When a configuration file is used, its settings override any that have been set through environment or command line variables; some of its settings may also be overridden by entries in a command file. A configuration file also provides access to far more operational controls than can be selected with command line switches. ThmIndxrTM derives its potential for creative power and flexibility through use of its configuration and command file facilities.
A configuration file defines the overall operating mode under which ThmIndxrTM executes, as opposed to command files, which define how the program deals with a specific set of images that are incorporated into an HTML page.
The combination of configuration and command files gives the Webmaster for a site the power to define a "generic" Web page for their site that defines such things as copyright notices and the banner graphic for each page. The individual thumbnail index pages within the site are then tuned through use of a command file defined for the particular image set, allowing individual pages within the site to maintain a separate sense of identity, rather than having the entire site appear to have been stamped out by a cookie cutter process.
The sample configuration files provided here, used to generate the first sample page, and here, used to generate the second sample page, are abbreviated, uncommented ones targeted at a specific task. In contrast, the one shown below contains all of the entries that are recognized by the program, and is fully commented. Both configuration files are valid constructs; the one actually used on most occasions will fall somewhere between these two extremes.
; File name ThmIndxr.cfg ; Purpose ThmIndxr.exe program configuration file ; Written by Fred Koschara ; Created December first, 1997 ; Last modified 12/19/1997 @ 3:15 pm by wfk ; TAB spacing 8 characters ;++ ; all configuration file lines must be less than 256 characters long. ; all comment lines (beginning with ';') are ignored by the program. ; all blank lines are ignored by the program. ; all sections are optional unless otherwise specified. ; sections may occur in the file in any order. ; unknown sections are ignored. ; entries within a section may occur in any order unless otherwise specified. ; entries in each section are optional unless otherwise specified. ; any entries not specified will default to values defined in the program code. ; unknown entries in each section are ignored. ; entry names must be spelled correctly and are case sensitive. ; if multiple lines contain entries for a value's setting, only the first one ; is recognized, unless the entry is identified as "additive" where later ; occurrences add to the (string) value previously specified. ; no space is allowed before the '=' character. ; Boolean (TRUE/FALSE) values are FALSE if the specified value is 0. Any other ; value is TRUE, although 1 is used by convention. ; valid decimal numeric strings are required after the '=' for numeric entries. ; inline comments are ignored for numeric entry lines. ; string values are everything to the right of the '=' sign, except whitespace ; right of the '=' is removed up to the first nonspace character. ; the default values are shown in this distribution file for each entry, i.e., ; ThmIndxr will operate the same whether the entries, as shown, are ; included in the configuration file or not. ;-- [program] ;++ ; entries in the [program] section specify how ThmIndxr will perform. ;-- Keep=0 ; TRUE == keep existing files without prompting Overwrite=0 ; TRUE == replace existing files without asking Quiet=0 ; TRUE == suppress startup banner Verbose=1 ; TRUE == display operation information Interactive=0 ; TRUE == operate in interactive mode ; NOTE: Interactive mode is not supported in the current release. Recursive=0 ; FALSE == only process specified directory ; NOTE: Recursive mode is not supported in the current release. Verify Config Options=0 ; TRUE == verify configuration options ; if Verify Config Options is TRUE, a screen of the configuration options is ; displayed when the program starts, requiring confirmation to continue. Verify Command Options=0 ; TRUE == verify command options ; if Verify Command Options is TRUE, a screen of command file options is shown ; after each command file is read, requiring confirmation before ThmIndxr ; proceeds. this occurs at most once if Recursive mode is not set. Name Case=1 ; controls case conversion for image names ; to avoid case-sensitivity issues on Web server operating systems, ThmIndxr ; normally forces all image names to lower case. this entry can modify ; that behavior. ; Name Case entries can be one of the following: ; 0 keep existing upper/lower case status of name strings ; 1 force filenames to lower case ; 2 force filenames to upper case Banner Name Case=0 ; controls case conversion for the banner name ; banner images are generally special cases in image handling, so ThmIndxr does not do any case conversion for banner image names. this entry modifies that behavior. ; Banner Name Case entries use the same values listed as Name Case entries. Path Delimiter=0 ; TRUE == separate path components with '\' ; normally, all path components are separated by '/' in the output HTML file. ; if this switch is TRUE, '\' is used instead, which may cause some ; browsers to behave incorrectly. Thumbs In Output Path=0 ; FALSE == output directories relative to input ; by default ThmIndxr builds output directories and writes thumbnail and LOWSRC ; images relative to the input drive/directory where images are read from ; during processing. if Thumbs In Output Path is set TRUE, however, the ; output directories and files are written on the drive and relative to ; the directory specified by the HTML Output File entry. The HTML page ; generated by the program treats all images as though they are in the same ; location as the HTML page, and the only relative path information included ; is that provided with the Dir Thumbnail and Dir Lowsrc entries in the ; Command File, and in the banner image file specifications. ; this entry is of limited utility because of browser file handling issues. ; see the printed documentation for further details. Banner In Output Path=0 ; FALSE == banner location relative to input ; this entry tells ThmIndxr to treat the banner images the same way the table ; images are handled when Thumbs In Output Path is TRUE. ; this entry is of limited utility because of browser file handling issues. ; see the printed documentation for further details. Thumbnail Type=0 ; sets the file format for creating thumbnails ; Thumbnail Type may be one of the following: ; 0 (default) create both files, keep the smaller one ; 1 create JPG thumbnail images ; 