HTML Static Macros

View the latest version of this manual online at http://mindprod.com/application/htmlmacros.manual.html.

menu
Introduction	Existing Macros
Advantages	Quotations
Disadvantages	Caching
How to Proceed	Costs
How It Works	Set Variables

Introduction

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) static macros are a way of generating boilerplate HTML for your website, without the complexity or cost of JSP (Java Server Pages) or other server-side technologies. You embed terse commands called macros, e.g.  in your HTML text and run the macro preprocessor to expand the boilerplate, e.g. a page footer. Once you have your expanded HTML decided all is as you want it, you upload the expanded HTML to your website, where it is served statically.

The basic idea is this. You embed magic comments in your HTML that look like something like this:

<!-- macro Measure 20 cm -->

Then you run htmlmacros.exe and it expands those comments to boilerplate that looks like this:

<!-- macro JDisplay Measure 20 cm -->

and renders for your viewers like this:

20 cm (7.87 in)

Advantages of HTML Static Macros

If you change your mind about any aspect of how your website should look, you need change it in only one place and magically everything changes to fit your new rules.
It is not just a matter of including standard text, though you can do that too with <!-- macro Include You have standard patterns, which expand in theme and variations limited only by your imagination. In my mind, this is most important advantage. Many such schemes limit you to some clumsy toy language to implement your macros. When it comes to doing something difficult you are stuck in its box. With HTML static macros, you have the full power of Java to implement your macro expansions. You don’t have to learn yet another goofy language/syntax. If you know Java, you are ready to go.
You don’t need to learn complicated JSP or taglib syntax for your macros.
You can run your website without spending any money at all. There are many places that will host a vanilla website for free. You have to pay for one with server-side ability. You don’t need to pay an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to give you database, JSP, Servlets etc. You can serve your website from plain static server than just hands out pre-prepared HTML.
Since there is no server-side overhead, your visitors will receive the web pages they ask for more quickly.
The scheme is Google-friendly, encouraging Google to spider your entire website, and keep its indexes up to date.
Since you write the macros themselves in ordinary Java, they can be infinitely clever. You can compute, look in files, check if images exist, look things up in databases, so out looking on the web for information, dynamically load code etc. etc. anything Java can do, an HTML static macro can do. It is just a Java class that implements the Macro interface and its expandMacro method.
All source code is provided. It is fairly straight forward compared with server-side code.
You don’t need to learn a new language. You code in ordinary Java.
You have extreme flexibility in devising what your macro commands look like. You can make them as terse as you please, with clever defaults, keyword, positional optional, variable numbers of arguments.
If you make a mistake, your code can’t crash the server, or harm any other customers of your ISP. You don’t upload anything for the public until you are satisfied it is as you wanted it. If it does go off the rails, the public will never know. It is a more pedestrian, safer way of operating, that does not require the same degree of coding skill. You get to see the results before anyone else does. Nobody else sees anything until you verify the results are ok. With JSP you never know for certain what gibberish the fool thing will serve as your web page under extreme circumstances when you are not looking.
The code is pretty solid. Though it was first released to the public 2008-07-26, it has been used in production and polished since 1996.

Disadvantages of HTML Static Macros

As far as I know, I am the only person in the world using HTMLMacros. So I have not put much effort into documenting or maintaining the documentation. I just look at the source code or the markup I have previously done on the webpages.
You need basic Java programming skills. You need to know how to write simple Java code, how to compile it, how to tweak ANT (A Neat Tool) scripts, write batch scripts. This skill is just presumed.
You can’t interact with your users and generate different pages depending on their input (other than via Applets). All pages have to be prepared ahead of time.
So far, nobody but me, Roedy, uses this scheme, so won’t be able to get help on newsgroups.
This is not a package in the usual sense. It is a very large custom application I wrote for my own use. You modify or cannibalise it to create your own custom application. Just how much work it will require to whip it into shape for your own website depend on how different your website is from mine, mindprod.com. It contains a great deal of code you will probably find irrelevant. There is no clean separation between code everybody uses and your own custom code, though I have been working over the past weeks to make that separation ever cleaner. You will need to do a fair bit of butchering existing macros or writing new ones before it generates code suitable for you own website. If you wanted to copy the style and layout of my website slavishly, all you would need to do is modify the Configure. java file to change all the constants that refer to mindprod.com to refer to your website. However, you probably also want a different overall look, at least a different colour scheme. That would require changing the master style sheet, and changing some of the Java code that lays out the pages. Perhaps, to start, you could ape my layouts, then over time gradually morph them into something more to your liking.
This also means you can’t, in a perfectly straightforward way, slip new versions of HTML static macros into yours the way you could with JSP. To make that update/merging process easier, when you modify code, create new replacement classes with new names and discard the old, rather than simply modifying code. Over the coming months I will work to split the code more cleanly in two, the stuff peculiar to my website and the code of general interest. That will make it easier for you to ignore my specific code and to incorporate revisions in the general purpose code into your own application.
There is not much documentation. You pretty well have to study the Java source and study my website mindprod.com and the HTML (downloadable via the Replicator), to see how the macro commands work and what they expand to. The source is fairly well commented.

