Vacheslav Starikov's

Centering horizontal CSS menu

Vacheslav — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:00:16 +0000

It’s a real headache to center a fluid block element horizontally with help of CSS. Some time ago I figured out how to center CodeCharge Studio’s CSS Menu because it doesn’t provide this functionality. In general, any block element without the fixed width can be centered with help of this method.

By the way, if You have a fixed width block then You have to set its left and right margins to auto and You get the block centered.

In this article I’m going to explain the method I use to center a fluid block element. Here is the Demo.

With help of this method You can center:

CodeCharge Studio’s Menu (CCS Menu)
Horizontal CSS Menu
Any block elements (DIV, SPAN, IMG, UL, etc.)

HTML


<div class="MenuStyle" id="Menu1Container">
  <ul class="adxm {Menu1:MenuType} level1">
  ...
  </ul>
</div>

CSS

#Menu1Container {
        position: relative;
        float: right;
        right: 50%;
}
#Menu1Container ul {
        position: relative;
        float: left;
        left: 50%;
}

Setting HTML for WebBrowser in C#

Vacheslav — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:39:53 +0000

Today I tryed to insert HTML for WebBorwser in C#. I thought it’s a simple task. But when I tryed to use DocumentText property I got “”. Then I tryed Document.Write("...") and I got that Document is null. After these tries I started to find out the easiest way to fill the WebBrowser with HTML without writing to disk and navigating the written file. Here is my code:

WebBrowser browser = new WebBrowser();
 
browser.Navigate("about:blank");
browser.Document.Write("...");

When the WebBrowser has been made, the Document object is null. So, we should call Navigate() method to get Document available.

If You have Your way to fill the WebBrowser with HTML I’m expecting for Your comments

Creating dialog in CodeCharge Studio

Vacheslav — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:33:54 +0000

This article provides CodeCharge Studio developers with a truly easy way to create a custom IDE dialog for different purposes. Here You will learn how to extend CodeCharge Studio with Your own dialog. I am going to explain how to create a custom dialog through an example. We will create together a dialog for embedding a Flash movie into the page. See online example to understand what You will be able to do with help of the dialog. Also, here You can download a source code of the dialog and extend Your CodeCharge Studio with it. In addition to downloading a source code You can download a test project that has a page where a Flash Movie embeded by this dialog. So, let’s start!

1. ToolBox

First of all, we should add a button that runs a dialog. Usually, the dialogs of this type are run from ToolBox. Therefore, we should add a button to ToolBox. By default, ToolBox consists of three tabs: Builders, Forms and HTML. Let’s add our button to the HTML tab. For that we have to create a simple XML file in Components/ToolBox/HTML. Name it FlashMovie.xml.

The contents of this file:

 version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
 name="TB_FormsFlashMovieName" 
    number="777" 
    hint="TB_FormsFlashMovieHint" 
    script="..\..\..\Components\Dialogs\HTML\FlashMovie\FlashMovie.js" 
    img="..\..\Icons\Image.ico" />

Attribute	Description
name	A name of the ToolBox item. Contains a translation key. Translation keys will be discussed a bit later. This attribute is mostly used for internal needs and we are able to use it for our needs.
number	An ordered number of the button. It specifies the position of the button in ToolBox tab. I set its value to 777 to have it last.
hint	Tooltip text. Appears as a hint when you move a mouse over the button. Contains a translation key.
script	Path to script that runs a dialog. We’ll discuss it later.
img	An icon for the button. I’ve chosen an icon that is used for tag but You can create an icon yourself and put it to Components/Icons.

2. Translations

All the translations are located in Components/Translations/IDE. To make the translation keys translated You should add them to the text file of your language. For example, to English.txt. CodeCharge Studio should be restarted then translations will be applicable.

TB_FormsFlashMovieName=Flash Movie
TB_FormsFlashMovieHint=Add Flash Movie

Anyway, You may use just string constants instead of translation keys and everything will be working. Minuses of this approach are that our code isn’t translatable and it’s a bad form. Therefore, we are using translation keys in our example.

3. Dialog HTML skeleton

Most of Dialogs in CodeCharge Studio are made out of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. HTML and CSS makes a visual presentation of dialogs. A program logic of dialogs is realized with help of JavaScript. Also, JavaScript deals with IE and CodeCharge Studio object models.

It’s a good form to put script that runs a dialog and dialog’s HTML to the same directory. Let’s create a directory Components/Dialogs/HTML/FlashMovie and an empty text file with the name FlashMovie.html.

