Contents
Welcome
Freebee - Popups in DHTML
Showcase
now available on ToolBookDeveloper.com
Cursor Chasing Bees
For
Hard-Core Native ToolBookers
Graphics Pre-Loader
Welcome to my first FreeBee Newsletter. Since I started up my site in July, I have had lots of visitors and
positive feedback on what I am trying to accomplish with the site. Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement. As
always, I have about ten plates spinning at once (lots of work, but
I wouldn't want it any other way :-) which is why I knew it would be
risky to commit to releasing these FreeBee Newsletters at regular
intervals. So, while I had wanted to get the first Newsletter
out sooner than this, I hope that you find that it was worth the
wait.
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Lately in my consulting work, customers have
been asking to be able to pop up different items from their DHTML
exported ToolBook Projects. In addition, just this past week
there have been a couple of questions on the ToolBook ListServe
about popping up windows in DHTML. While in Native ToolBook this is
easy to do with a viewer, it is a little more challenging in DHTML. Whether you want to pop-up a web page, a
JavaScript calculator, or a
PDF document, this FreeBee Quick Course will show you how to do it
and maintain total control (placement, size, and modality) over the
window you are popping up. In addition, if you are a
subscriber, you can get a bonus tool that will create your pop-up
windows for you. All you need to do is click on the links below to
get the course and the tool.
Access the FreeBee Quick Course Go through the course first
to understand the why's and how's of the tool.
Download the FreeBee Quick Course and PopUp Maker Tool Do this after you
have accessed the Quick Course above. Note that the download will
include the exported files and when you run the Quick Course in
Native mode the temporary popup pages do not close. Please note that
the download is for subscribers only.
Subscribers please refer to the
e-mail notification about the FreeBee for the username and password
- If you are not a subscriber,
subscribe
today and you will get
immediate access to the tool :-)
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Showcase - My hope is
that this will become the place on the internet for fellow
ToolBookers to share what they have done with others in the ToolBook
Community. So if you didn't know already, you are
invited to submit samples of your work that you think may be of
interest to others in the ToolBook Community. To submit your
work for review, please complete the appropriate section on the
multi-purpose form and
I will get in touch with you.
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Someone asked me
about how I made the cursor-chasing bees on the
FreeBee page. I
can't take credit for the code, but I can pass along how to do it. I
have modified the JavaScript to make it into a freebees.js file. The
freebees.zip file contains a freebees.htm file that shows what you
need to add to you own page and there are very limited instructions
in the freebees,js file. But wait there's more... For no extra
charge and complete with our 100% money back guarantee you get the
little  freebee.gif free:-)
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If you are a fan of
the Format Painter in MS Word, perhaps you have wished that ToolBook
had a similar function. Well, there is an easy way to apply
the properties of one object to another object. This example is
basic, but once you see it you will probably be able to think of all
kinds of ways you can use this productivity tool.
-
Select the object
whose properties you wish to copy. In this case it is the "Body
Text" field. Now, open the property browser and mouse down
on the property you wish to copy. In this example, I clicked on
the "font face" under the "name" category. Now drag this over
to the object you wish to have the properties copied to, in the
case the target button. When we drop, a list of objects will appear,
the list is the object that you drop on, it's parent, the parent's
parent and so on up to the book. Select the appropriate object, in
this case, the "Body Text2" field.
-
As you can see from the dialogue box,
you are asked if you wish to copy the properties to the object. If
you select "Yes" the properties will be immediately applied.
-
Maybe you are saying, "Hey Peter!
I can do this more quickly right in the object property editor."
You certainly can, however, this process is extremely useful
for applying user properties to other objects, because we don't have
editors for our own userProperties like we have for standard ToolBook
properties. Also, you can see what it is that you are applying. Hmm,
what was the fontSize???:-) You can even drag and drop arrays - very
cool:-)
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Well, that's it for
now. I would appreciate your feedback on the FreeBee as it will help me improve future
FreeBees. Until next time, whenever that will be :-), happy ToolBooking!
Regards,
Peter
Jackson
pjackson@toolbookdeveloper.com
www.toolbookdeveloper.com
And now...a message from
the marketing department...
If your
users are complaining that it takes too long to load the
graphics for your program then you should think about
pre-loading your graphics...and, if you are going to do that,
then you definitely should check out the Graphics Pre-Loader.
If you think that it might be too difficult to use, not worth
what you pay for it, or if you think that you can set up the
preloading on your own, try the
Pre-Loader demo
on an actual project. It will only pre-Load 25% of your
graphics, but it will give you a good idea of how easy it is
to use. The Graphics Pre-Loader is only $149US and will
pay for itself with your first project.
Check it out today! |
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