How to Proceed

The packages included:

Packages Included
Packages Included
Package	Purpose
com.mindprod.htmlmacros	The macro expansion engine and a large set of macros, some of which you might use unmodified, some you will find useless and can be discarded and some you can cannibalise to create your own variants e.g. page header and footer macros. com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro contains the macros themselves. They extend abstract class com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro.Macro. com.mindprod.htmlmacros.support contains utility code to make writing macros easier.
com.mindprod.stores	Code for generating references to a multitude of Amazon and other bookstores with embedded affiliate codes, so I get a commission if somebody clicks and buys a recommended book. If you don’t want to use this feature, you can discard com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro.Book.java and com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro. Amazon.java and the com.mindprod.aws packages.
com.mindprod.common18	Various utility classes, mainly for string manipulations.
com.mindprod.compactor	Compacts out unnecessary whitespace from the finished HTML for faster up and downloading.
com.mindprod.comparators	Comparators for sorting.
com.mindprod.csv	Reads and writes Comma-separated value fields.
com.mindprod.currcon	Displays prices in the local currency, works in conjunction with the CurrCon Applet. If you don’t want to use this feature you can discard com.mindprod.htmlmacros.CurrCon.java and the com.mindprod.currcon package.
com.mindprod.entities	converts HTML entities ⇒ unicode.
com.mindprod.filter	Used to control which files to process.
com.mindprod.fourtidy	Tidies DESCRIPT.ION files used in tcc/Take Command to track what all the various files are for.
com.mindprod.hunkio	Utility class for rapidly reading entire files in one i/o.
com.mindprod.http	Utility class doing HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), mainly screen-scraping information off the web. Not used directly by any macros but some of the auxiliary programs use it for batch gathering information, e.g. information about books.
com.mindprod.isbn	Used if you handle book ISBN (International Standard Book Number) numbers in your macros. If you don’t handle books on your website, you can delete this package, com.mindprod.htmlmacro.Book.java and com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro. Amazon.java and the com.mindprod.amazon packages.
com.mindprod.jdisplay com.mindprod.jdisplayaux com.mindprod.jtokens com.mindprod.jprep	JPrep manual. It generates program and other listings colourised using a variety of fonts and sizes to highlight. If you don’t want to use this feature, you can discard com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro. JDisplay . java and the com.mindprod.jdisplay, com.mindprod.jdisplayaux, com.mindprod.jdisplayorphans, com.mindprod.jprep and com.mindprod.jtokens packages.
com.mindprod.ledatastream	Used to read little-endian binary data, such as the fields inside a GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) image.
com.mindprod.prices	Used for generating such as price lists of software.
com.mindprod.qf	Used to automatically build glossary indexes, such as the Java glossary, the Computer buyers’ glossary, the gay and black slang glossary and the environment glossary. Unless you have glossaries on your website, you can discard this package. It is fairly integrated into my headers, so you probably should just keep it around until you have removed all indexing style headers. It allows you to embellish entries with various icons to warn users of large web pages, particularly important items etc.
com.mindprod.seesort	Used to sort lists of references to other pages in alphabetical order. Also to automatically insert links, using the glossary indexes.
com.mindprod.sitemap	Builds a list of all files on the website, when it was last modified and how often it should be spidered. Used by Google to speed up spidering of your website.
com.mindprod.untouch	Backdates files to their original dates if they contain no net changes since the last upload. This saves pointless uploads and Google respidering.

Download the HTML static macros package. It comes bundled with various auxiliary packages also downloadable separately.
Look at various pages on the mindprod.com website with your browser and view source to see the macros and how they expand. Study the source code. Use the Replicator to get yourself a local up-to-date copy of my entire website for easier study.
Study the source code for a simple macro such as Photo. java.
Install ANT and try compiling the code and using it to expand the macros on my website. If you don’t use the Jet native compiler, strip out the references to Jet in the ANT and BAT (Batch) files.
Make a copy of the source code and modify com.mindprod.htmlmacros.macro. Configure. java. Leaving alone anything you don’t understand, for now.
Throw away any macros you are fairly sure you will never use, or will never want to cannibalise. You can always get a fresh copy from my website. Write you own simple macro and try it out.
You can do quite a bit to change the look and feel of the generated code just by modifying the style sheet mindprod.css, without changing any macros at all.
Focus on getting your various header and footer macros going. Mine are pretty complicated with two kinds of Google AdSense ads, rotating public service ads, bread crumbs and indexes. Here are three approaches.
1. You can write your own header and footer macros from scratch, cannibalising bits from mine.
2. You can take mine and strip out parts you definitely don’t want, leaving the parts you don’t understand yet intact.
3. You can hire me to write custom macros to your specifications for you.
For this work, you might find the quoter amanuensis very useful. You can feed it finished sample HTML from your existing website and it will convert it into Java String literals that you can embed in your header and footer macros, then add the variable and calculated bits to it.
Strip out whatever you don’t immediately need. You can always add it back later.
Just keep gradually improving your macros and making your code more and more modular — encapsulate. Don’t clone! It is your code now. You can change anything you like.

