Macromedia's Tree Menu Smart Clip

[Mark Landale]

Hi Flashers!

 

I recently downloaded Macromedia's own menu smart clip (named MM Tree Menu) from the Flash exchange to assist me in my study of flash. I installed the clip into flash, and the sample that is automatically placed in a new folder in the root directory for Flash on my hard drive, works fine, exactly like the flash menu implementation on the various Macromedia pages. There is also a useful .pdf document that comes with the download (something that would be really useful with every extension!).

 

However, the accompanying .xml file (named modfurniture.xml for whatever reason!) which the flash menu depends on to function, appears to have some buggy code, as when I try to open this file I receive the following error, copied and pasted below from Internet explorer, returned whenever I try to open the .xml file.

 

Anyone know what the problem is, and what the code should really read? I guess Macromedia staff should really have the explanation, or at least know about this, but maybe some of the experts out there can see what is going on anyway?

 

Any assistance appreciated as always

Mark L

 

IE 5.5 Error Report:   

" The XML page cannot be displayed Cannot view XML input using XSL style sheet. Please correct the error and then click the Refresh button, or try again later. " A semi colon character was expected. Line 26, Position 64

       <SUB URL="http://www.design70.com/?page=db/show1&context=products&id=42" target="_blank">
------------------------------------------------------------^

Actual code of XML document opened manually in Homesite:

<TREE mainTextColor="#0000ff" subTextColor="#666666" lineWidth="150" fadeTime="300" main_y_space="4" sub_y_space="2" sub_x_space="10">
  <NAVS>
   <NAV>
    <MAIN>
       <TEXT>Seating</TEXT>
    </MAIN>
    <SUBS>
       <SUB URL="http://www.r20thcentury.com/item.cfm?item_id=758" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Archizoom Superonda</TEXT>
          <TEXT>settee, black vinyl</TEXT>
       </SUB>
       <SUB URL="http://www.formandfunctiondesign.com/pages/furniture/e192furn.html" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Ribbon chair, by Pierre Paulin</TEXT>
       </SUB>
    </SUBS>
   </NAV>
   <NAV>
    <MAIN expand="true">
       <TEXT>Lighting</TEXT>
    </MAIN>
    <SUBS>
       <SUB URL="http://www.simplymod.com/images/GAELMP.JPG" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Pileino Table Lamp</TEXT>
          <TEXT>by Gae Aulenti</TEXT>
       </SUB>
       <SUB URL="http://www.design70.com/?page=db/show1&context=products&id=42" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Nesso lamp, orange</TEXT>
       </SUB>
    </SUBS>
   </NAV>
   <NAV>
    <MAIN>
       <TEXT>Storage</TEXT>
    </MAIN>
    <SUBS>
       <SUB URL="http://www.centurydesignltd.com/media/f377lrg.jpg" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>DF2000 credenza</TEXT>
          <TEXT>by Raymond Loewy</TEXT>
       </SUB>
       <SUB URL="http://www.icon20.com/auction/item_desc2.cfm?itemNumber=500625" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Boomerang desk</TEXT>
          <TEXT>by Maurice Calka</TEXT>
       </SUB>
    </SUBS>
   </NAV>
   <NAV>
    <MAIN URL="http://www.emodernhomes.com" target="_blank" >
       <TEXT>Modern Homes</TEXT>
       <TEXT>for sale and rent</TEXT>
    </MAIN>
   </NAV>
   <NAV>
    <MAIN>
       <TEXT>Auctions</TEXT>
    </MAIN>
    <SUBS>
       <SUB URL="http://www.treadwaygallery.com" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Treadway Gallery</TEXT>
       </SUB>
       <SUB URL="http://www.wright20.com" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Wright 20th Century</TEXT>
       </SUB>
       <SUB URL="http://www.lamodern.com" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>LA Modern Auctions</TEXT>
       </SUB>
       <SUB URL="http://www.ragoarts.com" target="_blank">
          <TEXT>Rago Arts</TEXT>
       </SUB>
    </SUBS>
   </NAV>
  </NAVS>
</TREE>

I am new to XML, so really don't know what the problem is or what the code should be.

The sample SWF of the menu seems to work fine, I just can't open the XML file without doing it manually as above. Apologies for the length of this post!

[Alden Kroll]

The problem you are experiencing is due to the fact that you are trying to open it in Internet Explorer.  If you want to edit the file, you will need to open it in wordpad (not Notepad) or a similar text editing program.  Dreamweaver works as well.

 

The problem is, Internet Explorer does not have the proper XML interpreting built into it and thus is not able to display the XML file. Basically, there isn't anything that tells IE how to display the data and if it were to display the data, it would be as just a long list of words.  IE 6.0 does not have support for XML either, so dont expect any changes when it is on the market.

 

Hope this has helped,

--
Alden Kroll
Creative Concepts - Graphic Design
(206) 932-8884 | create_...@hotmail.com

[Mark Landale]

Hi Alden

Thanks for the help & advice. I think what led me to believe that I could
just click the file and it would open in IE, is that this worked fine in a
couple of xml files that came with a different smart clip from the
exchange - XFactorStudio TreeNav by Neeld Tanksley. This is a very similar
clip and menu to the MM version, with 2 accompanying xml files, which when
clicked open directly in IE no problem. Perhaps Neeld has customised these
xml files in some way?!

regards
Mark L

[Alden Kroll]

Yeah, to be quite correct, those files were cusomised, but then that is the
absolute nature of the XML nature. If you take a look at the fundamentals
of XML, it was designed so that programmers can create their own structure,
tags and formatting without having to rely on the strict limitations of HTML
and other structured SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language).
If you look at the way the XML files are stuctured with the Macromedia tree
menu and the XFactor tree menu, you will see that they are very different.
With the Macromedia XML file you see that the data to be read by the Flash
file is placed between two "Tags", Whereas the XFactor XML file contains the
data in the tag its self. There is a lot to learn with XML, expecially for
a designer who may have limited programming background (Such as myself). If
you want to know more, there are some great books out there just waiting to
be read.

Anyway, you should be able to open the files right up in wordpad and edit
them.
Good luck

Alden