Platinum Edition Using HTML 4, XML, and Java 1.2
(Publisher: Macmillan Computer Publishing)
Author(s): Eric Ladd
ISBN: 078971759x
Publication Date: 11/01/98

To start the Channel Definition Wizard, go to the FrontPage Explorer and open up your Web page, if you don’t have it open already. Then choose Tools, Define Channel to launch the wizard. The first option is the choice between creating a new channel or editing an existing CDF file (see Figure 17.4). Because this is probably your first stab at making your own channel, choose the option for creating a new channel and then click the Next button.

FIGURE 17.4  The FrontPage Channel Definition Wizard can build a CDF file from scratch or help you edit an existing one.

The first step in creating a new channel is to set up the basic channel parameters, including its <TITLE>, <ABSTRACT>, and <LOGO/> information, as well as its Introduction Page (corresponding to the HREF attribute in the <CHANNEL> element). Figure 17.5 shows the Channel Definition Wizard dialog box that collects this information from you. Note that you can specify both a logo and an icon image for the channel. When you have all your channel parameters set up, click the Next button to continue.

FIGURE 17.5  The Channel Definition Wizard first collects basic channel information.

With the channel created, you now need to place items into it. The first step for this is to tell the wizard which folder it should look in to find the items. The dialog box in Figure 17.6 enables you to browse to whichever folder you want to use for the source of your content. Be sure to check the Include Subfolders box if you want to use content in subfolders for the channel.

Now that FrontPage knows where your channel content is, it prepares a list of all the files in that folder and presents them to you as items to appear in the channel (see Figure 17.7). You aren’t obliged to place all the contents of a folder into a channel—only the pages you want. The Channel Definition Wizard enables you to remove any of the displayed files from the list by highlighting the file and clicking the Exclude button. If you accidentally remove a file that you want on the channel, you can click the Restore button to put things back the way they were when the dialog box first popped up. After you’re happy with your list of channel items, you can click the Next button to begin setting up parameters for each item.

FIGURE 17.6  After FrontPage knows where you want to draw content from, it can create a list of potential channel items.

FIGURE 17.7  You can pick and choose which files should become items in your channel.

Each item in your channel has its own set of properties that you can configure in the next Channel Definition Wizard dialog box (see Figure 17.8). You can give each item an <ABSTRACT>, specify its <USAGE>, and say whether to use page caching. If for some reason you want to remove a file from the list of channel items, you can do that by clicking the Delete button. After you have properties set up for each item you’re placing in the channel, click the Next button.

FIGURE 17.8  You can assign properties for each channel item, including whether it should be a regular channel component, an Active Desktop Component, or a screen saver.

The next task in creating your channel is to set up the update schedule. Figure 17.9 shows you the Channel Definition Wizard’s interface for specifying your schedule. You can choose the range of dates over which updates should occur and how frequently updates should be done during that time period. You can also specify that update checks be delayed during peak server usage times so that your server isn’t overwhelmed with requests. With an update schedule configured to your satisfaction, you can click the Next button to continue.

	It’s best to specify that updates occur when the load on your server is typically the lowest.

FIGURE 17.9  Channel update schedule information tells a browser when it should come back and check for new content.

Log files help you examine how channel subscribers are using the content on your channel. You can specify a URL that the channel log file is sent to by using the dialog box shown in Figure 17.10. When using a FrontPage Web, you’ll want to direct the log file to a URL that has a form handler behind it so it can store the log information in your Web for analysis at a later time. The dialog box in Figure 17.10 enables you to browse right to the URL to which log files should be sent. After you have the URL specified, click the Next button to move on to the last step.

FIGURE 17.10  CDF-compliant browsers send channel log information back to your server, enabling you to document subscriber behavior.

At this point, the Channel Definition Wizard is all set to write your CDF file for you. All you need to do is tell the wizard where to put the file and what to name it (see Figure 17.11). Additionally, you can instruct the wizard to place a button that links to the channel on your Web’s main page. If you’re publishing the channel to a remote server, you can give the server’s URL, and the wizard modifies the CDF code to reflect the new publishing target. With your last few parameters in place, click the Save button to save the CDF file.

FIGURE 17.11  The last step in creating a channel is to tell the wizard where to save the CDF file.

Because Microsoft created CDF, it’s not a big shock that it was the first company to produce an automated tool for authoring a CDF file. As CDF moves toward becoming a standard, you should look for other Web authoring tools to include support for CDF files, as well.