How It Works

A general purpose parser called the Replace scans your HTML files looking for <!-- macro XXXX magic comments. The first word after the word macro is the name of the Macro and also the name of the class that expands it. Each parameter is enclosed in spaces,, "s or {}s. Keyword=value pairs may be optionally separated by =. Replace loads that class and hands in the massaged following parameters calling the macro’s expandMacro method. The macro hands back the expansion and the Replacer inserts that text after the <!-- macro XXXX so you can see both the abbreviation and the expansion. It removes any old expansion first. It uses Class. forName to load the classes, so all you need do to create a new macro is write the source code for the macro and put the class file in the jar. You don’t have to register the class in any way.

Existing Macros

Various Existing Macros
Various Existing Macros
Class	Purpose	Syntax	Example
Acronym	Displays an acronym and its expansion with embedded styles to highlight the capital letters in the expansion. There are a number of built-in acronyms for which specifying the expansion is optional.	<!-- macro Acronym [plain] [means] [td] {acronym} {expansion} -->	<!-- macro Acronym DU (Depleted Uranium) {Depleted Uranium} --> <!-- macro Acronym DU-->. The plain option displays just the acronym, suitably highlighted. The means option displays just the meaning, without the acronym. By default both are displayed the first occurrence on the page and just the acronym thereafter. The td option encloses the acronym and meaning in <td>…</td> tags to arrange acronyms and meanings in table columns.
Age	calculates age in years, months, days, e. g. supply birthdate and it expands to current age in years as of the time the macro was expanded.	<!-- macro Age date yyyy-mm-dd [on yyyy-mm-dd] [years/months/days] -->	<!-- macro Age 1948-02-04 years -->
AllPosters	Generates a thumbnail affiliate link to AllPosters.com.	<!-- macro AllPosters title productID prunedProductLink prunedthumbnailImageName width height -->	<!-- AllPosters macro AllPosters Morning Textures 923499 Morning-Textures 10/1020/IUUW000Z 160 160 -->
Art	Generates a thumbnail affiliate link to Art.com.	<!--macro Art title productid width height -->	<!--macro Art Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe 12870686 115 86 -->
Audio	Generates an iconic link to an audio file.	<!--macro Audio soundfile format -->	<!--macro Audio {http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/6824} mp3 -->
BestBrowsers	Generates a list of recommended browsers and versions.	<!-- macro BestBrowsers context, [trouble] -->	<!-- macro BestBrowsers glossary Your current browser cannot deal with frames -->
Book	Generates book referral link to an Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Chapters etc bookstores.	<!-- macro Book isbn, [paperback] [hardcover] [kindle] title, author, [notes], [publisher], [published], [class], [bookcoversdir] -->	<!-- macro Book isbn=9780960068883 paperback=9780960068883 hardcover=9780960068890 title="Handbook to Higher Consciousness author=Ken Keyes Jr. publisher=Love Line" published=1984-08 notes={Ken’s classic. This is by far his best selling book.} -->
Button	Generates a clickable or decorative button	<!-- macro Button buttonname [webroot-relativeURL] -->	<!-- macro Button launch webstart/setclock.html --> The image used to render the button is image/button/launch.png. The lettering on the button is launch.
ColourScheme	Displays a row of colour swatches	<!-- macro ColourScheme list of hex colours -->	<!-- macro ColourScheme #000000 #808080 #ffffff -->
CurrCon	Displays currency/price converted to the user’s home currency.	See CurrCon Manual. There are many variants.	<!-- macro CurrCon c$AN USD 10.00 -->
DailySpecial	Random link to something on the website. Changes daily. You need to follow it with some text, or an image and a </a> tag.	<!-- macro DailySpecial list of relative-url-possibilities --> text/image </a>	<!-- macro DailySpecial ../animalrights/freerange.html ../animalrights/intel.html ../applet/canadiantax.html ../applet/converter.html ../applet/fileio.html unmain.html -->Take a chance</a>
Degrees	Computes and displays temperatures in both degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit.	<!-- macro Degrees temperature then F or C [delta] -->	<!-- macro Degrees 5 F delta -->
Dim	Displays length, width × height or width × height × depth dimensions in both metric and imperial measure. The td option generates code for a pair of table columns.	<!-- macro Dim width x height unitsOfMeasure td -->	<!-- macro Dim 40 x 20 cm -->
Donates	Generates link to PayPal to let a visitor donate.	<!-- macro Donate cause buttoncode -->	<!-- macro Donate Computer Buyers’ glossary T9GKBKG8XPBA4 -->
DVD (Digital Video Disc)	Affiliate referral link to a DVD.	<!-- macro DVD asin=, [upc=], title=, author=, [type=] [notes=], [class=] -->	<!-- macro DVD asin=B00179CXIK title=The Truth About Climate Change author={David Attenborough} notes={Britain’s most famous naturalist holds forth. Only available in Britain. Make sure to get the version you buy has a region that can be handled by your player.} -->
Electronic	Generates referral link to Amazon, Tiger Direct and NewEgg. Usually electronic sales.	<!-- macro Electronic many keyword=value pairs -->	<!-- macro Electronic asin=B00006LIQL title=TiVo Digital Recorder notes={Magnetic tape-style vcrs will not longer work with digital TV. Instead you use a digital recorder. This one from TiVo will record your favourite programs for you without you having to explicitly tell it when they are on since it consults an online TV guide it accesses via a telephone call. Further, it will let you pause and rewind a show you are watching live. It can record 80 hours digitally. Some TVs come bundled with a digital recorder.} -->
FileInJDK	Generate a reference to the local copy of some file in the current JDK (Java Development Kit).	<!-- macro JDKLocation reference description -->	<!-- macro JDK Location bin\native2ascii.exe native2ascii.exe -->
