it in the Menu Editor, you can add additional items to each category. There are 6 areas to select and input into on the screen. They are:
Table – This is the table that the two fields will be chosen from. The default in the Demo is “products”. NOTE:IF I CHANGED TABLES IN DEMO, FIELDS DID NOT CHANGE TO MATCH TABLE ON THIS TAB, I TESTED ALL 4 TABS, ONLY COMBINED CATEGORY FIELD TAB CHANGED FIELDS TO MATCH TABLE.
Top Level Field – This will be the top-level field, AKA the 0 level, or main level. The default in the Demo is “prod_group”.
Sub level field – This will be the Sub level field, AKA the 1 level, or sub level. The default in the Demo is “category”.
Sku field – Not sure how this works either, need help. Could not get it to do anything in the Demo, but the table fields were not being changed to reflect the table selection.
Description Field – Ok I give what does this do?
Search Page – Selects the page to display the results of the search, default results page for searches is results. Use this if you have a custom results page to send your search to.
Load Menu – You got it, Load the Menu into the Menu Editor!
8.2.3 – Design – Menu Loader – Top and Sub Level Tables
Shown above is the Menu Loader – Top and Sub level Tables tab window. This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) each of which are located in separate tables. This will produce a two level tree, with no “leaf” items. Once you have it in the Menu Editor, you can add or delete items to or from each category. There are 4 areas to select and input into on the screen. They are:
Top Level Table – In the Demo this is the Area table.
Top Level table -
Sub Level table – This will be the sub table that contains the foreign key reference from the top-level table.
Selector(if any) –
Options – Override, build even if large. Normally, if the menu tree table is going to be larger than XX Interchange will not allow you to build it. This option overrides that check. You may not want this in all cases, if a menu is going to be that large, it may be better to re categorize. The menu may not fit on your page!
Mike, it does not seem like this page is finished? It seems like this is what is going on:
SELECT area.name, cat.name
FROM area, cat
WHERE area.code = cat.sel
ORDER BY area.name
The form allows us to select area and cat, but not area.name, cat.name, area.code, cat.sel, or an ORDER BY field. Don’t we need those fields to accomplish being able to pick a field from separate tables and create a menu?
My suggested description follows, if this is what was intended, not sure…
Shown above is the Menu Loader – Top and Sub level Tables tab window. This tab allows you to load a tree menu based on the contents of two category fields, (such as a category and subcategory) each of which are located in separate tables. This will produce a two level tree, with no “leaf” items. The tables must have a foreign key relationship, and you can select a Description or Name field to allow your menu to be more descriptive. For example, assume you have the following two tables.
The Top level table “VEHICLE” contains the following:
|
Code |
Name |
|
1 |
Car |
|
2 |
Truck |
|
3 |
Motorcycles |
And the Sub level table “V_TYPE” contained
|
Code |
Fkey |
Name |
|
201 |
1 |
Sedan |
|
202 |
1 |
Convertible |
|
203 |
2 |
Crew Cab 4X4 |
|
204 |
2 |
Super Cab 2wd |
It seems you would need the following selectors:
Top Level Table – VEHICLE –This is the table containing the primary key.
Top level Description field (if different than code or primary key) – NAME – Choose a description field if your primary key is a number or some other non-descriptive string.
Sub Level Table – V_TYPE – This is the table containing the foreign key.
Sub Level Foreign Key – FKEY
Sub Level Description field (if different than foreign key) – NAME - Choose a description field if your foreign key is a number or some other non-descriptive string.
Sort Field – Default should be Top Level Description field or…
Load Menu