[RESOLVED] Fireworks...menus...?

robkir

I was excited...Fireworks has a pretty easy to use menu creator that produces very cool menus. Sadly, when I tried to include it in a php page it failed. I found a few threads that had similar problems, but no solutions. Anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks,

robk

bradgrafelman

The only thought I have is that you haven't provided us with enough information to help you.

What format are the menus that Fireworks creates? How are you "[including] it in a php page" ? What does "it failed" mean?

robkir

I was pretty vague. Maybe the question I should ask is "what is the preferred method for making menus with submenus for php pages?"

In any case, let me restate my problem.

I created a menu using Fireworks CS5. It outputted an htm, css, js and gif files that constitute a drop down menu with sub menus. I have these menu items in a directory entitled navigation. I was planning to access it through a php "include" statement on each of the php pages that need that particular menu, all of which are in separate directories, however, the htm does not execute properly unless I have the php page in the same directory as the menu files. That would be messy.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to get this to work, more because its a challenge than a necessity. I was hoping somebody else had the same difficulties and might have a solution.

Thanks for your patience.

robkir

After searching the net and trying a Firework's forum, I am throwing in the towel. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and do something in Java. I was hoping for easy and fast. Darn.

bradgrafelman

robkir;10988965 wrote:
I was pretty vague. Maybe the question I should ask is "what is the preferred method for making menus with submenus for php pages?"

Two problems:

There's no such thing as a PHP "page". If we're talking about "web pages", one PHP script/file could generate an infinite amount of those.
Assuming we're talking about "web pages", whether PHP is used or not is irrelevant. You can't make a "menu" (in the sense that you're talking about) using PHP code. You can, however, make one using HTML and CSS... in that case, PHP has nothing to do with the menu - it just prints out a bunch of data that it doesn't care about (which turns out to be HTML/CSS code that the browser does care about).

So the answer to your question, then, would be: however you like, since PHP isn't a client-side language and thus has no direct role in making a "menu."

robkir;10988965 wrote:
I was planning to access it through a php "include" statement on each of the php pages that need that particular menu

Access what? The only thing that include/require should be used for are PHP scripts/files.

robkir;10988965 wrote:
the htm does not execute properly unless I have the php page in the same directory as the menu files.

Again, I'm assuming you meant "script" or "file" rather than "page" here. Regardless, it sounds like the HTML code uses relative paths rather than absolute paths. Unless you plan on somehow automatically updating those relative paths based upon the URL used to access the current page, using absolute paths would be an easy solution.

robkir

Hi bradgrafelman,

There is so much to learn, every time I think I've got a handle on it I discover a whole new world of things to play with. Thanks for the mini lesson on PHP nomenclature.

The fireworks generated menu did have absolute paths. It also breaks the menu down into a zillion slices of gifs and creates a CSS file. I decided in the interest of time not to spend more time trying to get it to work. Instead, I latched on to somebody else's program and it works well for the application I am developing. I might circle back around to this at a later date, but deadlines being what they are...one never knows.

Sorry we couldn't get this one to work, but I always appreciate your input. thanks for your thoughtful comments.

robkir