2 create GIF thumbnail images Trace Level=2 ; sets the detail level written to the log file ; Trace Level values recognized are: ; 0 only record events that are always logged ; 1 record any major events that occur ; 2 (default) normal trace level ; 3 enhanced detail in event reporting ; 4 report events with sufficient detail for normal debugging ; 5 write lots of picky details to the log file ; 6 put an insane level of detail in the log file ; any values greater than 6 are considered the same as a Trace Level of 6. Command File= ; if the Command File entry specifies a valid command file, the entry causes ; ThmIndxr to process the file for the directory where the program first ; starts reading images. If the "Recursive" flag is set, ThmIndxr will ; look for command files by the same name in child directories it has ; recursed into during processing. ; if a Command File is being used, it should generally be in the same directory ; as the image files ThmIndxr is reading from. HTML Output File="out0_140.htm" ; if specified, this entry defines the HTML output page to be created for the ; first directory where ThmIndxr reads images from. If the "Recursive" ; flag is set, ThmIndxr will create output files by the same name as ; specified in this entry, in directories directly related to the input ; directory tree. ; if the HTML Output File entry does not contain a drive letter, the HTML page ; is created on the current drive where ThmIndxr is run from. ; if the HTML Output File entry does not contain a path specification, the HTML ; page is created in the current directory of the drive where it is being ; written. ; (NOTE: The default file name for the output file is built from ThmIndxr's ; version number, and is different from the one shown above.) Input Directory= ; if an Input Directory entry is not specified, ThmIndxr reads images from the ; current directory on the current drive when it is run. ; if the Input Directory entry only specifies a drive letter, ThmIndxr reads ; images from the current directory on the specified drive. ; if the Input Directory entry only specifies a directory path, ThmIndxr reads ; images from the specified directory on the current drive. Log File="log0_140.txt" ; if a Log File entry is not specified, ThmIndxr writes its log file to the ; current directory on the current drive when it is run. ; if the Log File entry only specifies a drive letter, ThmIndxr writes its log ; file to the current directory on the specified drive. ; if the Log File entry only specifies a directory path, ThmIndxr writes its ; log file to the specified directory on the current drive. ; to prevent ThmIndxr from creating a log file, use a Log File entry with no ; string value specified, e.g., ; Log File= ; (NOTE: The default file name for the output file is built from ThmIndxr's ; version number, and is different from the one shown above.) [command] ;++ ; entries in the [command] section redefine the default settings for data items ; output to the HTML page ThmIndxr creates. Settings in this section are ; overridden by entries in a Command File, if used, except for entries ; identified as "additive" where these entries provide the root value. ; see the sample ThmIndxr.CMD file for more information about these entries. ;-- Have Thumbnails=0 ; TRUE == thumbnails exist, don't reread images Dir Thumbnail=thumbs Dir Lowsrc=lowsrc Copyright Owner= Remote Name= Head Copyright= ; this is an "additive" entry - additional Head Copyright entries found in the ; command file add to the existing string, rather than replacing it. Tail Copyright= ; this is an "additive" entry - additional Tail Copyright entries found in the ; command file add to the existing string, rather than replacing it. Show Path in HTML=0 ; TRUE == display input directory path in HTML Path Marker= Background Image= Banner Name= Banner Width=0 ; width of the banner image, in pixels Banner Height=0 ; height of the banner image, in pixels Banner Lowsrc= Banner Alt String= Name Sort=0 ; controls sort ordering of images in output Subdirectory Position=0 ; controls positioning of subdirectory icons Table Border=0 ; width, in pixels, of the HTML table BORDER Cell Padding=0 ; CELL PADDING value for the HTML table Cell Spacing=30 ; CELL SPACING value for the HTML table Image Border=0 ; width, in pixels, of the BORDER around images Max Images Per Line=5 ; number of images in one table row Max Thumbnail Height=120 ; thumb. height if images are taller than wide Max Thumbnail Width=100 ; thumbnail width if images are wider than tall Show File Name=1 ; TRUE == show filename below thumb. in table Show File Size=1 ; TRUE == show file size below thumb. in table Show Dimensions=1 ; TRUE == show image dimensions below thumbnail MailTo= MailTo Name= Parent URL= Parent Page= Background Red=-1 ; red component for the HTML background color Background Green=-1 ; green component for the HTML background color Background Blue=-1 ; blue component for the HTML background color Text Red=-1 ; red component for the HTML text color Text Green=-1 ; green component for the HTML text color Text Blue=-1 ; blue component for the HTML text color Link Red=-1 ; red component for the HTML link color Link Green=-1 ; green component for the HTML link color Link Blue=-1 ; blue component for the HTML link color Visited Link Red=-1 ; red component of the HTML visited link color Visited Link Green=-1 ; green component of the HTML visited link color Visited Link Blue=-1 ; blue component of the HTML visited link color Description= Keywords= [modules] ;++ ; this section is currently included for informational purposes only; entries ; in this section have no effect on the operation of the current release. ; entries in the [modules] section specify the image types and associated file ; name extensions ThmIndxr can support. ; entries in the [modules] section are named consecutively "Image Type n" where ; "n" is a decimal number that starts with 0 and increments by 1 for each ; entry. entry recognition stops when an interruption in the entry count ; is found. ;-- Image Type 0=JPG,thumbJPG.dll Image Type 1=GIF,thumbGIF.dll [colors] ;++ ; entries in the [colors] section are ignored unless an "Interactive=1" setting ; is present in the [program] section to operate in interactive mode. ;-- Menu Title=7 Prompt=143 Prompt Name=15 Help Message=14 Menu Background=12 Main Menu=2 Main Menu Highlight=15 Query Menu=13 Query Menu Highlight=14 Editfield Delimiters=7 Editfield Fixed=2 Editfield Begin=2 Editfield Empty=112 Editfield Modified=14 Error Border=121 Error Accent=126 Error Text=116 Error Highlight=127 Prompt Box Border=10 Prompt Box Accent=143 Prompt Box Text=14 Prompt Box Highlight=3
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