Details - Web 2.0 & AJAX :: Layout Restrictions

After much frustration with something that seemed to work and then stopped working and getting bahaviors, where after I added a css menu in a panel, the links started coming out as index.php?Content__state=AboutUs&Menu__state=, I think I figured out some restrictions I would like to confirm with you.

I was attempting to convert a site to an Ajax layout. I wanted to see if I could have a page with one panel and the rest just static div tag content. (Next I was going to see if I could use tables with one div in a cell as a panel). 

I copied the layout code from the "Using Ajax Panels" tutorial. I deleted the nugget div. I made the header and footer div's static content. I made the left and main content div's panels. The layout went as follows:

<div>
<div> Static Content </div>
<div> {panel} </div>
<div> {panel} </div>
<div> Static Content </div>
</div>

It all seemed to work at first. I made only the content states and manually entered the url and it worked fine. Then I made the menu div a panel and added a css menu.

Now all of a sudden I got index.php?Content__state=AboutUs&Menu__state= links and the main content panel would not change content.

When I finally gave up fixing it, I started the "Using Ajax Panels" tutorial from scratch. I deviated from the instructions, however and made the main content panel with the first three states first so I could test the file's ajax behavior along the way. I noticed that as soon as I made my first panel with only the default div structure in the page, it automatically made every div in the wrapper a panel even though there was no file for it yet.

The panel shows up, but the state cannot be edited until I add the panel. I added the menu panel and put in the css menu and it works perfectly.

Can you clarify the design restrictions?

• Does every div have to be a panel?
  
• Can I make a page with static content (like a template, but not using templates since ajax uses them and the user stays on the index page anyway) and have one ajax panel that contains the needed ajax links at all times?
• Can I use tables for the page layout in any way (i.e. with only one ajax panel in a table cell, or is there a certain way I can design it to allow tables as a layout tool)?
• Is the div/panel/panel/div structure the problem -- causing it to think there is more then one main panel or have I got something else wrong?
• Has anyone found any tricks for converting existing sites to MX Ajax sites?

Thanks for any input I can get. As I start to use this tool with a wider range of creative layouts, I'd like to get a good feel (or perhaps a list) of the restrictions the extension requires to cut down on the amount of trial and error. I've been pondering how I can make a floating layout that adjusts to the screen resolution while using this extension or whether any other dhtml designs I have used will interfere with the extension.

Still loving this new tool,

Steven

Well that is strange...

I completed developing the file I spoke of at the end of the post above without ever adding the two panels who's php code was inserted automatically after following the beginning of the tutorial "Using Ajax Panels" as a guide.

Since it wasn't being used, I deleted the code for the panels that never got added:

// Begin panel - Footer
$panel_Footer = & $ctrl->createPanel("Footer");
$panel_Footer->setStyle("");
$panel_Footer->setUpdateEffect("");
$panel_Footer->addState("", "content/footer.php", "", "", "");
// End panel - Footer

// Begin panel - Header
$panel_Header = & $ctrl->createPanel("Header");
$panel_Header->setStyle("");
$panel_Header->setUpdateEffect("");
$panel_Header->addState("", "content/header.php", "", "", "");
// End panel - Header

So now I have what I set out for in the first place which is a page with the layout of 

<div>
<div> Static Content </div>
<div> {panel} </div>
<div> {panel} </div>
<div> Static Content </div>
</div>

The code appears the same in every way I can see. I still would like to get a better handle on the layout restrictions of the MX Ajax extension.

I wonder if there might be a bug. In the first page I attempted before the first post, I did check the main panel checkbox on the menu panel by mistake. I removed the check from that server behavior, and the main panel checkbox was applied to my Main_Content panel. I think that was when the &Menu__state= started getting in the links, but I could not find the source of the rewrite in any of the code. It looked just like a page derived from the wizard that worked.

I think the answer is... Never mind. I believe my extension didn't install properly.

For some reason, the straight tutorials seemed to be ok (for a while) but I had odd behavior on any deviation from the tutorial including odd characters inserted into the text, and disappearing ajax panels. Then it happened on a tutorial project as I spent many hours trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.

I uninstalled and reinstalled version 1.1 of the extension, and everything is fine. I just converted a table layout page to use ajax without any problem.

If there are identified layout restrictions not in the documentation other than ajax links have to be in an ajax panel, I'd love to know what they are. My concerns from the previous posts, however, appear to have been from a bad install.

Thanx,
Steven