User Defined Menu
Introduction
When using the Website Generator the website comes with a standard menu. It is possible to expand this menu by adding items to it. It is not possible to modify the standard menu items or sub-items, it is possible though to remove some items from the main manu by using the parameters, some items cannot be removed. The About menu item cannot be removed nor changed.
There are two ways for modifying the menu:
- A user defined menu containing all user defined items. This part of the menu is displayed next to the standard menu (system 1).
- A user defined menu where items are added to standard menu and new items are created next to the standard menu (system 2).
Operation
System 1
In the website root there must exist a file CUsermenu.txt which contains the user defined menu. When the index.html is requested by a visitor the file CUsermenu.txt is read and the items in there form the User Defined Menu which is explained below. This menu is dynamically used by the website and NOT generated by CumulusUtils.
System 2
In the utils directory there must be a file CutilsMenu.def. If this file is not present you get the default menu. The default contents of this file as delivered in the distribution is :
Home
About Item Test1 External https://waterinfo.rws.nl/#!/kaart/waterhoogte-t-o-v-nap/ EndItem Item Test2 Internal https://embed.windy.com/embed2.html?lat=53.2589&lon=6.9314&detailLat=47.339&detailLon=6.812&width=1000&height=700&zoom=5&level=surface&overlay=temp&product=ecmwf&menu=&message=true&marker=true&calendar=now&pressure=true&type=map&location=coordinates&detail=&metricWind=km%2Fh&metricTemp=%C2%B0C&radarRange=-1 EndItem Item Test3 Report tagtest EndItem
Reports Graphs Records Extra Misc ToggleDashboard
You recognize the standard menu of CumulusUtils. From version 6.12 the menu runs from left to right (as before it went from right to left).
User items can be added to the standard menu as is indicated above. While generating the website this menu will be incorporated. The System 1 menu will be generated in addition to System 2 (i.e. those items will be on the rightmost side of the menu)
Items
Any menu topic named other than the standard item will create a new, user defined, main menu dropdown. For all drop downs items can be defined as follows:
Item <name> <type> <destination> EndItem
THis Item definition line has space separated words.
The <name> is what you will see in the menu and may consist of one or more words.
The Type can be of :
- External: The URL given as destination will be opened in a new window or new tab besides CUtils
- Internal: The URL given as destination will be opened in the ReportView, the large viewport on the right side of the dashboard. It is implemented as an Iframe which is generated to the standard demands of Cutils
- Report: Any UserReport of Cutils or any other legitimate HTML/Javascript file similar to the standard reports and charts. The destination is a textfile name : filename.txt
- Image: Not implemented yet
- Separator: No further arguments. Creates a thin horizontal line below the last item
<destination> is the URL what you want to see. An URL can be a full specification or just a filename in which case the report must be present on the server in the webroot (as always).
The example in the distribution contains three example lines.
Both files for System 1 & 2 are available in the distribution. Both System 1 & 2 can be used concurrently.
Output
There is no output of the user menu, only a visible appearance on the website.
Inifile parameters
There are no inifile parameters involved
Inner working
The website is designed on the basis of the Bootstrap Toolkit. As a result, the menu is also within this toolkit. As the menu is not really very easy if you are not a HTML / Bootstrap programmer, System 2 for the menu is designed to deal with without knowledge of the Bootstrap menu system. On the basis of the keywords in System 2 CumulusUtils generates the menu for you.
Below is the contents of CUsermenu.txt of HansR. All possibilities are used in that file and you can copy the basic principle replacing the links by your own.
NOTE: Sub-menu within a drop down is not possible.
You can use the following possibilities:
- Create a direct link with a <a> tag. Use target="_blank" for a new tab or window otherwise your site will be overwritten
- Loading a site or report of yourself into the Report View Area using the CumulusUtils function LoadUtilsReport()
- Create a divider between menu items
<li class='nav-item dropdown'>
<!-- Just put a link on the UserMenu text -->
<!-- a class='nav-link' href='http://google.com'>Google</a -->
<a class='nav-link dropdown-toggle' href='#' id='navbarDropdown' role='button' data-bs-toggle='dropdown' aria-haspopup='true' aria-expanded='false'>
NL
</a>
<ul class='dropdown-menu' aria-labelledby='navbarDropdown'>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Waterstanden.txt');">Waterstanden</li>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('TopoNL.txt');">TopoNL</li>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Ahn.txt');">Hoogtekaart</li>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Cropmap.txt');">Crop map</li>
<!-- a class='nav-link' href="https://topotijdreis.nl" target="_blank">Topo NL</a -->
<li><a class='nav-link' href="https://waterinfo.rws.nl/#!/kaart/waterhoogte-t-o-v-nap/">Waterstanden</a></li>
<div class='dropdown-divider'></div>
</ul>
</li>
<li class='nav-item dropdown'>
<!-- Just put a link on the UserMenu text -->
<!-- a class='nav-link' href='http://google.com'>Google</a -->
<a class='nav-link dropdown-toggle' href='#' id='navbarDropdown' role='button' data-bs-toggle='dropdown' aria-haspopup='true' aria-expanded='false'>
Maps
</a>
<ul class='dropdown-menu' aria-labelledby='navbarDropdown'>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Effis.txt');">European Forest Fire Information System</li>
<div class='dropdown-divider'></div>
<!-- li> <a class='nav-link' href="https://www.windy.com/station/pws-f06f5696?53.259,6.932,8" target="_blank">Windy (excl)</a> </li -->
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Windy.txt');">Windy</span>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('GlobalWinds.txt');">Global Winds</li>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Sat24-infrarood.txt');">Sat24 IR</li>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Sat24-zonwolken.txt');">Sat24 Visual</li>
<div class='dropdown-divider'></div>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Radar-regen.txt');">Radar-regen</span>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Blitzortnung.txt');">Blitzortnung</span>
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('MeteoAlarm.txt');">Meteo Alarm</span>
<div class='dropdown-divider'></div>
<li><a class='nav-link' href="https://wow.knmi.nl/#1211bb08-6c93-e911-80e7-0003ff59889d" target="_blank">KNMI WOW</a></li>
<li><a class='nav-link' href="https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IWAGEN6" target="_blank">WU iwagen6</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
User report shown in the Report View Area
Any user report or external website can be shown in the Report View Area by simply loading the User Report in that area with the LoadUtilsReport function with a li-tag as below:
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('User report name.txt');">Sateliet</li>
URL shown in the Report View Area
The Report View Area can contain reports but maybe you would like to see a website in that area. That can be accomplished by putting that URL in an IFrame text file and to load that IFrame with a call to the LoadUtilsReport function like e.g. for Windy below:
<li class='nav-link' onclick="LoadUtilsReport('Windy.txt');">Windy</li>
Where Windy.txt is a plain text file containing the following:
<iframe src="The Embedded URL given by Windy" width="100%" frameborder="0" style="border:0;height:75vh;"></iframe>
The width definition of the iFrame guarantees it won't fall beside the window, the height definition keeps most URLs within the given viewport. Some may get higher which happens often when you are using a tablet. Creating dynamic sizing within the available viewport is however a bit beyond the scope of this exercise as most site work fine like this. Of course you could experiment yourself with the IFrame parameters. Look on the map for examples how users create their menu's, some really do great things!
You need to read this post when wanting to use iFrame.
Example of CuserMenu.def (System 2)
Lines starting with a semicolon (;) are treated as comment
Home;
About;
Reports;
Records;
Graphs;
Extra;
Misc;
;Toggle Dashboard;