Wish list

Hello,
I've used this extension a few times and in most cases I am applying it to a website that already has pages that need be targetted or retargetted. There is no easy way to migrate a clean unordered list in a semi automated manner.

For instance, there is a system file method of page selection but this does not help if a site is full of pages you do not wish to target. Also I tried it on a directory full of .xls, .pdf and .doc files since a current project targets 30-40 of these type files. The extension only found one file then stopped.

What would work well is if a basic list can be translated to the xml tree that the extension uses for content. Otherwise you hack the list yourself adding the level-0 etc classes. Also this leaves the linking to be done manually each time.

<ul class="level-0" id="cssmw">
<li> <span><span><a href="ufiles/IsemanEmailDirectory.xls">Company Email Directory </a></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><a href="#">Forms</a></span></span>
<ul class="level-1">
<li><a href="ufiles/A-CTonnage.Doc">A/C Tonnage 'Guide' </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/BrProjRev9-3-04.xls">Branch Projection </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/BrWorkSched.xls">Br Work Schedule </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/ChangeOrder.xls">Change Order </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/ConstructionAgreement.Doc">Construction Agreement </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/ContractorApproval.Doc">Contractor Approval </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/ContractorLiabRelease.Doc">Contractor Liab Release </a></li>
<li><a href="#"> Finance Disclosure Forms </a>
<ul class="Level-2">
<li><a href="ufiles/Cu-CommDisclosure.Doc">Cu Fact Disclosure Form</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/CommDisclosure-21St.Doc">21St Disclosure </a></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-1.xls">Form-1</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/Form610-24-05.xls">F-6 Check-In Sheet </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-12(F1Cancellation).Doc">F-12 (F-1 Cancellation)</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-18.xls">F-18 Blank </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-39(PurchReport).xls">F-39 Purchase Report</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-43MgrReport.xls">F-43 Daily Mgr Report </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-52DisplayHomeDisclaimer.Doc">F-52-Display Home Disclaimer </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-100HotSheet.xls">F-100 Hot Sheet </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/F-456HudDisputeResolutionNotice.Doc">F-456 Hud Dispute Notice </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/Form5000.xls">F-5000-Listing Report </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/GeS-OForm4-8-11.Doc">Ge S-O Form </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/LlWaiver.Doc">Ll Waiver </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/ModFrameReturn.xls">Mod Frame Return</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/OrderFaxCover.Doc">Order Fax Cover </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/OrderCoverFaxCheat.Doc">Order Fax Cover Cheat </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/OvertimeRequest.xls">Overtime Request </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/PrivacyNotice.Doc">Privacy Policy Notice</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/PurchWorksheet.xls">Purchase Worksheet </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/QtlySalesBonusQuotaRpt.xls">Qtly Sls Bonus Quota Rpt</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/BranchServiceSchedule.xls">Service Schedule </a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/SpOrderTemplate.xls">Sp Order Template</a></li>
<li><a href="ufiles/SpecialProjSheet.xls">Special Proj Sheet </a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>


To be honest, I've even had to hack the xml tree based on an available list since adding each of many links would have taken much longer than all the cut and paste logic to get a working tree.

Anyway, just a suggestion, but some integrated tool that updates the xml link tree based on an existing menu would be of great help.

Here's an idea... How about if we throw away the xml files (treexml.xml and menustyle.xml) then the extension would recreate them based on the code in our menu.php and menu.css

This would solve the problems currently found when having to rewrite the the files ourselves or when other updates are required to our files. In the current case if you have extensive changes to your css or menu file Menu Writer overwrites and destroys your changes. Or you have to spend loads of time playing with the extensions interface to recreate what you can do manually in little time.

If possible this would be a great addition to the extension and solve many problems for those of us who like an extension to speed site deployment but still have to make manual changes either due to the extension no updating properly or because we already have our list of links available.