Env	Expands to the value of some variable in the set environment.	<!-- macro Env {var} -->	<!-- macro Env JAVA_HOME -->
FileInJRE	Generate a reference to the local copy of some file in the current JRE (Java Runtime Environment).	<!-- macro JRELocation reference description -->	<!-- macro JRELocation {lib/security/C:\Users\} {cacerts list of trusted certificate authorities} -->
FileSize	Expands to the current size of a given file.	<!--macro FileSize webRoot-relative local file name-->	<!--macro FileSize zips/amper15.zip -->
Foot	Standard footer. Quite elaborate with rotating ads, navigation and various icons.	<!--macro Foot [ad] [noad] [nonmil] [nextpage]-->	<!--macro Foot nonmil -->
Image	Displays an image in the image directory tree, finds the dimensions itself.	<!-- macro Image image file, [caption/link] altText [link url] [align] -->	<!-- macro Image animal/browneggs.jpg caption Rhode Island Red free range brown eggs right --> Possible alignments include: none bottom center floatleft floatright left middle right top.
Include	raw include text from a local file on disk. Use webroot relative filename. (Originally absolute names were used, but this was changed in preparation for converting to JSP .) May be nested. i.e. the included text might possibly containing embedded macros that need to be expanded/refreshed, including Include macros.	<!--macro Include webroot-relative-filename to include. -->	<!--macro Include include/primeminister.htmlfrag--> Include does not adjust relative links or link classes. You must prepare your includes with relative links constructed as if they were already included in place or use macro Link style self-adjusting links. Included text may contain macros, expanded or unexpanded. They may even include Include macros.
EE (Enterprise Edition)	Link to Oracle’s EE documentation.	<!-- macro EE {reference.} {description} -->	<!-- macro EE {javax/servlet/http/HttpServletResponse.html} {Server HTTP response codes} -->
JavaAPI	Link to Oracle’s Java classes Javadoc both locally and on Oracle website.	<!-- macro JavaAPI reference description -->	<!-- macro JavaAPI {java/util/zip/Adler32.html} {Adler32} -->
JavaFXAPI	Link to Oracle’s JavaFX classes Javadoc both locally and on the Oracle website.	<!-- macro JavaFXAPI reference description -->	<!-- macro JavaFXAPI javafx/scene/control/DatePicker.html DatePicker -->
JDisplay	Display a colourised program, bat, csv etc listing using a variety of automatically fonts and sizes based on parsing the file in corresponding snippet directories, preparsed by JPrep.	<!-- macro JDisplay snippetName [maxwidth] [maxheight] -->	<!-- macro JDisplay Get.java -->
JavaCC	Generate a reference to a JavaCC parser.	<!-- macro JavaCC parserName url email author releaseDate notes -->	<!-- macro JavaCC Oberon {http://www.cs.may.ie/~jpower/Oberon/} oberon.jj jpower@cs.may.ie "James Power" 1998-11-17 -{A parser for the programming language Oberon-2. Oberon is the latest generation in the Wirth family of languages, an heir to the Pascal and Modula tradition.} -->
JDK	Generate a reference the current or previous JDK or some part of it.	<!-- macro JDK flavour --> where flavour is one of defaultpath, dir, fullversion, macro, micro, path, path32, recommendedversion, url, url32 version.	<!-- macro JDK fullversion --> defaultpath : C:\Program Files\java\jdk1.8.0_131\ dir : jdk1.8.0_131 fullversion : 1.8.0_131 macro : 1.8 micro : 0 path : J:\Program Files\java\jdk1.8.0_131\ path32 : J:\Program Files (x86)\java\jdk1.8.0_131\ recommendedversion : 1.8.0_131 url : file:///J:/Program%20Files/Java/jdk1.8.0_131 url : file:///J:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Java/jdk1.8.0_131 version : 1.8.0 There are still more like oldfullversion, jetprofileversion, jetversion, jetfullversion, intellijversion, intellijfullversion.
FileInJDK	Generate a reference to the local copy of some file in the current JDK.	<!-- macro JDKLocation reference description -->	<!-- macro JDKLocation bin\native2ascii.exe native2ascii.exe -->
JRE	Generate a reference the current JRE or some part of it.	<!-- macro JRE flavour --> where flavour is one of defaultpath, dir, fullversion, macro, micro, path, path32, recommendedversion, url, url32, version.	<!-- macro JRE path --> defaultpath : C:\Program Files\java\jre1.8.0_131\ dir : jre1.8.0_131 fullversion : 1.8.0_131 macroversion : 1.8 microversion : 0 path : C:\Program Files\java\jre1.8.0_131\ path32 : C:\Program Files (x86)\java\jre1.8.0_131\ recommendedversion : 1.8.0_131 url : file:///C:/Program%20Files/Java/jre1.8.0_131 url32 : file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Java/jre1.8.0_131 version : 1.8.0 There are still more like oldfullversion, jetprofileversion, jetversion, jetfullversion, intellijversion, intellijfullversion.
KJV	Generate a labeled link into the online version of the King James Bible.	<!-- macro KJV (! = display or ~ = suppress) book fromChapter:fromVerse [toChapter:toVerse] -->	<!-- macro KJV ! Leviticus 15:29 15:30 -->
Link	A generic href usually for use in included text that is adjusted to account for which page the text is included, in other words converts from upPath to relative link and css class for in the context of the the text is inserted.	<!-- macro Link a webroot-relative-URL description cssclass. -->	<!--- macro Link contact/roedy.html#NONMIL Non-military use only. plain -->
LL	Describes one person for a database of people	<!-- macro LL 15 fields: nickname name attended photo homephone workphone noLongerUsed emailpng website address city prov postal country notes -->	<!-- macro LL Roedy Roedy Green + people/roedy200805.jpg "(250) 361-9093 workPhone dummy roedy mindprod.com XXXX YYYY Street" Victoria BC V8T 4G8 Canada {Single, gay, HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus) +, born <span class=date>1948-02-04</span>. Been attending workshops since <span class=date>1977-06</span> in Berkeley. Lead a Living Love <a href=workshop.html>workshop</a> in England in <span class=date>2002-09</span> and at Quadra Island in <span class=date>2001-08</span>. If you visit Victoria, — you are welcome to sleep on my floor. Hosts a <a href=livinglove.html>Living Love Website</a>. See my <a href=llbio.html>living love biography</a>. See <a href=../contact/roedy.html>resume</a>. Knows Angela Wensley, Geneva Hagen and Marty Bunch.} --> This example shows how you can embed HTML including entities and tags inside parameter values.
