Web Objects

EMuWeb Objects is a collection of high-level self-managing web components. Components in the Web Objects toolkit are classed into four key groups:

  • Query Forms
  • Results Lists
  • Display Objects
  • Miscellaneous

The development process usually involves placing a Query Form object on an HTML page. This provides web users with keyword and other search functionality, enabling them to explore the EMu collection. A Query Form object expects to list search results on another page containing a Results List object. In turn, if a user selects an item in the result list, they will be redirected to another page containing a Display Object. A selection of objects is provided so web designers can mix and match to suit their design requirements.

Query Page (with QueryForm object) >> Results Page (with ResultsList object) >> Detailed Display Page (with a Display object)

Web Objects

(EMu "Web Objects" are enclosed in the blue borders)

Below is a list of web objects available to web designers. Detailed information can be found in the Web Objects Reference.

Query Forms

  • BasicQueryForm
  • AdvancedQueryForm
  • DetailedQueryForm

Results Lists

  • StandardResultsList
  • ContactSheetResultsList

Record Display Objects

  • BriefDisplay
  • StandardDisplay
  • DetailedDisplay
  • PartyDisplay

Miscellaneous

  • PreconfiguredQueryLink
  • RandomQueryGenerator
  • MediaImage

Inserting a Web Object into an HTML page is similar to adding other HTML elements like tables and images. The following example inserts a query form into an HTML page:

My Web Page

I require a query form here!

<?php

$queryform = new GalleryBasicQueryForm;

$queryform->Show();

?>

All Web Objects have a number of properties. Properties control an object's appearance and behaviour, and allow the web designer to configure the look and feel of a website. For example, a Query Form object has a property called BorderColor that sets the colour of the form's frame. A web designer could configure this colour to match a web page's style.

The following example sets the border colour on a GalleryBasicQueryForm object.

Example:

<?php

$queryform = new GalleryBasicQueryForm;

$queryform->BorderColor = "#cc0000";

$queryform->Title = "Query the museum collection...";

$queryform->Show();

?>

All properties have a default state. Ignoring the BorderColor property would cause the form to display in its default state of Black. The above example also sets the Title property. This controls the text that is displayed in the query form's title. Details on all the available properties for each type of object are documented in the Web Objects Reference.

A method is a call to instruct the object to perform an action. All Web Objects have one method called Show. The Show method instructs the object to display itself on the web page. The Show method is called after setting the object's properties.

Note: Properties cannot be set after calling a Show method.

Example:

$queryform->Show();