Please, put the contents below into the FlashMovie.html. It’s HTML skeleton of the dialog.


"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
  <title></title>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../dialogs.css" type="text/css">
  <script type="text/javascript" src="../../Common/Common.js"></script>
  <script type="text/javascript">
    var ccObject, ccApplication, ccProject, ccPage;
 
    function body_onload() {
      // gets Project object
      // it comes from FlashMovie.js
      // FlashMovie.js starts the dialog
      ccObject = ccProject = window.external.dialogArguments;
      // gets current Page object
      ccPage   = ccObject.currentPage;
      // gets Application object
      ccApplication = ccProject.Application;
 
      // translates all the translation keys in the dialog
      TranslateDlg();
      // sets event handlers
      SetUpKeysHandler();
      // sets dialog sizes and shows dialog
      dialogResize(400,175);
 
      // sets dialog title
      window.external.caption(getTranslationString("FlashMovieDialog_Title"));
    }
  </script>
  </head>
  <body onload="body_onload()">
  </body>
</html>

FlashMovieDialog_Title	A translation key. You should put it and its value into English.txt, for example.
../../dialogs.css	A standard styles file for CodeCharge Studio dialogs.
../../Common/Common.js	A common JavaScript functions for CodeCharge Studio dialogs. It isn’t only one file with common functions. There are some others.
body_onload()	This function is called when dialog runs. Here we will get some parameters, set dialog sizes, etc.

Dialog HTML skeleton’s been done!

4. Script that runs dialog

As you remember, in the ToolBox button XML we specified what script runs dialog. It’s FlashMovie.js. It should be located in the Components/Dialogs/HTML/FlashMovie as well as FlashMovie.html.

Well, let’s analize the contents of this script:

// includes common functions
#include ..\..\Common\Common.js
 
// ccPage - an object that comes from CCS OM
// with help of ccPage we get reference to Project object
var ccObject    = ccPage.Project;
// if we have Project we can get current Page
var currentPage = ccObject.currentPage;
 
if (currentPage) {
  // getTranslationString() - Components/Common.js
  // starts a transaction for UnDo/ReDo
  var trans = ccObject.Application.undobuffer.starttransaction(
    getTranslationString("Toolbox_Undo_AddNewComponent", 
    getTranslationString("TB_FormsFlashMovieName")), "", currentPage);
 
  if (trans) {
    try {
      // RunDialog2() - Common.js
      // Runs dialog FlashMovie.html and passes Project object into it
      var result = RunDialog2("HTML\\FlashMovie\\FlashMovie.html", ccObject);
 
      if (result) trans.commit();
      else trans.rollback();
    } catch(e) {
      // if something worng show an error
      ccObject.Application.ShowErrorInfoDlg(0, currentPage);
      trans.rollback();
    }
  } else {
    // MessageBox - Components/Common.js
    MessageBox(getTranslationString("Toolbox_Undo_TransactionAlreadyOpened"));
  }
}

#include	A proprietary directive that includes scripts into scripts.
getTranslationString()	Declared in Dialogs/Common/Common.js. It returns a translated string by translation key. Translation keys may include %s placeholders. For example, look at the key “Toolbox_Undo_AddNewComponent=%s was added”. This key is used in the settransaction(). It gets two parameters: first one for translation key and the second one for the placeholder value.

I think everything else in this script You can understand through comments in the script. If I am wrong You may ask me for some explanations.

Now, having the ToolBox button, translations, HTML and JavaScript code of the dialog, You may try to start the dialog. But at the moment You are having an empty window. That’s good! Let’s go ahead!

5. Preparing HTML template

As our purpose is to understand how the CodeCharge Studio dialogs are created I’ve simplified the logic of the dialog. In the dialog we will ask user for the Flash Movie file, width and height of the movie. Nothing more. The HTML code that will be pasted to a page is based on the following template:

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" 
  codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" 
  width="{width}" height="{height}">
    <param name="movie" value="{movie}">
    <param name="quality" value="high">
    src="{movie}" quality="high" 
      pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" 
      type="application/x-shockwave-flash" 
      width="{width}" height="{height}"></embed>
</object>

Placeholders:

{movie}	Path to the Flash Movie (*.swf). It should be located in the project folder.
{width}	Width of the movie.
{height}	Height of the move.

We will process this template when the OK button is clicked. The placeholders will be replaced with the real values. After processing the template the resultant HTML code will be pasted into a page.

