| What kind of content can I display? |
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You can display many different kinds of content in your interactive tours, including:
- Images
- Text
- Video
- Flash
- HTML
- Tour-in-Tour™
- Web Pages
- Google maps
You add your content on the Slide Content page where you can choose whether to use the slide for an image and/or text or for embedding HTML code to display content like video, HTML documents or Google maps. You can also use Slide Macros (download PDF) for even more flexibility. See the FAQ entries in this section for details on adding specific kinds of content. |
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| How do I add video to a slide? |
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You can add video and other kinds of media to your slides by inserting the HTML embed code for your video. Many video hosting sites, such as YouTube, display the embed code which you can copy and paste.
Important: your video must already be hosted on a server such as YouTube or your own server. You cannot upload a video directory to MapsAlive.
To add a movie or video to your slide, follow these steps:
- Click My Tours from any page.
This step takes you to the My Tours page.
- Click the tour thumbnail for the tour containing the page.
This step takes you to the Tour Manager page.
- Click the page thumbnail for the page with the slide you want to modify.
This step takes you to the Map page.
- Click the slide name in the Tour Navigator.
This step takes you to the Slide Content page.
- Choose Video from the Media dropdown on the Slide Content Page.
This step changes the slide type from Photo to Video and displays the Video field. Note that changing the slide type to Video removes the photo in the slide, if any.
- Paste your HTML code for your video into the Video field and click Save.
This step saves your video HTML and displays a preview of the video.
You can paste HTML for one of these tags: object, embed, applet, or iframe. You cannot use any other HTML tags and you can only include one complete tag per slide. Any HTML that appears after one of the supported tags is automatically truncated.
For example, here is the HTML embed code for a video from YouTube:
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5rFwzi4-oLo&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5rFwzi4-oLo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
To display this video in a slide you would paste the entire code snippet into the Video field on the Slide Content page.
If your video does not display on the Slide Content page, check to be sure your HTML is correct and well-formed. If you still have problems, you can try pasting your embed code into a text file outside of MapsAlive and verify that the video displays correctly before adding it to a slide. |
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| How do I embed an HTML document or web page in a slide? |
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You can embed an HTML document or web page in your slides by pasting the HTML code directly into your slide.
To embed an HTML document or web page, follow these steps:
- Click My Tours from any page.
This step takes you to the My Tours page.
- Click the tour thumbnail for the tour containing the page.
This step takes you to the Tour Manager page.
- Click the page thumbnail for the page with the slide you want to modify.
This step takes you to the Map page.
- Click the slide name in the Tour Navigator.
This step takes you to the Slide Content page.
- Choose Video from the Media dropdown on the Slide Content Page.
This step changes the slide type from Photo to Video and displays the Video field. Note that changing the slide type to Video removes the photo in the slide, if any.
- Paste your HTML code into the Video field and click Save.
This step saves your HTML and displays a preview of the your document or web page.
You can paste HTML for one of these tags: object, embed, applet, or iframe. You cannot use any other HTML tags and you can only include one complete tag per slide. Any HTML that appears after the closing tag for one of the supported tags is automatically truncated.
For example, here is the HTML code to embed the Google home page into a slide:
<iframe src="http://www.google.com" target="_blank" width="425" height="300"></iframe> |
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| Can I embed a Google map in a slide? |
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Yes, you can embed a live Google map in a slide! First you go to Google maps and search for the map location you are interested in, and then set the zoom level. You can get the HTML you need from the Google map site by clicking the "Link" link above the map on the right. Copy the HTML provided and paste the code into your slide. If your favorite map site provides similar HTML code you can embed other maps as well.
To embed a Google map, follow these steps:
- Click My Tours from any page.
This step takes you to the My Tours page.
- Click the tour thumbnail for the tour containing the page.
This step takes you to the Tour Manager page.
- Click the page thumbnail for the page with the slide you want to modify.
This step takes you to the Map page.
- Click the slide name in the Tour Navigator.
This step takes you to the Slide Content page.
- Choose Video from the Media dropdown on the Slide Content Page.
