4.0 : Adding value to the HTML generated

A fledgling FAQ for JafSoft text conversion utilities

The latest version of these files is available online at http://www.jafsoft.com/doco/docindex.html

4.0 Adding value to the HTML generated

4.1 Adding Title and Description and Keyword META tags

There are policies that allow Title, Description and keywords to be added to your pages.

The title will default to "Converted from "<filename>"", but a number of policies allow the title to be made to adopt the first section title, or any text that you provide.

Alternatively you can use preprocessor commands embedded in the source file as follows

        $_$_TITLE This is my lovely HTML page
        $_$_DESCRIPTION This page was converted from text
        $_$_DESCRIPTION and this description was added using preprocessor
        $_$_DESCRIPTION commands
        $_$_KEYWORDS Converted, from, text

This approach is in many ways simpler, as it avoids the need for policy files, and keeps all your source in one file.

4.2 Adding other META tags

The program doesn't have a mechanism to explicitly add other META tags, however you can still achieve this by using the "script file" feature that allows text to be copied into the <HEAD> section of the document.

You can also use the HEAD_SCRIPT "HTML fragment" in the same way. See "customizing the HTML created by the software".

Originally indented as a way of adding JavaScript to a document, in fact you can place anything you like in such a sections, including <META> tags. In fact the "script" file need not contain any JavaScript at all, so in that respect it is mis-named.

See "Adding JavaScript"

4.3 Adding Headers and Footers

The software will allow you to add headers and footers to each file generated. You can do this either through policies or by defining some "HTML fragments" The "HTML fragments" method is preferred. If both policies and fragments are defined then the fragments will be used.

You can define the "HTML fragments" HTML_HEADER and HTML_FOOTER (see "customizing the HTML created by the software").

Alternatively, use the policies concerned are

HTML header file : c:\include\header.inc

HTML footer file : c:\include\footer.inc

The value is the name of the file to be used (you must supply a full or relative path so that the file may be located).

Whether defined by file or as a "HTML fragment", these fragments will be copied into each HTML page generated after the <BODY> tag and before the </BODY> tag respectively.

If a large file is being split into many smaller HTML files these headers and footers will be copied into every HTML generated. This is different to using an $_$_INCLUDE statement, which only gets executed once.

These files can be useful to add a standard title in the header, and links to other parts of the site (home, contacts etc) in the footer of whatever.

4.4 Adding Javascript

There's a limit to how you can add JavaScript to a page generated from text. That said the program will allow you to embed javascript (or indeed anything else, such as META tags) into the <HEAD>...</HEAD> section of the document. This is the recommended location for including JavaScript as this ensures it is all read before anything is drawn.

You can specify the "script" code to be copied either by defining a HEAD_SCRIPT "HTML fragment" (see "customizing the HTML created by the software"), or by using the policy

HTML script file : ..\scripts\myscript.js

This should point to a file that contains all the scripting required. The program will simply copy this text into the header of each HTML page generated.

Using the HEAD_SCRIPT fragment has the advantage that you can place the necessary text into your source file, which avoids the need to manage individual policy files and script files. This would be done as follows

      $_$_DEFINE_HTML_FRAGMENT HEAD_SCRIPT
      ..
      <META> tags and any <SCRIPT>...</SCRIPT> block
      ..
      $_$_END_BLOCK

See the "Tag Manual" for more about using "HTML fragments".

NOTE:: For the JavaScript to have an effect, you may need to embed further HTML into the body of the source text.

See "how do I add my own HTML to the file?".

4.5 Adding colour/color

A number of policies allow you to choose your document colours. These can be found under the Windows menu

Conversion Options -> Output policies -> Document colours

and

Conversion Options -> Output policies -> Tables

All colours should be specified in HTML format, i.e. as 6-character hex values in the form rrbbgg. A few colours like "Red", "White" and "Black" may be entered by name. Wherever possible the program will use the name so as to make the HTML more understandable.

If you don't want any colours added to your HTML (not even the default white background) you can use the policy Suppress all colour markup.

For a full list of colour policies, see the "Policy Manual".

4.6 Adding images to the HTML

See "how do I add my own HTML to the file?" which includes an example which is used to add an image to HTML version of this document.

4.7 Adding hyperlinks to keywords and phrases

Use the "Link Dictionary".

4.8 Splitting large documents into sections

The program can only split into files at headings it recognizes. So first you need to check that the program is correctly determining where your headings are, and what type they are. See "how does the program recognize headings?"

Once the headings are begin correctly diagnosed, you can switch on file splitting using the policies under

Conversion Options -> output policies -> file generation

Note that the "split level" is set to 1 to split at "chapter" headings, 2 to split at "chapter and major section" headings etc.

Underlined headings tend to start at level 2, depending on the underline character (see "How do I control the header level of underlined headings?")).

Hopefully this will give you some pointers, but if you still can't get it to work, please mail me a copy of the source file (and any policy file you're using) and I'll see what I can advise.

4.9 Customizing the HTML created by the software

From version 4 onwards AscToHTM will allow you do define "HTML fragments" that can be used in place of the standard HTML generated by the program in certain situations.

These fragments can be placed in a separate file, which is pointed to by the policy "HTML fragments file", or can be included in the source file itself. For example the fragment

      $_$_DEFINE_HTML_FRAGMENT HTML_HEADER
      <CENTER><H1>Head of each page</H1></CENTRE>
      <HT>
      $_$_END_BLOCK

defines a centred header and a horizontal ruler that will be placed at the top of each page. This could include a navigational link to your home page, and would be useful when splitting a large document into smaller pages - you'd get the same header on each page.

See the "HTML fragments" chapter in the "Tag Manual" for more details.

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