Re: Dynamic Menu

>
> Geert,
>
> Thanks for your response. Your first response when you wrote,
>
>>>> you don't need to explicitly
>>>> process embedded elements like this
>
>   made a big difference. I was screwing it up with blocks and values
> and things were not getting printed out properly.
> Things make more sense now.
>
> Thanks for all the hard work and taking the time to respond.
>
> Good Luck with the lasik as well, I had the same surgery done a few
> years ago and I love it!
>
> That first month with no eye-rubbing, dry eyes, no submerging
> underwater, etc. certainly sucks, but, hey, 30 days of annoyance for
> a lifetime of no glasses/contacts is sure worth it.
>
> Hope your recovery goes well.
>
>
> -Austin
>
>
> On Sep 18, 2007, at 11:53 AM, Geert Bevin wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi Austin,
>>
>> your description here sounds like a collection of functional, well-
>> defined elements that you conditionally want to link to based on
>> certain criteria and at different locations in the page.
>>
>> Basically, flowlinks, datalinks (and thus autolinks) and most
>> certainly globalexits should do all you need. Since your application
>> flow is well defined, RIFE's site structure is a perfect fit. You can
>> then use the regular EXIT:QUERY:exit value tags for instance, and put
>> those into blocks. You can choose to explicitly display those blocks
>> from within your elements, or use blockvalue scripting to move that
>> decision to your templates. If appropriate, parts of this, or all of
>> it can be bundled in an embedded element. You could for example
>> create embedded elements that initially check the conditions that are
>> required, and if these are not met, nothing would be printed out. You
>> could even create those embedded elements without that conditional
>> logic, and create a set of 'condition' elements that are inherited by
>> the embedded elements (RIFE's site structure 'inherits') and only
>> call 'child()' when the condition is true.
>>
>> I hope this makes sense, if some things aren't clear you should be
>> able to search the wiki for certain terms.
>>
>> Take care,
>>
>> Geert
>>
>> On 18 Sep 2007, at 07:55, Austin Coose wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hello Geert,
>>>
>>> I will attempt to explain some of things that I was working towards,
>>> though not necessarily working on all of these ideas right now.
>>>
>>> As I have used RIFE more and more, and have studied general java
>>> programming, I suppose it is only natural to think about all of
>>> things that are possible, but I was trying to start small, but  
>>> things
>>> always seem to grow as I think I understand.
>>>
>>> So, to start, yes, my first attempts have been with menus that refer
>>> to directly accessible pages without state that is transferred and
>>> pure content pages.
>>>
>>> Still, I would like to be able to generate menu items on the fly for
>>> a number of reasons, and I will give just a few below.
>>>
>>> My vision, at some point in the future, was to work towards some  
>>> more
>>> elaborate navigation schemas that are based on user privileges,
>>> account status, etc.
>>>
>>> An example:
>>> Someone would be able to fill out a Risk Assessment Questionnaire
>>> (RAQ), a few questions per page. If they have not yet signed up for
>>> an account, then they would be asked to enter an e-mail address,
>>> provide a password, and answer a couple of questions; such as, do
>>> they currently have an advisor, a yes answer would give them a drop
>>> down list, and of course, if they select other,
>>> the ability to  type in some text, drop down box for liquid net
>>> worth, total net worth, current amount of assets invested in
>>> securities, annual income, age and an option to pre-select their
>>> self-
>>> perceived level of risk.
>>>
>>> After taking down this basic information, based on the answers, the
>>> RAQ may have a few more or less questions, links to specific  
>>> services
>>> and information geared toward the prospective clients classification
>>> would be in the sub-navigation menus, and after they have completed
>>> the risk profile, not only may this change the links displayed in  
>>> the
>>> menus, but also the ability to view and print (or export to pdf) a
>>> copy of their answers with a brief explanation, and the ability to
>>> have a detailed report of their answers and questions and more
>>> information about the structure of the test, what each  
>>> classification
>>> means, comparison of their self-perceived level and where the little
>>> test would characterize them, etc. This can be done once per  
>>> account,
>>> if the user would like to re-test, then the a link to "reset", with
>>> an are you sure and some information about how they can print, etc.
>>>
>>> I would like to be able to save the state if the user happens to  
>>> time
>>> out or if the user navigates away from the page and then returns,  
>>> and
>>> a link that on the page that simply may state "Finish Risk Profile"
>>>
>>> As for user privileges, for users that have an account, they have  
>>> the
>>> ability to view account statements, etc. on our brokerage partner's
>>> website. But, we have many announcements, paperwork that is updated
>>> biannually, etc, items specific to our firm. So,  say a user  
>>> receives
>>> an e-mail about an offer letter we would like to log on and answer a
>>> few questions for our records about this that and the other. After
>>> they log on, an announcements link that is important, an  
>>> explanation,
>>> and a link at the side that takes them to the little form for  
>>> them to
>>> complete, all of this for those may have signed without the e-mail,
>>> and a link immediately available for those that the process is old
>>> hat, and then once it is completed,  the link in menu disappears.