MailTo	Generates a munged email reference using a Masker-created png file in the image/mailto directory. This foil spam harvesters looking for email references on your website.	<!-- macro MailTo mungedEmailImageName(name of masker file without .png) personName [email/name/both] -->	<!-- macro MailTo nicfulton Nic Fulton both -->
Measure	Ddiscontiued. Replaced by the more general Dim macro.
Moved	Generates a stub page to indicate a page that formerly had the stub’s name and location has moved, that automatically redirects to the new location.	<!-- macro Moved webroot-relative-newName -->	<!-- macro Moved applet/applets.html -->
NeedsJava	Spells out in great detail just why and how Java is needed for a given task and what do it if it is not working.	<!-- macro NeedsJava javaVersion(e.g. 1.1) (signed/unsigned) (jni/nojni) Applet className projectDesc [why signed] -->	<!-- macro NeedsJava 1.1 unsigned nojni hybrid Bio Biorhythms Calculator -->
NeedsJWS	Spells out in great detail just why and how Java Web Start is needed for a given task and what do it if it is not working.	<!-- macro NeedsJWS takes no parameters -->	<!-- macro NeedsJWS -->
Newsgroup	Generates a reference to a newsgroup.	<!-- macro Newsgroup newsgroupName -->	<!-- macro Newsgroup comp.lang.java.programmer -->
NoJava	Generates text that appears when Java is not available.	<!-- macro NoJava (Applet/JWS) -->	<!-- macro NoJava Applet -->
OnOracle	Link to Oracle’s documentation both locally and on their website. Use JavaAPI or JavaFXAPI for class Javadoc.	<!-- macro OnOracle reference description -->	<!-- macro OnOracle {https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se8/html/index.html} {online specification} -->
OS (Operating System)es	Generates a list of operating systems that have some property in common.	<!-- macro OS es list or ranges with colon e.g. W95:XP, or W2K: or XP- etc. -->	<!-- macro OS es W2K:VISTA -->
Photo	Displays a camera icon. When the user clicks it, he sees a photo, not necessarily of a person. The image is in the image directory tree.	<!-- macro Photo imageFile(without lead mindprod/image/) -->	<!-- macro Photo environment/electricbikebig.jpg -->
Qualified	Displays a fully qualified method name with package, class and method with different styles for each piece.	<!-- macro Qualified [package].[Class].[var].[method] {class/interface} -->	<!-- macro Qualified com.mindprod.common18.ST.beep class -->
Quotation	Generates a random quotation. Changes randomly every half hour, if the expansion is rerun using the Windows Task Scheduler. The quotations themselves live in the quote directory animalrights, Christian, environment, evolution, livinglove, misc, patriotism, politics, religion. These collections are combined in various ways to form the categories used on the Quotation macro.	<!--macro Quotation takes a category parameter, e.g. animalrights. environment, general, livinglove, misc, politics, religion -->	<!--macro Quotation religion -->
Reunion	Generated a record about one person coming to a reunion.	<!-- macro Reunion oldFirst oldLast newFirst newLast significantOther birthdate photo coming excuse homePhone workPhone emailHint emailMungImage website address city prov postal country bringing -->	<!-- macro Reunion Munroe Green Roedy Green Geneva 1948-02-04 people/roedy200805.jpg + excuse (250) 361-9093 (250) 361-9093 roedy gee mindprod com roedy mindprod.com #101 — xxx YYYYk Street Victoria BC V8T 4G8 Canada pomegranate cider -->
Revised	When something was last revised and when that fact was last verified. c.f. Updated	<!-- macro Revised asofDate [revisedDate] [why] -->	<!-- macro Revised 2008-07-25 2005-10-20 -->
RFC (Request For Comment)	link to the text of a RFC document.	<!-- macro RFC RFC number -->	<!-- macro RFC 2781 -->
RSS	generate an RSS feed item and display the item as HTML as well.	<!-- macro RSS feedName YYYY-MM-DD webroot-relative-link/url title description -->	<!-- macro RSS ethics 2008-08--03 new version of HTML Macros Realeasd {The new version makes it much easier to configure the icons…} -->
RSSBegin	Marks the beginning of a group of RSS macros you want collected, grouped by feed and sorted in descending order by date. If you don’t use RSSBegin, the items will appear in the same order on each page that they appear embedded in your files.	<!-- macro RSSBegin (no parms) -->	<!-- macro RSSBegin -->
RSSEnd	Marks the end of a group of RSS macros you want collected, grouped by feed and sorted in descending order by date.	<!-- macro RSSEnd (no parms) -->	<!-- macro RSSENd -->
Signed	Generates instructions to deal with code signed with a phony certificate. Obsolete.	<!-- macro Signed mainClass (Applet/weblet) -->	<!-- macro Signed Wassup Applet/weblet -->
Bug	Link to a bug in the Sun bug parade.	<!-- macro Bug bugNumber description -->	<!-- macro Bug 4809366 {The Bea JVM (Java Virtual Machine) fails to give permission for <span class=jmethod>getClassLoader</span> even when you ask for <span class=ini>AllPermissions</span>.} -->
RFE (Request For Enhancement)	Link to a RFE in the Sun requests for enhancement.	<!-- macro RFE rfeNumber description -->	<!-- macro RFE 4449383 JSR (Java Specification Request) to add Design By Contract to Java -->
Updated	displays the date some file was last substantially modified. c.f. Revised	<!-- macro Updated webRoot-relative-file-name [plain/decorated] -->	<!-- macro Updated jgloss/bali.html -->
Video	Displays an iconic link to video file.	<!-- macro Video mediaURL format(e.g.bittorrent divx dvd flash google mp3 mp4 ms pp qt real shockwave unknown vhs transcript youtube -->	<!-- macro Video {https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daNr_TrBw6E} youtube {Albert Stubblebine} -->
WebRing	Displays a WebRing nav bar.	<!-- macro WebRing just a numeric u, the WebRing id -->	<!-- macro WebRing 10002305 -->

