# Sun Labs' Image Map Editor

This page describes a tool that lets you create imagemaps for your HTML pages. An imagemap is what defines the hot-spots in a "clickable image" on your web page. The tool assumes you already have an image. Currently only GIF image types are supported. The basic operation is simple: you position ovals, rectangles, and polygons on top of the image and associate URLs with each region. The tool can save in either NCSA or CERN map file formats.

## Running the program inside Sun

The program lives on my file server, and you can run it directly from there. If you need to make a copy, ask Brent Welch for help. Here is the complete pathname to the program:

#### /net/bisque.eng/export/vol0/tcl/install/bin/imagemap

also known as

#### /proj/tcl/install/bin/imagemap

Make an alias, or put that bin directory into your path. (This is also the home for WebTk.)

## Basic Operation

1. Open the Edit->Configuration dialog.
   - If your are using a CERN-style server (e.g., NetScape) then choose the CERN map format. In this case you can probably also just clear out the "Map Directory" because your server will look for the maps in the same directory as the image files.
   - If you have an NCSA-style server choose the NCSA map format. In this case you probably also need to specify the "Map Directory" where the server will look for the map files.
2. Use the File->Open menu to open a GIF file. The file selection will always start off in the image directory, but you could open any file. If there is already map information about the image, it will be automatically loaded. If your image is "foo.gif", then the map information is "foo.map".
3. Select a shape using either the Edit menu or the radio buttons along the top of the window. Drag out shapes using the Left mouse button.
4. Polygons are a little different. Click with the left mouse button to specify the points, and then end the polygon by clicking back on the starting point.
5. If you right click while dragging out a shape, the current shape is deleted.
6. Right click on a shape to select it. Two things happen. Small white squares are displayed at the control points of the shape. You can drag those around with the left mouse button to change the shape. A dialog also pops up that lets you specify the URL associated with the shape. You can also delete the shape from this dialog.
7. Use the File->Save menu operation to save the map file.If your image is "foo.gif", then the map information is "foo.map" in the map directory.

## More features

The Edit->UrlSet menu operation displays a dialog with all the URLs for all the hot spots. This dialog is updated as you add shapes, so it may just be easier to define all your URLs here. Each row in the dialog has a button and a text entry field for the shape. Click on the button to highlight the corresponding shape.

When you right click on a shape you get a dialog that includes a "Show Points" button. Click this to display the coordinates of your shape. These are updated as you drag the control points. Or, if you edit a number in this dialog it updates the shape in the main display.

The configuration information is remembered in a file called ~/.ime, so you may only need to use the Edit->Configuration menu operation one time.

## Limitations

There is no way to add or remove points from a polygon once you create it.

You cannot control the layering of your shapes. The way it currently works is that the shapes you define first are highest in priority. So, define small hot-spots first, and then define any large regions that overlap those.