6. Dialog presentation

As I’ve written above the HTML presentation of the dialog is made up with help of HTML and CSS. Sometimes, JavaScripts is used to add some dynamics. OK, here is HTML that should be placed to of FlashMovie.html:


<table id="content" style="margin:5px;" class="table">
<tr>
  <td>
    
    <label for="swf">FlashMovieDialog_Swf</label>
  </td>
  <td colspan="2">
    
    <input type="text" id="swf" size="40" maxlength="255">
    
    <button class="button" onclick="browseForSwf();" style="width:30px;">
      ...
    </button>
  </td>
</tr><tr>
  <td>
    <label for="swfWidth">FlashMovieDialog_SwfWidth</label>
  </td>
  <td style="width:100px;">
    
    <input type="text" id="swfWidth" size="4" maxlength="4" value="200">
  </td>
</tr><tr>
  <td>
    <label for="swfHeight">FlashMovieDialog_SwfHeight</label>
  </td>
  <td style="width:100px;">
    
    <input type="text" id="swfHeight"size="4" maxlength="4" value="200">
  </td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr>

<button class="button" onclick="OnCancel();" 
  style="float:right;margin-right:10px;">
  Button_Cancel
</button>

<button class="button" onclick="OnOK();" 
  style="float:right;margin-right:3px;">
  Button_OK
</button>

7. Dialog logic

The last step is creating some JavaScript functions. These functions helps us to make the logic of our dialog. Here we define handlers for OK and Cancel buttons as well as for button that opnes an Open File dialog to select an swf (Flash Movie), also we can put here some checkers, etc. So, add this code after the body_onload() function.

// closes the dialog without changes
function OnCancel() {
  // closes the dialog and returns false to dialogs caller
  window.external.cancel();
}
 
// applies changes and closes the dialog
function OnOK() {
  // checks if the entered data is valid
  if (!CheckData()) return false;
  // applies changes
  OnApply();
  // closes the dialog and returns true to the dialogs caller
  window.external.ok();
}
 
function OnApply() {
  // defines HTML template for the Flash Movie
  var htmlTemplate = "\"clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000\"";
  htmlTemplate += " codebase=\"http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0\"";
  htmlTemplate += " width=\"{width}\" height=\"{height}\">";
  htmlTemplate += "\"movie\" value=\"{movie}\">";
  htmlTemplate += "\"quality\" value=\"high\">";
  htmlTemplate += "\"{movie}\" quality=\"high\""
  htmlTemplate += " pluginspage=\"http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer\""
  htmlTemplate += " type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\""
  htmlTemplate += " width=\"{width}\" height=\"{height}\">";
  // gets the Flash Movie source
  var movie = document.getElementById("swf").value;
  // gets the width
  var width = document.getElementById("swfWidth").value;
  // gets the height
  var height = document.getElementById("swfHeight").value;
  // parses the template
  var result = htmlTemplate.replace(/\{movie\}/gi, movie);
  result = result.replace(/\{width\}/gi, width);
  result = result.replace(/\{height\}/gi, height);
  // inserts HTML to the page
  // declared in Components/Common.js	
  pasteHTML(result);
}
 
// checks the entered data for validity
function CheckData() {
  // put here some checks if You need
  return true;
}
 
// opens an Open File dialog to select swf (Flash Movie)
// returns a project relative path to selected swf
function browseForSwf() {
  var projectPath = ccProject.Path;
  // browseFile() - Components/Common.js
  browseFile(
    document.getElementById("swf"), /* puts the path to this control */
    true, /* relative path */
    getTranslationString("Dialogs_FileFilter_Swf"), /* file filter */
    projectPath, /* source directory */
    false, /* return with backslashes */
    true /* only project files */
  );
}

Conclusion

And now Your dialog should work! Congratulations

You can test it by placing a Flash Movie into a project folder and pasting it into a page with help of Your dialog. Then go to Project->Settings->Publishing and configure extesions of the publishing files, in general, add swf extension. Then publish a project and enjoy Your work!

You can download here the source code of the dialog and copy it to Your Components folder. But be careful with translations, You should copy text from the example file Components/Translations/IDE/English_example.txt and paste it to the end of the file Components/Translations/IDE/English.txt of Your Components.

I’ve tested this example in CodeCharge Studio 3 and 4.

If You have questions or wishes I am waiting for Your comments. I am also going to publish some other articles about extending CodeCharge Studio as well as about CCS features.

