NetCloak 3.1 User's Guide: Macros

	Version 3.1 User's Guide

Macros	Previous \| Next Contents

A macro is a block of text or HTML that is defined in a single place which may then be used repeatedly in any of your cloaked documents. This gives you the ability to create a section of HTML text once and then use it on many different pages on your server. Changing the macro will change the text that is inserted everywhere the macro is used.

For example, many organizations put the same header and footer information on every page of their site. This helps to maintain a consistent look and feel and to make sure that navigational links to the home page, help, or other pages of interest are always available. Using macros, the header and footer can be defined once in a single place and then used on all pages. This makes it easier to create new pages and makes updating the header and footer quick and easy.

Macros can contain other macros, or can be used to include entire files inside of an HTML page.

There are two steps in using macros: defining the macros and then using them in your documents. Neither step is complicated.

Defining Macros

Begin by creating a file called NetCloak.macros in the NetCloak Files folder. This will be a standard text file, so use a text editor of your choice. Even SimpleText will do.

Once the file is open, make sure it is blank and you are ready to create a macro. Use the command <BEGIN_MACRO macroName> to start each macro, where macroName is the name of your macro. For example, if you want to create a standard header for your documents, you might start your macro with

<BEGIN_MACRO Header>

Next, enter the HTML text you would like to be inserted when the macro is processed. You may enter as much or as little text as you like. When your macro is complete, end it with the <END_MACRO > command.

An example should make this clear:

<BEGIN_MACRO NavigationLinks>
<HR>
<A HREF="http://192.1.2.3/Home.html">
Go To Our Home Page</A>
<A HREF="http://192.1.2.3/Help.html">
Get Help</A>
<HR>
<END_MACRO>

Whenever a cloaked document invokes the "NavigationLinks" macro, the text between the BEGIN_MACRO and END_MACRO commands will be inserted.

The NetCloak.macros file may contain as many macros as you like, but the total size of the file must be less than 64k.

Using Macros

Any cloaked document can use any macro defined in your NetCloak.macros file. Wherever you want to use a macro, simply use the command <MACRO name> , where "name" is the name of the macro. For example, to use the macro defined above, the cloaked document might end with this HTML text:

Thank You for visiting our WEB SITE!
<MACRO NavigationLinks>

At the bottom of this page, the links to the home page and to the help system would be displayed, just as if they had been put directly into the document.

The macro command can also be used to include entire files, in addition to HTML snippets defined in the NetCloak.macros file. In place of the macro name, simply specify a file name, including the path, where appropriate. For example:

The file "Extra.html" looks like this:
<P>
<MACRO Extra.html>

In this case, the entire file Extra.html will be inserted into the page.

Inserting entire files can be useful when you don't have enough space for a large macro in the NetCloak.macros file (the entire file is limited to 64k) or when the file being inserted is generated by some other application.

The macro command will insert files located in the root folder hierarchy. If you would like to insert a file outside the root folder, make a Finder alias to the file and place the alias in the root folder or another folder contained within the root folder.

Note that if the Security setting 'Prohibit file macros' is enabled, you cannot use the MACRO command to insert the contents of files into your cloaked pages. See the section entitled "Security" for more information.

Changing Macros

Like NetCloak aliased documents, the macro file is loaded into RAM when NetCloak is started and must be reloaded whenever you make a change. If you add or change a macro, you must have NetCloak reload all the macros. You can quit your web server and restart it, but there are additional methods that are simpler.

Click the Reload Documents link in the HTML page of the Web administration interface.

2. Send the reload command from a web browser using the URL:

http://your.server.com/RELOAD.nclk

The RELOAD command URL must be used with a suffix that is mapped to NetCloak– .nclk will always work if your server has the NetCloak plug-in installed. The suffix is ignored, so any suffix that is mapped to NetCloak will work regardless of whether your server is using the plug-in or CGI version of NetCloak.

Choose Reload Documents from the File menu of the NetCloak CGI application. (This option is only available if you are using the NetCloak CGI.)

Click the Reload Documents button in the HTML tab of the Configuration window of the NetCloak CGI application. (This option is also only available in the CGI.)

You will note that the Reload command is the same one necessary to reload aliased documents cached in RAM. When you use Reload, both aliased documents and macros will be reloaded.


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