Various Page header Macros
Various Page Header Macros
Macro	Purpose
AmanuensisHead	header for Applet
AnimalRightsHead	header for Animal rights essay
ApplicationHead	header for Application docs
BglossHead	header for the buyer glossary
BibleHead	header for chapter of the bible
Bush911Head	header for Bush essay
BushBooksHead	header for Bush books
BushismsHead	header for Bushisms essay
ContactHead	header for Contact essay
DeepThoughtsHead	header for Deep thoughts
EnvirHead	header for environment essay
EthicsHead	header for Ethics essay
FeedbackAnimalsHead	header for feedback on animals
FeedbackGodHead	header for feedback on religion
FeedbackPeaceHead	header for feedback essay
FeedbackPornHead	header for porn essay feedback
FeedbackSectionHead	header for feedback section
Head	generic header
HomeHead	header for home page
HumanRightsHead	header for human rights essay
IraqHead	header for Iraq essay
JglossHead	header for the Java glossary
JglossLetterHead	header for the Java glossary index
LaserHead	header for laser talks
LivingLoveHead	header for living love essay
MenuFrameHead	header for page that uses frames
MethodsHead	header for Living Love methods essay
MoneyHead	header for money essay
PhoneHead	header for the phone list
PoliticsHead	header for politics essay
ReligionHead	header for religion essay
ReunionHead	header for Reunion essay
SectionHead	header for section
WebStartHead	header for Java Web Start

