About Site-Guide
Updated TML Specification Version 1.1 (DRAFT) ©
Copyright 1999: All Rights reserved
The tree contol
you see on the left hand side of your browser,
is the Site Guide. .This applet is rated as
TOP!! by JARS. Jars is an independent
body which reviews Java applets all over the web.
This applet provides and overview of my site and also, other links which
I want. I developed this using JDK 1.1.4 and soon, intend to put a JDK
1.1 version of this applet as well on my home page as well. This uses a
something called Tree Markup Language (TML) defined by me,
using which the hierarchy of the site can be defined using a script
similar to HTML. The Tree Control is written using Pure Java Code.
So
this applet will run on any platform with the same look and feel.
I've
been writing many Java applets, Java Beans and Java Applications so
far. This is one of the ambitious applets, which I've completed.
The current applet which
you see in Left hand side is a Java 1.02 compliant applet. However, the
Java 1.1 version of the same applet is better and elegant in many ways.
Please do send feedback/suggestions about the
Site Guide applet to me at nagendra@home.com
If *you* also like Java, visit the site below.
This is an organisation of Java programmers like me who're commited
to Java's success and it's Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA) promise
Unite for
Java - Java Lobby http://www.javalobby.org
Example TML file (Draft):
<TML>
<ICONS FILE=file COUNT=number of
icons ICONWIDTH=30></ICONS>
<NODE ID=1
PARENT=0 TEXT="Links" HELP="Other
Links"
ICONCOL=0
ICONEXP=0 STATE=1></NODE>
<NODE ID=2
PARENT=1 TEXT="Yahoo" LINK=http://www.yahoo.com
HELP="Yahoo-a popular
Search Engine"
ICONCOL=1
ICONEXP=1></NODE>
</TML>
will generate a Tree ...
Syntax Reference (Draft - I will be changing
/extending this soon)
-
<TML> </TML>
Marks the beginning and end of the Tree.
-
<ICONS> </ICONS> Has
the data related to the icon image file etc.
-
<NODE> </NODE>
Describes a node fully.
NODE Tag Descreption (Draft):
-
ID=number
A unique id for the node.
-
PARENT=number
The id of the parent of this node. 0 for root node.
-
TEXT=string
The text to be displayed for the node.
-
LINK=url The
url for this.
-
HELP=string
The help which appears on the ticker on the top.
-
ICONCOL=icon-idx The index of icon
when node is collapsed.
-
ICONEXP=icon-idx The index of icon
when node is expanded
-
STATE=boolean
0 means collapsed by default. 1 means expanded.
More About the TML file syntax.
I thought up of the TML syntax for specifying hierarchical
strucutres in a script. This will help me to define the structure of the
tree which has to be displayed. I thought up of the Ticker concept for
the status-bar so that nay lengthy description can be shown in a small
portion of the screen. Besides, the ticker is situated at the top which
is why it is more visible. People hardly look at status-bars when working.
(Another of my favourite subject is designing ergonomical User Interfaces).
The parser of this file currently is very basic
parser with its set of glitches. But it is up and running :) Neverthless,
I am planning to improve on it soon. Currently, this is useful for small
to medium sites. I am planning to extend it in such a way that only protions
of the tree that need to be shown are be loaded, when they're expanded.
This will help this Site-Gide to manage EXTRA-LARGE sites with hundereds
of documents.
For the next step, I am planning to write a Java
application which will generate TML files visually. But for that there
still is a lot of time :) ...
Nagendra R Setty
See Also : Clock Java Bean developed
by me
Ticker Widget/Applet developed by
me
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