NorMenu V2.08 readme.txt

This program is capable of creating a set of cascading drop down menus for navigating all the sections from an Actinic V3, V4 or V5 site.

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.
I've another version for the current 8.2 HV Menu system but this appears to be for non-commercial use only.


Installation: 

	Just unzip into a temp folder and run setup.exe.  
	This will install into C:\Program Files\NorMenu.   
	Go there and run normenutest.htm for a demo.  
	If you're connected to the 'net the links will work.

How it works:
        
	The program reads the Actinic database Catalog Sections table and builds a 
	section list.   This list is then converted into the necessary javascript to 
	produce normenu_var.js.  A reference to this script along with the core javascript 
	program	(normenu_com.js) should be included on pages that you want the menu to appear on.
	If these include lines are added to Act_Primary.html then the menu will appear on 
	all your catalog pages.
       

NorMenu Configuration Parameters:

	Version		Set to 3, 4 or 5 for Catalog 3, 4 or 5. 
			(the v3 setting will probably work but I've no V3 to test on)

	CatalogName	ReadOnly.   This will be preset with your catalog name if version < 5.

	Catalog		ReadOnly.  Shows the database alias for the selected version of Catalog

	OutputFile	Readonly.  This is the javascript file that will be created.   
			
	SingleRoot	Checkbox.   You can have the menu start with a single item (text or image) 
			or 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.

	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

	LinkPrefix	NorMenu will generate links that are relative to your sites acatalog folder.
			If you want absolute links (a good idea if you want navigation to work with pages
			served from the catalog scripts) then put the absolute path to your site here.
			e.g. /acatalog/ or http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/ - note that I don't use
			SSL so I'm not sure how this will work on secure sites, regarding the 
`			"Secure and Insecure items on this page" type of warning.

	First Leve
			Width 	The width of the root level menu.
			Height	Ditto for height.

	Sub Levels
			Width	The width of cells in subsequent menu columns.
			Height 	Ditto for height.


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 NorMenu way.   
	If you're running in frames then install-frames.htm has relevent info.

Demoing:	

	Copy normenutest.htm from the NorMenu installation folder to your Site folder.
	Tinker with changes to the configuration.  
	See changes by running normenutest.htm from your Site folder.  
	Note:- The orginal normenutest.htm is best left unaltered in the installation 
	folder as a reference should you break something. 

Adding this to a live Actinic System:

	Re-read above and follow instructions regarding production system.

	Briefly:

		Before running NorMenu-

			Copy  the following files from the NorMenu install folder to your Site folder(s).

				tri.gif				// little graphic triangles used for navigation
 				tridown.gif			
				trileft.gif
				normenutest.htm		       // a simple test to show your site structure.
				
		In NorMenu-

			Set Version as appropriate for your version of Actinic.
			Set LinkPrefix to the full URL of your live web-site acatalog folder (with trailing "/")

	In your Site1 folder in Act_Primary.html immediately after the <body ....> tag 
	(make a backup copy first) add the following html (you could condense this to only 4 lines)

				<script type='text/javascript'>

				//HV Menu- by Ger Versluis (http://www.burmees.nl/)
				//Submitted to Dynamic Drive (http://www.dynamicdrive.com)
				//Visit http://www.dynamicdrive.com for this script and more

				function Go(){return}

				</script>

				<script type='text/javascript' src='normenu_var.js'></script>
				<script type='text/javascript' src='normenu_com.js'></script>
				<noscript>Your browser does not support script</noscript>

	(Catalog will detect the references to normenu_var.js and normenu_com.js and upload them for you.)

	In Catalog / Advanced / Additional Files - Add tri.gif, tridown.gif, trileft.gif and any SingleRoot images
	from your Site1 folder. 

	Run NorMenu to generate a current version of normenu_var.js in your Site1 folder, 
	Run Catalog and update your site and that's that.

	Preview should work but the links will probably be broken as they refer to your live site.  
	If you're running V5 then you'll need to make an additional copy of 
	normenu_var.js, normenu_com.js, tri.gif, tridown.gif, trileft.gif and any SingleRoot images 
	from  your Site1 folder. into the PreviewHTML folder.

Removing NorMenu from a live system:

	Just restore Act_Primary.html to its original state and remove the Additional Files 
	from Actinic / Advanced / Additional files.
	NorMenu has an Uninstall entry in Control Panel /Add Remove Programs.

Bugs / Info:

	Normenu is written in Delphi 4.  It does very little error checking so if, for example, 
	you set a width to non-numeric you'll get an unhelpful Error message.  
	It has been tested with Catalog 4.1, 5.1.2 and should also work with V3.

	This program uses and includes (that's why the downloads so big) 
	the Borland database Engine (BDE v 5.1.1) to read the Actinic database.   
	I've made my access to this data read only so your data should be safe.

	I have noticed one quirk.   After Installing NorMenu another program I have written that uses the BDE
	native MSACCESS driver failed because the BDE config had switched to using the wrong DLL for MSACCESS.
	The fix was to go into Control Panel / BDE Administrator / Configuration / Drivers / Native / MSACCESS
	and change the DLL32 from IDDAO32.DLL to IDDA3532.DLL (just click the line to get a drop down list).

	I only have Catalog so I've not tested this with Business (should work but I'm not sure
	about navigating directly to product pages before logging in).
		  

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 NorMenu system.
	Config.htm is worth reading with the following amendments:

		All the var lines can be modified within NorMenu.
		The first var line "var NoOffFirstLineMenus=5;" is not used (NorMenu generates it dynamically).
		The entire Menu Tree is dynamically generated by NorMenu.	

Support:

	None.  Zilch.  Zip.  Polite questions might get answered but I'm pretty busy.
	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


