Recent Questions
Q: May I can use PHP code in menu items of my dhtml website navigation menu?
A: You may generate a menu from a database or XML using any server-side script, e.g., PHP, ASP, VB, etc.
However, these scripts don't work inside of Javascript .js files, so, you should move parameters of a menu from a .js file into an html-page, e.g.:
<!-- Deluxe Menu -->
<noscript><a href="http://deluxe-menu.com">Javascript Menu by Deluxe-Menu.com</a></noscript>
<script type="text/javascript"> var dmWorkPath = "menudir/";</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="menudir/dmenu.js"></script>
<!-- (c) 2006, http://deluxe-menu.com -->
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2">
// and describe parameters of a menu
var parameter1=value1;
var parameter2=value2;
etc.
var menuItems = [
// here you generate items using server-side scripts (php, asp, vb, etc.)
];
</script>
The example of the menu working with PHP/MYSQL you can find here:
http://deluxe-menu.com/rq-loading-bar-MySQL-support.html
Q: I created a custom error page for a site, but the menu would not display.
I found that this was due to the erroneous "current directory" in the bad link test, for a non-existent directory.
which is: level2/level3/
I changed the script code from:
<script type="text/javascript"> var dmWorkPath = "DMworkfiles/";</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="DMworkfiles/dmenu.js"></script>
to:
<script type="text/javascript"> var dmWorkPath = "DMworkfiles/";</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/DMworkfiles/dmenu.js"></script>
adding the "/" before "DMworkfiles/dmenu.js" source reference allowed the .js file to be found in the root directory and the menu would display.
The problem is that the little menu "expansion" arrow .gif cannot be found in the "current working directory" of level2/level3/. just little "blanks" show.
I tried changing:
var dmWorkPath = "DMworkfiles/";
to:
var dmWorkPath = "/DMworkfiles/";
but that did not enable the display of the arrows.
I also had to prefix all of the links in the menu with a "/" to indicate the root directory because of the "current directory" for the bad page.
I hope I have explained the problem sufficiently.
What am I doing wrong or missing here?
A: You can use additional parameters to make menu paths absolute:
var pathPrefix_img = "http://domain.com/images/";
var pathPrefix_link = "http://domain.com/pages/";
These parameters allow to make images and links paths absolute.
For example:
var pathPrefix_img = "http://domain.com/images/";
var pathPrefix_link = "http://domain.com/pages/";
var menuItems = [
["text", "index.html", "icon1.gif", "icon2.gif"],
];
So, link path will be look so:
http://domain.com/pages/index.html
Images paths will be look so:
http://domain.com/images/icon1.gif
http://domain.com/images/icon2.gif
Please, try to use these parameters
Q: Is using this method this method (generate engine friendly code) the same as using normal html menus as far as spiders are concerned?
A: Yes, it is.
You will have such code:
<!-- Code for Deluxe Menu Items. Generated by Deluxe Tuner -->
<div id="dmlinks" style="font:normal 11px Trebuchet MS, Tahoma;color:#000000;text-decoration:none">
<a id="dmI0" href="testlink.html">Home</a>
<a id="dmI2" href="testlink.html">Features</a>
<a id="dmI4" href="testlink.html">Description of Files</a>
<a id="dmI5" href="testlink.html">How To Setup</a>
...
Q: Do you have an extremely simple example of modifying a menu with the JavaScript API? I've played with the example on the site, but I have trouble removing the other menus without breaking it.
I just want to use the API to change the icon on the menu items.
A: You should use the following function:
function dm_ext_changeItem (menuInd, submenuInd, itemInd, iParams)
<script language="javascript" >
dm_ext_changeItem(0, 0, 1, ["", "", "new_icon.gif", "new_icon_o.gif", "",,""]);
</script>