Website programming

**really** · 09-30-2008 03:04 PM

Hey,

Can anybody help me program, using Dreamweaver, a dialogue box to pop up on a custom website? I.e. "You're about to download... Open/Save File/Cancel"

Thanks in advance.

**Ynot** · 09-30-2008 03:27 PM

Woah, what on earth are you trying to achieve here?
I think a little more detail is required

from the one-liner above, it sounds like you're trying to mimic what browsers already do (Ie. manage file downloads)
This is not a good thing to try to do

if you try to override people's browsers,
1) you won't succeed, you will not be able to support all browsers on all platforms under all circumstances
2) even if you do, you will piss people off by doing it
3) any simple update to a browser could render your mimic worthless

I'm assuming the "open" option means download the file to a temp location and open it in some application local to the user
you cannot do this (not properly anyway)
you can't control what the user does on his machine

seriously, if you want to offer something for download, just use a simple anchor
let the user decide what they want to do with the file

**really** · 09-30-2008 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by Ynot

Woah, what on earth are you trying to achieve here?
I think a little more detail is required

from the one-liner above, it sounds like you're trying to mimic what browsers already do (Ie. manage file downloads)
This is not a good thing to try to do

if you try to override people's browsers,
1) you won't succeed, you will not be able to support all browsers on all platforms under all circumstances
2) even if you do, you will piss people off by doing it
3) any simple update to a browser could render your mimic worthless

I'm assuming the "open" option means download the file to a temp location and open it in some application local to the user
you cannot do this (not properly anyway)
you can't control what the user does on his machine

seriously, if you want to offer something for download, just use a simple anchor
let the user decide what they want to do with the file

Oh, ok. I wasn't aware I just had to do that.

So how do you do this?

Attempt to paste the file and link it via html? - But then It'd probably open up through the browser rather than through a dialogue box...

**Ynot** · 09-30-2008 03:32 PM

what exactly are you offering to your visitors?

**really** · 09-30-2008 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by Ynot

what exactly are you offering to your visitors?

I want to try:

Mp3s, Jpegs and Pdfs.

**ClouD** · 09-30-2008 03:35 PM

I think he just wants an automatic browser based download box to come up, but is unsure how to get one to, as opposed to file automatically opening in the browser.

**really** · 09-30-2008 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by ClouD

I think he just wants an automatic browser based download box to come up, but is unsure how to get one to, as opposed to file automatically opening in the browser.

Yep.

**Ynot** · 09-30-2008 03:45 PM

if the user wants to download it, he'll download it
if he wants to have it open in his browser via a plugin, he'll do that

trying to override what someone's browser does is futile and will only annoy them

**really** · 09-30-2008 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Ynot

if the user wants to download it, he'll download it
if he wants to have it open in his browser via a plugin, he'll do that

trying to override what someone's browser does is futile and will only annoy them

Ok, how do I offer a download?

They click a file, and a dialogue box appears. This is what I mean.

I don't see how it screws with anything.

**ninja9578** · 09-30-2008 04:06 PM

I don't think a website can do that, that would be a browser setting. Just add a line of text that says "Ctrl + Click and Press Download Linked File As..." right above the link.

**really** · 09-30-2008 04:11 PM

Ok, so I guess I just paste the file into html document and link to that?

Still not sure, but I realize how simple it is.

**arby** · 09-30-2008 07:03 PM

Link to the file on your webserver and it'll download or display automatically.

**really** · 10-01-2008 02:23 AM

HOW!!??

rofl

**ClouD** · 10-01-2008 06:27 AM

Upload the file via ftp to a server you own, then use a normal link directing to the file.

**really** · 10-01-2008 10:08 AM

Thanks everyone, I'll post again if something's not right.

;D

**dsr** · 10-02-2008 10:34 PM

To create an anchor to a file on your server, assuming your server is located at the domain name www.example.com, use the following line of HTML:

<a href="http://www.example.com/example.mp3">click here to download music illegally</a>

**really** · 10-03-2008 03:40 AM

Cheers!

Also, how do I:

1. Allow for scroll bars if images are larger than the window?
2. Fix the width of sub-windows/frames?

**ClouD** · 10-03-2008 10:12 AM

1. I think it's default auto(?)

2. Fixing a table width is as easy as slightly adjusting the html if you're using Dreamweaver.

Tables are areas for cells.
TR stands for table row, and creates rows within the table.
TD is table data, and creates cells within the row.

So you should see (in Dreamweaver's html view section - I assume they have one) something similar to this throughout the html:

HTML Code:

<table>
 <tr>
   <td>
   </td>
 </tr>
</table>

You can use width as either a set number like this:

HTML Code:

<table width="300">
 <tr>
   <td>
   </td>
 </tr>
</table>

or a percentage like this:

HTML Code:

 <table width="80&#37;">
  <tr>
    <td>
    </td>
  </tr>
 </table>

The fixed will not auto adjust in a browser if the user adjusts the size of the window.
The percentage adjusts the table to the browser window, using the value you set.

The same can be done with the TD cells in relation to the table:

HTML Code:

<td width="100%"></td>

Also alignment the same way:

HTML Code:

<td width="100%" align="left"></td>

**really** · 10-03-2008 01:09 PM

Nice! Thanks a lot.

**really** · 10-04-2008 04:59 AM

Actually, although that post is awesome, ClouD, I don't think you answered my question.

You know when you contract the window size and the content/text re-arranges? There is "fixed width" which fixes this so it doesn't move while the window is re-sized. I can only find that option so far in the templates, but not as a command/code yet.

**blade5x** · 10-06-2008 04:07 AM

You really need to start to basics.

Here's some code that will allow for scroll bars.

HTML Code:

<div style="display:block; width:500px; height:500px; overflow:scroll;">
<img src="/..." alt="" />
</div>

Any image larger than your set height and width will have a scroll bar show up. If you only want it scroll in the x/y direction, change overflow:scroll to either overflow-x:scroll or overflow-y:scroll depending on how you want it to scroll. The display:block is not really necessary since I have defined height and width, but I'm so used to throwing it in everywhere that I just put it in anyway.

It's good practice to:

A) Define width and height in some sort units, like pixels above.
B) Avoid using tables to format.
C) Link all CSS to a CSS file instead of using style="..." in the div tags like I did in the code above.

**arby** · 10-07-2008 02:41 AM

Originally Posted by blade5x

You really need to start to basics.

QFT

Goto w3schools

**really** · 10-07-2008 03:08 PM

Thanks everybody!

Nice.

**really** · 10-11-2008 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by really

You know when you contract the window size and the content/text re-arranges? There is "fixed width" which fixes this so it doesn't move while the window is re-sized. I can only find that option so far in the templates, but not as a command/code yet.

Basically, you can put all the text into a (1 col. 1 row) table, and type in a width for the table. That, on its own is "fixed", as the value.

**Man of Steel** · 10-12-2008 03:36 AM

Using a fixed-width div would accomplish the same thing, and be far less complex and use less code. Simply define the width of the div in your CSS file. W3Schools.com has all the info you need, and honestly, you're better off just messing around with it until you've got a good grasp of the different CSS dfinitions.

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