The web pages you see when using Greenstone are not pre-stored but are generated 'on the fly' as they are needed. Format commands are used to change the appearance of these generated pages. They affect such things as where buttons appear when a document is shown, and what
links are displayed by the DateList classifier. Format commands are not easy
to develop, and you should read Chapter 2 of the Greenstone Developer's Guide.
This section discusses the format settings, and how the Librarian Interface
gives access to them. Under "Design Sections", click "Format Features".
You can apply a format command to anything in the "Choose Feature" pull-down
list, which includes each classifier and a predefined list of features. When
you select a feature, there are two types of control. Some features are simply
enabled or disabled, and this is controlled by a checkbox. Others require a
format string to be specified. For these there is a pull-down list ("Affected
Component") for selecting which part of the feature the string applies to
(if necessary), a text area ("HTML Format String") for entering the string,
and a selection of predefined "Variables". To insert a variable into the
current position in the format string, select it from the pull-down list and
click "Insert".
You can specify a default format for a particular component by selecting the
blank feature. This format is then applied to all applicable features unless
otherwise specified.
To add a new format command, fill out the information as explained above and
click "Add Format". The new format command appears in the list of "Currently
Assigned Format Commands". Only one format command can be assigned to each
feature/component combination.
To remove a format command, select it from the list and click "Remove Format".
To change a format command, select it from the list, modify the settings, and
click "Replace Format".
For more information about variables and the feature components, read Chapter 2
of the Greenstone Developer's Guide.
If the "Allow Extended Options" checkbox is ticked, some advanced formatting options are enabled. The list of features that can be formatted is changed slightly, and more variables are available to be used in the format command, providing greater control over the page layout.
