AutoLayers by PVII
AutoLayers by PVII is a perfect solution for Showing and Hiding layers in a DHTML menu system and significantly reduces the number of steps that would be necessary with the standard Dreamweaver Show-Hide layer behavior. Of course, autoLayers is not limited to producing menus and can be applied anywhere you want to show a layer.
Download the AutoLayers by PVII extension
AutoLayers by PVII allows you to select a layer or series of layers to become visible. Each layer that has been run by autoLayers will be remembered. The next time autoLayers is run, all of the layers that were previously made visible will now become hidden, and only the layer(s) selected to show in this instance will remain visible. In essence, think of autoLayers as running a Show-Hide behavior to show the selected layer and hiding all of the other layers at the same time.
There are cases when we want to hide all of the layers that were previously shown, like when we mouse off a menu button. AutoLayers makes this very easy, since all we have to do is apply an "empty" instance of AutoLayers... telling AutoLayers to show nothing also means that it will hide every other layer!
1. Opening AutoLayers
AutoLayers can be applied to any image or text link on the page. It can also be placed on other tags that fire events, such as BODY onLoad. Click on the link or tag and then click the Plus Sign on the Behaviors Panel. Select Studio VII - autoLayers by PVII to open the autoLayers interface.
Note: AutoLayers will be "greyed" out and un-selectable if there are no layers on the page.
2. The Interface
The Auto Layers interface is designed for efficient and expeditious use.
Set Layers:
The Set Layers box lists all of the layers that are on the page. The layers that are marked "Show" will be the layers that will remain visible when autoLayers is run.
Note: The listing reflects all of the layers on the page, but only the layers that were previously run by autoLayers (on other events) will become hidden... not all of the layers on the page.
Show Layer:
Select one of the listed layers and then click the Show Layer button. The layer name will now have a "Show" next to it. This layer will remain visible when autoLayers is run. You can set as more than one layers as you like to Show.
De-Select Layer:
This will allow you to remove a layer that is set to "Show". Click the De-Select button and the layer will not be visible when autoLayers is run.
Set to Use:
There are times when you may not want all of the layers to hide, you may want just one or two to remain visible, or you may want two or more completely independent show/hide systems.
AutoLayers allows you to use any of ten separate "layer sets". For most purposes, leave this as Set One, the default setting. To show a second group of layers without affecting the visibility of the first group of layers apply AutoLayers to the second group with a Set Two setting. In this way we can handle show/hides of either group without affecting the other group.
Note: You can use the same layer in more than one group to make for some interesting effects.
3. Applying the Behavior
Click OK to apply the behavior
The javascript code will be placed on the page and the function call, with all of the selected AutoLayer Events, will be placed on the tag. If an error occurs you will see a descriptive error message. Correct the error and click OK again.
Select the proper Event
Select the event that will be used to "fire" the script in the Behaviors Panel. Click the Events down arrow to see the listing of events applicable to the tag. When applying to an image, be sure to select the parenthetical (onMouseOver), (onMouseOut) or (onClick) to assure that the event will be placed on the <a> tag.
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