Download

Dialog Source Code (FirstDialogSrc.zip)

Test Project (FirstDialog.zip)

Links

CodeCharge Studio’s web site

Flash example

Inline YUI AutoComplete layout

Vacheslav — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:28:27 +0000

Recently, i had a problem with YUI AutoComplete layout. I wanted it being inline, fixed width and working with different browsers like IE6/7/8, Opera, FF etc. There were some problems that i solved primarily in CSS. More precisely, i needed an inline YUI AutoComplete layout in such a way that i can place autocomplete next to the without a line break. I just set my styles in CSS and override some existing styles and it works ok!

So, problems i had to solve for my needs:

an outer container is a DIV so INPUT always goes on the next line
inline-block for DIV doesn’t work in IE6/7
an outer container has width of 100%
INPUT is absolutely positioned so an outer DIV is collapsed
width of 100% makes INPUT 6px larger then outer DIV in IE6
using inline-block, INPUT aligns vertically on the bottom in IE6

YUI files to include

Let’s begin with files to include:


<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.8.0r4/build/autocomplete/assets/skins/sam/autocomplete.css">
 

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.8.0r4/build/yahoo-dom-event/yahoo-dom-event.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.8.0r4/build/datasource/datasource-min.js"></script>
 

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.8.0r4/build/autocomplete/autocomplete-min.js"></script>

Well, i’m explaining below how i’ve achieved an inline YUI AutoComplete layout. The code is well-commented to understand what is happening

HTML


<label for="input">YUI AutoComplete</label>
<span id="autocomplete">
    <input id="input" type="text">
    <div id="results"></div>
</span>
 
<script type="text/javascript">
/* creating a data source out of js array */
var ds = new YAHOO.util.LocalDataSource(["apples", "apricots", "bananas"]);
 
/* creating a yui autocomplete */
var ac = new YAHOO.widget.AutoComplete("input", "results", ds);
</script>

CSS

/* outer container */
#autocomplete {
    /* behaving like an inline element */
    display: -moz-inline-box; /* for FF less then 3.0 */
    display: inline-block !important;
 
    position: relative;
    /* standard width of a textbox */
    width: 145px;
 
    /* align vertically on the center */
    vertical-align: middle; 
}
 
/* input */
#autocomplete input {
    /* preventing an outer container DIV collapsing */ 
    position: relative;
    /* tweaking to traditional box model
     * width = border + padding + content
     */
    box-sizing: border-box;
    -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
    -webkit-box-sizing: border-box;
    -ms-box-sizing: border-box; /* ie8 */
 
    /* CSS Expression to calculate width for the input.
     * 2px border + 1px padding + 1px padding + 2px border = 6px.
     * Only for IE6/7 because traditional box model cannot
     * be tweaked by any css property.
     * currentStyle object - IE css styles as specified by 
     * global style sheets, inline styles, and HTML attributes.
     */
    *width: expression(parseInt(this.parentNode.currentStyle.width)-6+'px');
}

I’ve tested this soluting in FireFox 3.5, Opera 10, IE 6/7/8. YUI version i’m using is 2.8.

Welcome to my web development blog!

Vacheslav — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:52:15 +0000

So, my blog has arrived! Here I’m going to publish some articles about web development, to share my experience and thoughts with others. I hope that it will be the place where You always are able to find something new, useful and helpful. Also, I’m glad to contact with everybody by email if You have some questions or wishes.

Several words about how I create this blog After I decided to create an own blog I started to find how I can do it. As I’m familiar with WordPress and it’s very popular and flexible, I chose it. The second question, what theme to use. I wanted something special and unique so I decided to create theme with help of Artisteer. By the way, Artisteer can create themes not only for WordPress but for Blogger, Joomla, Drupal, DotNetNuke and just HTML templates. So, it’s cool!

A good idea + Artisteer = great result!

A couple of hours and theme’s done. And without any coding of XHTML, CSS and PHP. Of course, after generating a theme with help of Artisteer there’s a probability to modify a CSS to satisfy with requirements that couldn’t be done with Artisteer, but as usual it’s few lines of code. Well, i’m not going to stop with this design, but to improve it time to time.

Vacheslav Starikov's

Centering horizontal CSS menu

HTML

CSS

Setting HTML for WebBrowser in C#

Creating dialog in CodeCharge Studio

1. ToolBox

2. Translations

3. Dialog HTML skeleton

4. Script that runs dialog

5. Preparing HTML template

6. Dialog presentation

7. Dialog logic

Conclusion

Download

Links

Inline YUI AutoComplete layout

YUI files to include

HTML

CSS

Further reading:

Welcome to my web development blog!