>>>
>>> Also, if someone first completes information on a contact us page,
>>> some of the information would be the same for someone just  
>>> wanting to
>>> take the Risk Assessment Questionnaire, passing this along would be
>>> beneficial, whether the information is completed on either page,  
>>> pass
>>> it to the other one.
>>>
>>> And, we may want all existing clients that have not completed an RAQ
>>> to complete one, and that would be in a navigation box, or menu  
>>> item,
>>> etc. when they sign on, and then disappear and show up as completed
>>> and the date under their profile, with the ability to view and  
>>> print,
>>> etc as mentioned previously.
>>>
>>> To be able to "toggle" certain services on and off as they  
>>> pertain to
>>> strategic partner offerings, etc, etc,
>>>
>>> I could continue for much longer, and I have already been long-
>>> winded, for that I apologize. I thought I would give you some  
>>> details
>>> about where I am trying to go. I understand that I must crawl before
>>> I walk, walk before I run, etc., but thought that it may help you
>>> give me some direction.
>>>
>>> Sometimes it all seems so clear, I believe it is because I can
>>> conceptualize how things will work together, and as I stated
>>> previously, I  have been able to do some things already that I was
>>> pleasantly surprised with my progress; still, at other times, it
>>> seems I do not know even where to begin with the actual
>>> implementation of the code and the framework, etc.  So, then I just
>>> read more and more, and then try things out. etc.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance. I appreciate your help.
>>>
>>> -Austin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sep 17, 2007, at 11:14 PM, Geert Bevin wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi Austin,
>>>>
>>>> my main question here is, which parts of your site is this menu
>>>> referring to? Usually, menus like this refer to directly accessible
>>>> pages without any state that is transferred amongst menu items, is
>>>> this the case for you? Also, are the menu items referring to pure
>>>> content pages (like a CMS) or are they referring to more elaborate
>>>> elements, or both?
>>>>
>>>> A lot is possible, the most advanced approach is actually having a
>>>> part of your site-structure being generated on the fly from the
>>>> database (as a sub-site) and introspecting this structure from
>>>> within
>>>> an embedded element to create the menu from the available exits,
>>>> using a template blueprint.
>>>>
>>>> I can detail more about this once I know what your purpose it  
>>>> (since
>>>> there are various degrees of complexity that can be applied here).
>>>>
>>>> One thing to note already though is that you don't need to
>>>> explicitly
>>>> process embedded elements like this. The simply fact of putting an
>>>> ELEMENT:id value tag in your template, will cause the embedded
>>>> element to be execute in-place. Explicitly processing embedded
>>>> elements is useful when they have a 'late' priority and you want to
>>>> control the exact moment when they are executed.
>>>>
>>>> Take care,
>>>>
>>>> Geert
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 17 Sep 2007, at 21:37, Austin Coose wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> Again, as I have stated, I still trying to learn not just RIFE,  
>>>>> but
>>>>> also programming. So, I apologize in advance if I am missing
>>>>> something obvious.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have been able to accomplish many things with RIFE, actually  
>>>>> more
>>>>> sophisticated than I thought possible so soon.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyhow, enough of that, I was working on an application and  
>>>>> wanting
>>>>> to have the menu controlled through the back-end (in this case
>>>>> set up
>>>>> with RIFE-crud), to be able to set up the order, sub navigation,
>>>>> etc.
>>>>> on the fly;  also the global navigation with a sub-navigation menu
>>>>> based on the user, and main section. Of course, this could be
>>>>> divided
>>>>> into further divisions.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have worked through many issues recently, but feel stuck on this
>>>>> one.
>>>>>
>>>>> After reading the javadocs, and viewing the Wiki, would this be a
>>>>> good case for  ValueRenderer interface?
>>>>>
>>>>> The menu as an element definitely caused problems and I was unsure
>>>>> which direction to take.
>>>>>
>>>>> But, then again, maybe I am trying to reduce, or divide up the  
>>>>> code
>>>>> into to too many pieces ( I do not know, just a guess.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Would it make sense to have the menu element embedded and then
>>>>> process the element in all other implementations?
>>>>>
>>>>> I believe I understand the exits, flowlinks, datalinks, etc. but
>>>>> are
>>>>> there any things to take into consideration?
>>>>>
>>>>> Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Austin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Geert Bevin
>>>> Terracotta - http://www.terracotta.org
>>>> Uwyn "Use what you need" - http://uwyn.com
>>>> RIFE Java application framework - http://rifers.org
>>>> Music and words - http://gbevin.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>
>> --
>> Geert Bevin
>> Terracotta - http://www.terracotta.org
>> Uwyn "Use what you need" - http://uwyn.com
>> RIFE Java application framework - http://rifers.org
>> Music and words - http://gbevin.com
>>
>>
>>>
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