Format of a description file of a template is identical to the Windows profile
format (ini file).
Information is registered the following way:
[Section]
Name=Value
First section of description file is [General] section. It contains obligatory fields that should be filled for all templates.
Table 1. Section [General]
Parameter | Obligatory | Description Example | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Name | Yes | Template (theme) name | Name=City Lights |
PluginName | Yes | Name of plug-in for which template is being created. Can be HTML or SWF | PluginName=SWF |
Description | No | Additional template description | Description=Flying Pictures Theme |
NumPages | Yes | No of template pages, that should be handled by plug-in. | NumPages=1 |
StartPage | Yes | Name of the start page of an album | StartPage=index.html |
EmptyPhoto | No | Relative path to the file of an image that will be included to the album, in case when the list of images is empty. If that parameter is not assigned then in the empty spaces will be the reference to the first page of an album. | EmptyPhoto=images/x.gif |
Plug-in version | Yes | Plug-in version. Current 1.0 | PluginVersion=1.0 |
This should be followed by the description of each page of template. (their
quantity is shown in the NumPages parameter). The new section is created for
each page with the name [Page N] where N is serial number of the pages during
pages processing. (N starts from 1). There can be several pages. For example,
one page contains series of several small pictures, another a full size
picture.
Example:
[Page1]
Page description section also contains obligatory and non-obligatory
parameters:
Tabel 2. Page description section
Parameter | Obligatory | Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Path | Yes | Path to the page relative to the directory of template. Normally it is just the name of template page. | Path=config.xml |
NumParameters | Yes | Number of parameters on the page. (it can be the name of the album, color, font etc.) Parameters can be changed by the user in the interface of AlbumCreator during the album creation process. | NumParameters=9 |
OutFileExtension | No | Extension for the creating album pages. By default it is the same as extension of the template page. | OutFileExtension=xml |
Parameters descriptions follow template descriptions.
Plug-in reads album parameter description and passes it to AlbumCreator, which
submits the parameter using description to the user for changes through its
user interface. This way parameter values entered by the user will appear on
the album pages.
AlbumCreator has the following types of parameters (parameter type actually
assigns Windows controls, that are used to display and modify Wizard pages).
Table 3. Page parameters types
Parameter type | Reflection in UI | Description | Obligatory attributes of parameter description | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
AC_INT_RANGE | Spin button control with integer Buddy | With the help of INT_RANGE user assigns an integer in some range | MinValue MaxValue DefaultValue |
Type=AC_INT_RANGE MinValue=32 MaxValue=200 DefaultValue=120 |
AC_EDIT | Edit Control | Assigns the text string field | DefaultValue | Type=AC_EDIT DefaultValue=Flying Pictures |
AC_COMBOBOX | Combo Box | Allows user to select one of the several possible values. Control field is text field | NumValues=N Value0 ... ValueN-2 DefaultValue |
Type=AC_COMBOBOX NumValues=2 DefaultValue=YES Value0=NO |
AC_COLOR | Static control with example of color and button that invokes Color dialog | Allows to transfer color parameters | DefaultValue | DefaultValue=#ÀÀBBCC Where AA - Red component in hexadecimal format, BB -green, ÑÑ blue |
AC_FONT | Static control font example and button that invokes font dialog | Allows user select font to transfer to album | DefaultFace DefaultSize DefaultColor DefaultWeight |
Tag=#TITLEFONT# DefaultFace=Arial DefaultSize=20 DefaultColor=#000020 DefaultWeight=bold |
Number of parameters is specified in the page parameter NumParameters. The section under the name [PageNParamM] where N is the number of page, M is serial number of parameter is created for each parameter. Parameter description contains following values (they can be different depending on the type of parameter).
Table 4. Page parameters section
Parameter | Obligatory | Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Name | Yes | Parameter name. This name should consist of one word that should be unique among parameters. Name is not shown in AlbumCreator interface. | Name=ThColumns |
DisplayName | Yes | Parameter name to be shown in AlbumCreator User Interface. May contain several words, spaces etc. | DisplayName=Number of thumbnails in a row |
Description | No | Additionl parameter description for the user. Is shown as a tooltip when user points with cursor at parameter control. | Description=Please input the number of thumbnails in a row |
Type | Yes | Parameter type. One from the listed in Table 3. | Type=AC_INT_RANGE |
Tag | Yes | Marker at the template page, showing that here it is necessary to replace the marker by the parameter value (see Comment) | Tag=#THCOLS# |
* Marker of parameter (Tag) can be any word, normally indicating the parameter name. Marker can be inserted once and more times into template page. During the page processing the Plugin seeks for the markers and substitutes them for parameter values, assigned by AlbumCreator user.
The following significant restrictions for the marker name are:
Further fields of parameter description can be different depending on the parameter type. (see Table 3).
Example of a description file:
[General] Name=Hiking NumPages=2 PluginName=HTML Description=Hiking Template StartPage=index.html EmptyPhoto=images/x.gif [Page1] Path=base.html NumParameters=4 OutFileExtension=html ImageExt=jpg [Page1Param1] Name=Title DisplayName=Album Title Description=Input your album title Type=AC_EDIT Tag=#TITLE# DefaultValue=HIGHER AND HIGHER [Page1Param2] Name=ThColumns DisplayName=Number of thumbnails in a row Description=Please input the number of thumbnails in a row Type=AC_INT_RANGE Tag=#THCOLS# MinValue=1 MaxValue=8 DefaultValue=3 [Page1Param3] Name=ThRows DisplayName=Number of rows Description=Please input the number of rows with thumbnails Type=AC_INT_RANGE Tag=#THROWS# MinValue=1 MaxValue=4 DefaultValue=2 [Page1Param4] Name=ThDistance DisplayName=Distance between thumbnails Description=Please input the number of pixels between thumbnails Type=AC_COMBOBOX Tag=#THDIST# NumValues=6 DefaultValue=10 Value0=15 Value1=20 Value2=25 Value3=30 Value4=50 [Page2] Path=image.html NumParameters=0 OutFileExtension=html