Various Menu-generating Macros
Various Menu-generating Macros
Macro	Purpose
AmanuensisMenuItem	menu item for an Applet
ApplicationMenuItem	menu item for an application
ColourMenu	a menu of colour charts
MenuItem	menu item
Quilt	generate an n x m list of links
QuiltPair	generate an n x m list of cell pairs
WebStartMenuItem	generate a description for a JWS (Java Web Start) app

Various Menu-generating Macros
Utility classes, not macros
Class	Purpose
AudioFormat	enum of the various type of Audio format.
BibleBook	enum of all the books of the King James bible
BuildImage	Building <image links. Examines image files to find out the dimensions.
Configure	Customising constants, e.g. affiliate ids, where you put various files, the name of your website, how often to rotate the ads, how long to hold onto RSS feed items…
CountryFlag	generates flags of different countries. Used by Amazon macro.
GoogleAdSense	enum for various sizes of ad chosen by Google to suit the page.
HTMLMacros	Main routine. Will expand an arbitrary set of HTML files.
Indexing	Used to generate glossary indexes.
ImageAlignment	enum for all the ways to align an Image.
LoadCodeToProcessMacro	dynamically load and cache class to process a macro
Macro	The interface that all macro classes must implement. The Macro. expandMacro method is the key.
OS	enum for the various possible operating systems.
ParmParser	parses the parameters and cleans them up to present to the macro for expansion.
PayPalProduct	Kludgy enum of PayPal encryptions.
QuotationCategory	enum of various categories of quote of the day.
Randomiser	Used by the random quotation generator and the public service ads to rotate the quotations on a predictable but seemingly random basis. Does the math to compute the digests.
ReplaceMindprod	Main routine. Custom list of files to expand for the mindprod website.
Replacer	The core macro engine that parser looking for macro commands and invoking the macros.
StripGenerated	Removes previous expansions before expanding macros afresh.
SunJDKandJREVersions	Constants to describe Oracle’s various JDKs (Java Development Kits) and JREs (Java Runtime Environments).
Tools	General purpose tools useful to macros.
UnitsOfMeasure	Enumeration of various metric and imperial units of measure.
VersionFlavour	enum of the various type of JDK-JRE version number.
VideoFormat	enum of the various type of Video format.

Quotations

Embedded in the pages and at the foot of each page are pseudo-randomly selected quotations that automatically change frequently. How this works is probably the most complicated thing in the system. The quotations are where I deliver my messages to try to change the world. I consider them the purpose of the website.

The quotations themselves live in the quote directory separated by topics I call flocks. There are defined aggregates such as general that have a defined weighting percentage of the various flocks. For example, the remembrance aggregate I use on Remembrance Day contains contributions from the flocks: war (weight 200), patriotism (10), warbyroedy (1000) and patriotismbyroedy (1). com.mindprod.support.ConfigurationForMindprod specifies which aggregate to use for each page. It also specifies how often to rotate the quotation/PSA. SET resetfooterpercentage=10 further limits just how many quotations/PSAs will be allowed to change in any given run. (This can be useful if you disturb the quotation collections which would otherwise trigger a mass immediate changeover.)

The quotation chosen depends on the current time and the file name, but not the file contents.

The same slot at the foot of a page can be shared by a quotation, a PSA (Public Service Advertisement) or a non-military use only notice. The logic to select the current ad is hairy. See com.mindprod.htmlmacros.support.InlineFooter, com.mindprod.support.PSAType and com.mindprod.support.Randomiser.

The Quotation macro com.mindprod.macro.Quotation can embed a random quotation in the middle of a page.

The quotation flock files are kept sorted by author, with quotes without headings at the top to be corrected.

Quotations can contain embeded macros, most commonly Acronym, Age, Cite and Include.

In addition there are fixed quotation that HTMLMacros leaves undisturbed as ordinary text.

Caching

HTMLMacros tracks when various files containing HTML macros were last successfully processed. It can then speed things up by avoiding reprocessing them again until the contents changes. There are various exceptions:

Configuration.alwaysRegenrate, which files should always be regenerated, e.g. because they contain Quotation macros that generate new content even when the text of the file has not changed.
The source code for HTMLMacros has changed. It may generated different HTML. Call resetCache.btm to delete the cache and regenerate everything.
The includes have changed. The files that include them have not changed. Call resetCache.btm to delete the cache and regenerate everything.
Once a day, call resetCache.btm to force all ages and birthdays to be recomputed.

Costs

The HTML static macros package itself is free. I am willing to answer questions, but if you need extensive consultation, or custom code written, you would have to arrange that for a fee.

Acquiring HTMLMacros

Download information for HTML Static Macros
Package	Version	Released	Licence	Language	Notes
HTML Static Macros	2.6	2014-07-13	free	Java	❘ precis ❘ manual ❘ screenshot ❘ browse source repository for the current version of HTML Static Macros. Static macros for HTML to generate complex boilerplate. 17.7MB zip for HTML Static Macros Java source, compiled class files, jar and documentation to run on your own machine as an application. Runs on any OS that supports Java e.g. W2K, XP, W2003, Vista, W2008, W7-32, W7-64, W8-32, W8-64, W2012, W10-32, W10-64, Linux, LinuxARM, LinuxX86, LinuxX64, Ubuntu, Solaris, SolarisSPARC, SolarisSPARC64, SolarisX86, SolarisX64 and OSX. First install the most recent Java. To install, extract the zip download with WinZip, (or similar unzip utility) into any directory you please, often J:\ — ticking off the use folder names option. To check out the corresponding source from the Subversion repository, use the TortoiseSVN repo-browser to access htmlmacros source in repository with [Tortoise] Subversion client on wush.net/svn/mindprod/com/mindprod/htmlmacros/. After you have installed the jar, you can run it as an application. Type: java -jar J:\com\mindprod\htmlmacros\htmlmacros.jar `parms` adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is. download ASP PAD XML program description for the current version of HTML Static Macros. $1989.00 US donated so far. If the CMP utilities solved your problem, please donate a buck or two, or donate to one of the charities featured in the footer public service ads throughout the website and get a tax receipt. HTML Static Macros is free. Full source included. You may even include the source code, modified or unmodified in free/commercial open source/proprietary programs that you write and distribute. Non-military use only.

