Tree Menu

This is a structure for presenting tree-based hierarchies via HTML. It is designed to deal with large trees while maintaining fault-tolerance and standards compliance.

Vanilla XHTML without javascript:
- Plain ul structure
- Uses POST requests to change the state of the tree (maintaining HTTP/1.1 idempotence)
- Tree state is saved in session cookies modified by the server
- Files:
  - index.php: this file
  - treemenu.css: basic style to show a ul as a tree
  - file_tree.css: style adding file and folder icons to the tree
  - file_tree.ie.css: style correcting IE's display differences
XHTML with javascript:
- POST requests are replaced with GETs accessing a REST service
- Children are loaded once and subsequently shown and hidden using javascript
- ul structure remains unchanged (children are hidden using position: relative and overflow: hidden
- Variables are encapsulated reducing global namespace clutter
- Files:
  - rest_filelist.php: filelist service
    - 400 - missing parameter.php: if path is not set
    - 403 - forbidden.php: if a descending path (..) is specified
    - 406 - not acceptable.php: if text/xml is not acceptable
  - compatability.js: IE compatability library
  - treemenu.js: treemaking code

No javascript has been run yet in this page. All of the state information is being managed via cookies.

Make DHTML Tree