Adding Metadata to a Site Page
To add keywords and desription metadata to a site page select the page properties search optimization option.
The page properties also allows one to set the title of the page.
Custom CSS can be added using Site Designer which applies the CSS to the entire site.
MOL Basic provides limited access to the head portion of the html of a site page beyond title, css, and metadata without using Javascript.
Control
3/2/2008
Galleries do not Support Subgalleries.
There is no support for creating subgalleries inside document gallery or image gallery.
Gallery
3/2/2008
RSS 2.0 Feeds for Published Lists
A RSS 2.0 can be associated with any published list as an option when publishing.
The maximum number of items exposed by the feed appears to be 1000 rows.
Views
3/2/2008
Upload to Document Gallery
Documents uploaded to the document gallery are selected one at a time but can be uploaded many at a time.
Most types of documents can be uloaded to the document gallery including Office documents, pdfs, images, HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, and XSLT.
A more traditional site can be created using documents gallery to store HTML and image gallery to store images.
Gallery
3/2/2008
Upload to Image Gallery
Multiple images may be selected and uploaded to the image gallery at one time.
The images are scaled to be 640 pixels for the maximum dimension of either dimension.
Larger images may be uploaded into the documents gallery.
The image gallery becomes difficult to use as the number of images in the gallery becomes large. Only a thumbnail view of the gallery is provided which makes loading the gallery as a folder for viewing very slow.
I have not attempted to use Firefox for the upload of files but this upload may actually be more liberal.
Picasa Web Album provides more flexibility and the exposed url of images on Picasa Web Album may be referenced inside MOL Basic to place images on site pages.
Images
3/2/2008
Blocked Features of XSLT 1.0
The following features of XSLT 1.0 appear to be blocked to MOL Basic site developers:
xsl:import
xsl:include
document function
XSLT
3/1/2008
Create Your Own HTML Module
Any of the modules that support XSLT which includes header, footer, navigation, form, and publish can be used to place straight HTML or Javascript in a site page.
These XSLT based modules actually generate more generic HTML that the HTML module does and provide you more control over the actual HTML rendered. Moreover the HTML produced by the XSLT based modules can be controlled using the custom CSS.
The publish list module seems to generate the cleanest container for your HTML.
Here is an example of using XSLT that acts as straight HTML wher an id has been added that could be referenced in the custom CSS.
This is HTML
</div>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Output
This is HTML
when viewed in a browser.
Module
3/1/2008
Custom CSS
Custom CSS can be added for the entire site by selecting style sheet when in the Site Designer.
Custom CSS for a given page can be added using Javascript on that page or by using ids or classes that are unique to that page thereby causing the site wide Custom CSS to effect only that page since no other page shares the same ids or classes.
Control
3/1/2008
Extension node-set() of XSLT is available
The msxsl:node-set() extension of XSLT is available to MOL Basic site designers. The namespace for msxml needs to be added to the xsl:stylesheet for this function to be available.
Thus by placing "XML" into a xsl:variable inside the XSLT the "XML" can be transformed using the XSLT. This provides the ability to construct a scaled XML web part and simple table driven transformations inside any MOL module supporting XSLT.
Here is an example.
Note:
1) The namespace in the xsl:stylesheet
2) The "XML" in the xsl:variable
3) The use of the node-set function
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"
xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt">
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:variable name="myxml">
<fruits><fruit>apple</fruit><fruit>orange</fruit></fruits>
</xsl:variable>
<div>Fruits</div>
<div>
<xsl:value-of select="msxsl:node-set($myxml)//fruit[2]"/>
</div>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
The output is
Fruits
orange
when viewed in a browser.
XSLT
3/1/2008
Javascript for Favicon
The following javascript which was suggested by other MOL Basic community members can be used to place a favicon on a site page.
<script language="javascript">
var head = parent.document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0];
var favicon = parent.document.createElement("link");
favicon.type = ("image/x-icon");
favicon.rel = ("shortcut icon");
favicon.href = ("/Documents/maximum.ico");
head.appendChild(favicon);
</script>
Javascript
3/1/2008
Page Templates
Templates are an excellent mechanism for capturing a common page layout.
If you are planning to have a set of pages all have the same controls, javascript, and modules a page template can capture this thereby limiting the need to duplicate effort.
Module
3/1/2008
Setting the Maximum Number of Items in a Published List
The items limit in the public view is used to set the maximum number of items available to be displayed in a published list.
On the list page use settings to edit the public view of the list. The item limit appears at the bottom of the page when a view is in edit mode.
In general, this maximum number has to be bigger than the number of items in the lsit if you plan to display all the contents of a list. The custom XSLT can be used to reduce the number of rows displayed but in many instances having the entire list exported is the only way to insure the rows desired are available for display.
Views
3/1/2008
Site Map for Only Pages on Navigation Menu
Using the custom navigation module a site map showing only the page appearing on a navigation menu can be created.
Here is the XSLT.
Note:
The pages are being sorted by the name attribute.
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:param name="NavType">LEFT</xsl:param>
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/NavNodes">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MSC_PrimaryNavFrame" style="width:auto;">
<xsl:for-each select="//NavNode">
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:attribute name="class">MSC_PrimaryNavLinkFrame
</xsl:attribute>
<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href">
/<xsl:value-of select="@url"/></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:attribute name="class">MSC_PrimaryNavLink
</xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
</a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="MSC_PrimaryNavTopSpace">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="MSC_PrimaryNavBottomSpace">
</td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Module
3/1/2008
The Scripting Extension of XSLT is Blocked
The scripting extension of XSLT appears to be blocked to MOL Basic site developers.
XSLT
3/1/2008
Turn Header, Navigation, or Footer On or Off
When creating a site page the header, navigation, or footer can each be turned off.
Custom headers, navigation, and footers can be created independent of the status of the flags for the corresponding page parts.
In fact, each of the custom modules can be used as many times as you desire on the same page.
Control
3/1/2008
Turn Search Box On or Off
The search box can be turned off site wide by going to Site Designer choosing Header and selecting Search Box off.
Control
3/1/2008
XML Atom Feed for Picasa Web Album
The XML Atom Feed for a Picasa Web Album is available for export using a url of the following form where the variables are the username and the name of the album with all blanks removed.
Album
2/29/2008
Items in a Public View
The number of items available to a published public view is determined by the limit set when creating the public view.
Views
2/28/2008
Multiple Published Views
Although you can create only one public view view of a list, the custom XSLT allows you to create multiple published view of that single public view.
Views
2/28/2008
Page On in Navigation Module
The Navigation module is aware of what page has been selected by a visitor and reflects this using the Select attribute in the navigation bar XML generated.
Here is an example of the XSLT that checks which page is being entered by a visitor.
Note:
The select attribute being true indicates that navigation node is the one that represents the page being visited.
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="//NavNode[@selected='true']">
<div><xsl:value-of select="@url"/></div>
<div><xsl:value-of select="@name"/></div>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Module
2/28/2008
Public Views of Private Content
Although information placed in MOLB Business Application is private, public views of the content can be created using Publish List module of Site Designer.
Views
2/23/2008
Tips Blog
The Rosebay Architect Tips Blog discusses features of the online services from Microsoft, Google, and Zoho which are used in the construction of Your Portal to Rhododendrons in New England.
Announcement
2/23/2008