Navigation Bar

Navigation bars are areas in the page template which can be used to provide links to other pages in the application or on the external website.  The links will be displayed as a series of horizontal text or image links.  The difference with the navigation bar and other types of link lists is that it is not necessary to define a separate region to contain the links.  If the Navigation bar is part of the page template, the links will appear on every page.  The navigation bar is global to all pages in an application.

HTML DB development pages have a navigation bar defined, and they have three entries. 

Although any type of link can be placed on the Navigation Bar, it is typically used to perform auxiliary functions such a Print, Help, Logout, Print Friendly View, About information, or Contact List.

Creating a Navigation Bar

Creating a Navigation Bar entry is very similar to creating a list.  There are three ways to create an entry:

• Go to the Shared Components, select Navigation Bar and click Create.

• From the Page Definition, click the Navigation Bar link in the 3^rd column.

• From the Page Definition, click on the Create button in the Navigation Bar box and then click Create.

1.      The first screen in the wizard will ask the developer to specify the method they wish to use to create the Navigation Bar.  A bar can be created from scratch, manually entering in each entry, or a bar can be copied from another application and modified as necessary.  If a bar already exists, copying the navigation bar can speed up the development.  In this example, one will be created from scratch.  Click Next.

 2.    On the next page, the following fields can be filled out, as shown in Figure 11.14:

• Sequence:  The position of the entry on the bar.

• Alt Tag Text:  This will be text shown if the entry is an icon and the mouse hovers over it.

• Icon Image Name:  The name of the image file to use as the navigation bar icon.  This is optional if the entry is only to be text.

• Image Height and Width:  Specify the height and width of the image when displayed.  These should be entered if an icon is used.

• Text:  The text which will appear at the bottom of the entry. Either an Icon and/or Text need to be entered.

• Click Next.

3.     On this page, the target will be identified.  The target can either be a page in the application or a URL to an external website.

4.     The next page will allow the developer to specify conditions for the display of the navigation bar entry.

5.      Click Create.

The following is the result of the navigation bar entry example.  A Logout entry was also created to give a perspective of how they are displayed. 

Notice that the Text also appears in the bar.  When using this type of icon, the additional text may not be desirable.  The completed navigation bar is displayed in Figure 11.16.