Set Variables

You can control HTMLMacros by setting up set Variables before you run. Most of them trigger probing online stores to refresh our inventory of what products they have in stock.

Set Variables
Set Variable	Purpose
Miscellaneous
removedeadwood=no	=no means leave deadwood, =yes means Clear inventories of products we no longer recommend. It should not be used unless have done a resetcache.btm and are processing the entire website. Also clears lookup cache of ISBN to ASIN of any ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) without a corresponding ASIN, but which are mentioned in Book macros. =find means find deadwood, but don’t remove it yet.
Aggregates
checkstores=yes	check all book, dvd and electronics stores
checkbookstores=yes	check all bookstores
checkamazonbookstores=yes	check all Amazon bookstores including Junglee
checkabebookstores=yes	check all Abe bookstores
checkotherbookstores=yes	check all no-Amazon non-Abe bookstores
checkdvdstores=yes	check all DVD stores
checkamazondvdstores=yes	check all Amazon DVD stores
checkelectronicsstores=yes	check all electronics stores
checkamazonelectronicsstores=yes	check alls Amazon electronic stores.
Individual Bookstores
checkabeca=yes	check abe.ca bookstore
checkabecom=yes	check abe.com bookstore
checkabede=yes	check abe.de bookstore
checkabees=yes	check abe.es bookstore
checkabefr=yes	check abe.fr bookstore
checkabeit=yes	check abe.it bookstore
checkabenz=yes	check abe.nz bookstore
checkabeuk=yes	check abe.uk bookstore
checkamazonca=yes	check amazon.ca bookstore
checkamazoncn=yes	check amazon.cn bookstore
checkamazoncom=yes	check amazon.com bookstore
checkamazonde=yes	check amazon.de bookstore
checkamazones=yes	check amazon.es bookstore
checkamazonfr=yes	check amazon.fr bookstore
checkamazonit=yes	check amazon.it bookstore
checkamazonuk=yes	check amazon.uk bookstore
checkbn=yes	check barnesandnoble.com bookstore
checkchapters=yes	check chapters.indigo.com bookstore
checkgoogle=yes	check play.google.com bookstore
checkjunglee=yes	check junglee.com bookstore
checkkobo=yes	check kobo.com bookstore
checkpowells=yes	check powells.com bookstore
checksafari=yes	check safari.com bookstore
Individual DVD Stores
checkamazoncadvds=yes	check amazon.ca dvd store
checkamazoncndvds=yes	check amazon.cn dvd store
checkamazoncomdvds=yes	check amazon.com dvd store
checkamazondedvds=yes	check amazon.de dvd store
checkamazonesdvds=yes	check amazon.es dvd store
checkamazonfrdvds=yes	check amazon.fr dvd store
checkamazonitdvds=yes	check amazon.it dvd store
checkamazonukdvds=yes	check amazon.uk dvd store
checkbndvds=yes	check barensandnoble.cem dvd store
checkjungleedvds=yes	check junlee.com dvd store
checkpowellsdvds=yes	check powells.cem dvd store
Individual Electronics Stores
checkamazoncaelectronics=yes	check amazon.ca electronics store
checkamazoncnelectronics=yes	check amazon.cn electronics store
checkamazoncomelectronics=yes	check amazon.com electronics store
checkamazondeelectronics=yes	check amazon.de electronics store
checkamazoneselectronics=yes	check amazon.es electronics store
checkamazonfrelectronics=yes	check amazon.fr electronics store
checkamazonitelectronics=yes	check amazon.it electronics store
checkamazonukelectronics=yes	check amazon.uk electronics store
checkbestbuycaelectronics=yes	check bestbuy.ca electronics store
checkbestbuyelectronics=yes	check bestbuy.com electronics store
checkcanadacomputerselectronics=yes	check canadacomputers.com electronics store
checkjungleeelectronics=yes	check junglee.com electronics store
checkncixcaelectronics=yes	check NCIX.ca electronics store
checkneweggcaelectronics=yes	check neweggca.ca electronics store
checkneweggelectronics=yes	check newegg.com electronics store
checktigercaelectronics=yes	check tigerdirect.ca electronics store
checktigerelectronics=yes	check tigerdirect.com electronics store
checknewproducts=yes	Usually new products are probed to find out their status the first time they are encountered. If you set this to no, this is suppressed and new products are treated as not-carried. The next time you do a manual probe of its stores, the status will be updated. The main reason to use this is to turn off probing if it is temporarily not-working, giving you time to fix the problem and do a manual probe to catch up. Default yes.
Misc
-q	quiet mode. supresses macro letters
-v	verbose mode
debug=yes	extra debug output

Links

download HTMLMacros
JPrep manual

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