I’ve been doing some massive geek-outery at work again. It’s some really cool stuff involving doing the navigation for a huge website using server side includes and variables so that I only have to write something once and it’ll look different depending on where you are in the site.
\n
\nI think it’s cool anyway.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t seem to share my opinion. It’s kind of disheartening to get conversationally slapped down when I try to explain how it all works. On the other hand, the code is nifty and useful and I might as well post it here on the off chance that there’s someone else out there looking to do something similar.<\/p>\n
\nFirst problem: doing server side includes without knowing the full directory path.<\/p>\n
Solution: use a variable to trick the parsed file into calling images and so on from the correct folder<\/p>\n
Example:
\n
\n<!-- ### set global variable ### -->
\n<!--#set var=\"URLPREFIX\" value=\".\" --><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" SRC=\"<!--#echo var=\"URLPREFIX\" -->\/include\/navigation_script.js\">
\n<\/script>
\n<\/code><\/p>\n
\nSecond problem: the navigation needs to look different depending on where you are<\/p>\n
Solution: set a variable before you call the navigation. Use if\/then\/else statements inside the navigation to change the code.<\/p>\n
Example:
\nIn the page that calls the navigation
\n
\n<!--#set var=\"RESEARCHON\" value=\"true\" -->
\n<!--#include virtual=\"${URLPREFIX}\/include\/navigation.shtml\" -->
\n<\/code>
\nand in the navigation itself
\n
\n<a href=\"<!--#echo var=\"URLPREFIX\"-->\/research\/research.shtml\">
\n<!--#if expr=\"${RESEARCHON}\" -->
\n<img name=\"research\" src=\"<!--#echo var=\"URLPREFIX\" -->\/images\/research-on.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\">
\n<!--#else -->
\n<img name=\"research\" src=\"<!--#echo var=\"URLPREFIX\" -->\/images\/research.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\">
\n<!--#endif -->
\n<\/a>
\n<\/code>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNote: code has been updated with spaces in front of the
--><\/code> tags so that it’ll play nice with Apache 1.3<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’ve been doing some massive geek-outery at work again. It’s some really cool stuff involving doing the navigation for a huge website using server side includes and variables so that I only have to write something once and it’ll look … Continue reading