Configuring Web Resources
See also: Client Javascript and Rich Client Features
Web Resources provide additional content to be included within each web page. For example Style Sheets add style (colors, borders, etc) to HTML elements on the page which enhance the appearance of the page; JavaScript files can be used for many purposes including enhancing the user interface. Web Resources are linked to an HTML page rather than being embedded and this allows browsers to cache their contents, so each file only needs to be loaded once (this is the default behaviour of all modern browsers).
Style Sheets are Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which are the industry-standard way of describing the presentation semantics (the look and formatting) of an HTML Web Page. They are created using the Style Sheet Editor which supports the definition of internal Style Sheets. External style sheets are also supported – these are created and maintained outside of the Ebase system and loaded via a URL.
Style Sheets can be configured at three different levels using the Style Sheet Configuration Dialog which allows the configuration of both internal and external Style Sheets:
Pages and Controls can then be styled using the CSS classes in these associated Style Sheets; see How CSS Style Is Applied for further details.
Style Sheets associations are added as <link> tags in the HTML at the start of the <head> section of each page.
See: Client Javascript and Rich Client Features.
Client Javascript files are essentially text files written in a scripting language (usually JavaScript) which are run on the user’s Browser. They allow designers to create more dynamic pages with enhanced user interfaces by programmatically responding to user interactions and dynamically changing the appearance and structure of the page. A common JavaScript library used for this is the jQuery library (see http://www.jquery.com) which provides APIs to manipulate the underlying browser Document object, respond to user interactions and style various elements on a page; it also provides powerful widgets (for example a graphing widget that can generate various types of graph) in a modular and cross-browser compatible way.
Client Scripts are created using the Client Javascript Editor which supports the definition of internal Javascript files. External Javascript files are also supported – these are created and maintained outside of the Ebase system and loaded via a URL. Client Javascript files can be configured at three different levels using the Client Javascript Configuration Dialog:
Client Javascript associations are added as a <script> tags in the pages’ <head>, in the order which appears in the Pages’ Client Javascript Configuration Dialog, after any Style Sheets, and after the Ebase JavaScript libraries which can therefore be used from within Client Javacript files.
Html++ is a means of adding custom HTML markup directly into the <head> section of each page.
Html++ can be configured at three different levels:
Html++ can contain field names and other variables prefixed by && as part or all of the content. These variables are then dynamically evaluated at runtime and substituted into the HTML. Field variables and environment variables can be specified.
e.g.
<style>
&&DYNAMIC_STYLE
</style>
WARNING: the system renders the page as XHTML in the WYSIWYG View, and not all HTML content is considered valid within the XHTML standard. This can sometimes cause unexpected results when HTML content is added to a page. Click here for further information.