Frameset Directory Structure

The structure of the frameset template directories mirror the structure of the page and web template directories. Each frameset template has a TEM extension, and contains an INF file and an HTML file. The INF file contains a special “layout” key that fully specifies the frameset structure:

[info]
title=name of frameset as it will appear in the New Page dialog
description=long description of the purpose of the frameset
layout=specification of frameset structure using compact notation

The layout string displays a miniature preview of the frameset alongside the frameset title and description strings in the New Page dialog box. The following is a sample frameset layout specification:

layout=[R(15%,85%)F("banner",[C(35%,65%)F("contents","main")])]

Framesets can be nested-framesets within framesets. Each frameset is surrounded by square brackets as in the previous example. Inside the frameset are row or column specifications followed by a list of frames. The following terms describe the parameters within a frameset:

RRow specification

FFrame list

CColumn specification

Following an R or C, is a list of row or column sizes in parentheses separated by commas. Each entry is expressed as a percentage of the total available height. The frame list is also followed by a list of the names of each frame contained in double quotes or another full frameset specification (inside square brackets) separated by commas.

The frameset shown previously consists of two rows-a short one at 15% of the window height and a long one at 85% of the height. A frameset called “banner” is assigned to the short row. The long row contains another frameset that is divided into two columns of 1/3 and 2/3 of the window width. This interior frameset is composed of two inner frames, the left one is assigned the “Contents” and the right one is assigned the “Main” information.