File/Directory structure.
Each WebPoint project should have a standard file/directory structure.
The standard Directory structure should be as follows -:
Main Project folder
- Images (All interface images)
- Library (All library files. i.e. navigation.inc)
- JavaScript (all JavaScript files)
- Messages (all messages files)
- Navigation (all files regarding navigation)
- Pages (all page content)
- Scripts (all individual or reusable scripts)
- Styles (style sheet files)
- Templates (all templates)
There are also several common files that should be within the directory structure and are required to adhere to the standard style of development. These include the following files -:
Settings.ini
Should hold the following details
Paths - All path information including the project base path and paths to librarys and other directory locations used by the project.
Default database details.
Project name.
Admin Email Address.
Project Manager Email Address.
Return Email Address.
Setup.ips (optional)
This is a base setup file, commonly used in conjunction with the standard form of navigation to specify setup,
submit and cleanup scripts and to initiate there loading.
Cleanup.ips (optional)
Primarily used to run at the end of each page to clean up variable used to free up memory and ensure a quality application.
Main.ips
This is the heart and soul of each application, primarily this page specifies the template to be loaded and assigns the page to be loaded with in the template.
Body.html
The base template used for all pages within the project
Navigation.html
This is the standard navigation file. This file is usually named navigation.html but can be named anything really,
depending on if the project requires multiple forms of navigation.
Typically this is a standard HTML file with several WebPoint script section specifying if statements that determine if buttons should be shown or not within a specific page.
Buttons.xml
This xml file holds the actual form segments for each button,
they are dynamically retrieved via the navigation file when needed.
Base.css
The standard style sheet file for all projects,
typically hold the css details for the standard internal project look and feel.
Intouch.css
This is the standard style sheet file for all projects,
typically this holds css details for the standard external look and feel of the project.
If this is a client site this file may not be present as it may be replaced with a file named after the client. i.e. <clientname>.css
Header.html and footer html
These are the standard header and footer pages for all projects.
Typically the header file holds the html and body tags and links to the relevant style sheets and any needed javascripts.
The footer.html file typically holds the closing tags for the body and html tags.
<clientname> header and footer
These are the look and feel header and footer files for the project.
They could have any prefix depending on if the project has more than one access area.
i.e. admin interface and public interface.
The only real standard is the filename will end with header.html or footer.html
Pages.txt
This file holds all the paths to each page as pages are typically referred to by a single name and not a path,
partially as a security measure as page paths are not being passed via the URL,
and as an implementation for flexibility as it allows for a new page to be created and only the entry in the pages file to be changed instead of multiple pieces of code needing to be altered.
Messages.xml
This file hold many standard messages, such as error messages, page heading messages, or any other messages with pages that may need to be easily altered at a later date.
Example of a Populated Directory structure
With the before mentioned files included, the typical project structure should look at follows,
pages are marked in green and folders in blue.
Project folder
- Images
- Library
- Navigation.inc
- Toolbox.inc
- JavaScript
- Messages
- Navigation
- Navigation.html
- Buttons.xml
- Pages
- Scripts
- Styles
- Templates
- header.html
- footer.html
- header.html
- footer.html
- cleanup.ips
- body.html
- main.ips
- settings.ini
- setup.ips
- submit.ips
Diagram of the Anatomy of a WebPoint Page
Main template body.html
(Contains calls to setup.ips and cleanup.ips scripts, cleanup scripts are typically called at the end of the document so they are called after the header files and page content have been included).
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Standard Header
(Contains opening html and body tags, header data, meta data, css documents and any included JavaScript files)
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Look and Feel Header
(Contains look and feel document header and page navigation)
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Page main body
(Contains main page data, included ips scripts and text to form page content)
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Look and Feel Footer
(Contains and look and feel data)
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Standard Footer
(Contains closing html and body tags)
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Standard Navigation Model
The standard way to address navigation within a WebPoint project is to use form submission.
Where every menu option within a menu/ navigation segment is a separate html form button object with a type of submit and the name of the specific button.
Typically each page is held in a directory with the same name as the page, under the pages folder within the standard folder structure (see above).
Each page within a project contains its own setup.ips, submit.ips and cleanup.ips scripts within a directory of the same name as the page.
This is to make it easier to find how a page is handled within a large project with many pages.
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