This step changes the slide type from Photo to Video and displays the Video field. Note that changing the slide type to Video removes the photo in the slide, if any.
- Paste the HTML code into the Video field and click Save.
This step saves your HTML and displays a preview of the Google map. |
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| Can I display multiple images on the same slide? |
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Yes, you can display multiple images on the same slide with the image-macro. By design, the Slide Content page only lets you upload one photo per slide, but if you want to display more than one image on a slide, you can embed them in the slide’s text field. This gives you more flexibility when creating slides, and is also useful if you are using a text-only slide layout, but have just one or two slides with images. See How do I use the image-macro? below. |
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| Can I integrate MapsAlive with my database? |
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MapsAlive does not support database access directly. However, you can display an HTML document or web page that accesses your database. For example, you could create a web page that pulls customer data from your database and displays it. Then you can embed your web page into a slide using an iframe tag. There are two methods:
1. Paste your HTML into the Video field on the Slide Content page. See How do I embed an HTML document or web page in a slide? above.
2. Use the iframe-macro in the Text field on the Slide Content pages. See How do I use the iframe-macro to embed an HTML document or web page? below.
When the mouse moves over the marker, your web page would display the latest data from your database in the slide.
New! The Live Data feature lets you access your own database through Javascript calls and view updated data in real time. Learn More. |
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| How do I get to the Slide Content page? |
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To get to the Slide Content page in the Tour Builder follow these steps:
- Click My Tours from any page.
This step takes you to the My Tours page.
- Click the tour thumbnail for the tour containing the page.
This step takes you to the Tour Manager page.
- Click the page thumbnail for the page with the slide you want to modify.
This step takes you to the Map page.
- Click the slide name in the Tour Navigator.
This step takes you to the Slide Content page. |
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| What are the Slide Macros? |
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MapsAlive supports several macros that let you easily insert images, links, and other objects in to the Text area of a slide. These macros can significantly increase the power and flexibility of your tour, making it easy to create richer text content without having to know HTML. You can use more than one macro to combine different kinds of content in the same slide. The following macros are supported and described in the following FAQ entries:
- flash-macro
- iframe-macro
- image-macro
- page-macro
- tour-macro
To use these macros you type them in the Text field on the Slide Content page. Refer to How do I get to the Slide Content page? and the specific entries for each kind of macro for more details. Learn more (download PDF). |
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| How do I use the flash-macro to add video to my slide? |
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You can embed a Flash video or movie in a slide with the flash-macro. A Flash video or movie embedded in a slide displays when the mouse moves over that marker on the map.
Use the flash-macro if you know the url, width and height of your Flash video. If you have the HTML embed code provided by many video hosting sites such as YouTube, you can use the Video field on the Slide Content page to paste your code directly into a slide. See How do I add video to a slide? above.
Note: Your Flash video must already be hosted on a server somewhere such as YouTube, Google video, or your own server. You cannot upload a flash movie directly to MapsAlive.
To use the flash-macro, go to the Slide Content page and type the macro in the Text field. The format of the flash-macro is:
[flash-macro src:URL; width:videoWidth; height:videoHeight]
URL – the url that describes the location of your flash video. Remember that your video or movie must be hosted on a server.
videoWidth – the width of your flash video or movie
videoHeight – the height of your flash video or movie
All of the parameters are required. If your video is hosted on YouTube you can get the url, width, and height by looking for the Embed field next to the video. You can copy the url, width, and height directly from the object tag. Other video hosting sites have similar fields.
This example embeds our floor plan demo video in a slide:
[flash-macro src:http://videos.mapsalive.com/floorplan/FloorPlanDemo.swf;width:640;height:400]
See also What are the Slide Macros? and How do I get to the Slide Content page?
Learn more (download PDF). |
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| How do I use the iframe-macro to embed an HTML document or web page? |
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You can display any HTML document in a slide with the iframe-macro. Some of the ways to use this macro include displaying another interactive MapsAlive tour within your slide (see also How do I use the tour-macro to display another tour in a slide?), displaying a web page that accesses data from your database, or displaying web pages or content that update frequently.
Important: Firefox on the Mac will not display the contents of an iframe in a popup slide correctly. If this is an issue for you, consider using the iframe-macro with fixed layout slides which does display correctly on all browsers.
To use the iframe-macro, go to the Slide Content page and type the macro in the Text field. The format of the iframe-macro is:
[iframe-macro src:URL; width:iframeWidth; height:iframeHeight]
URL – the url that describes the location of the HTML document or web page you want to embed.
iframeWidth – the width of the iframe
iframeHeight – the height of the iframe
All of the parameters are required. Be sure to specify a width and height sufficient to contain the content in the iframe. If the size is too small, your content will be clipped. The iframe-macro can be used to embed another interactive MapsAlive tour in a slide, but if the tour is in the same user account you can use the simpler tour-macro instead.
This example embeds the Google home page into a slide:
[iframe-macro src:http://www.google.com;width:510;height:350]
See also What are the Slide Macros? and How do I get to the Slide Content page?
Learn more (download PDF). |
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| How do I use the image-macro? |
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You can display multiple images on the same slide with the image-macro. By design, the Slide Content page only lets you upload one photo per slide, but if you want to display more than one image on a slide, you can embed them in the slide’s Text field. This gives you more flexibility when creating slides, and is also useful if you are using a text-only slide layout, but have just one or two slides with images.
Images referenced in the image-macro must be part of your MapsAlive tour. You must create a slide for each image you want to reference this way. Upload the image to the slide, but do not place its marker on the map. Then you can reference this slide in the macro so its image displays in the current slide. You reference a slide using the slide id which is found on the Slide Content page in the Advanced Options section.
You can use images from another page in your tour by specifying the page id along with the slide id. If you are going to use a number of images in this way you could create a separate MapsAlive page in your tour and add all these “placeholder” slides to that page, keeping them organized.
To use the image-macro, go to the Slide Content page and type the macro in the Text field. The format of the image-macro is:
[image-macro: slide-id:slideId; page-id:pageId; width:imageWidth; height:imageHeight]
slideId – the id of the slide containing the image you want to include in this slide.
pageId – the id of a page in the same tour that contains a slide with the image you want to include. This parameter is required if the image you are referencing is on another page. You do not need to specify this parameter if the image is part of a slide on the same page.
imageWidth – specifies how wide you want the image to display. This parameter is optional.
imageHeight – specifies how high you want the image to display. This parameter is optional.
If you do not specify a size for your image, MapsAlive will display the image at its full size up to the space available in your slide. You can restrict the size of the image by setting a width and height.
This example will embed the Living Room slide from the Second Floor page into the current slide and set its size to 300 x 200:
[image-macro slide-id:Living Room;page-id:Second Floor;width:300;height:200]
See also What are the Slide Macros? and How do I get to the Slide Content page?
Learn more (download PDF). |
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| How do I add a link to another page in my tour from a slide? |
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You can include a hyperlink to another page in your tour within the text of a slide with the page-macro. This allows users to navigate to other pages in your tour from a slide without using the built-in MapsAlive menu or a specific marker on your map.
To use the page-macro, go to the Slide Content page and type the macro in the Text field. The format of the page macro is:
[page-macro page-id:pageId; slide-id:slideId; link-text:linkText; tooltip-text:tooltipText]
pageId – the id of the page in your tour that is the destination of the hyperlink.
slideId – the id of a slide on the target page you want to be selected when the link is clicked. This parameter is optional.
linkText – the text string that you want to display as a hyperlink. This parameter is optional and if it is not specified, the link text defaults to the page name (for example, Page 1 or First Floor).
tooltipText – a text string that you want to display as a tooltip when the mouse moves over the link. This parameter is optional.
Example:
[page-macro link-text:Click to get directions;slide-id:Destination;page-id:Directions]
This will display Click to get directions in the slide text. When the link is clicked, the Directions page in the tour will be displayed and the Destination slide will be selected.
See also What are the Slide Macros? and How do I get to the Slide Content page?
Learn more (download PDF). |
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| How do I use the tour-macro to display another tour in a slide? |
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You can display another interactive MapsAlive tour within a slide using the tour-macro. The tour-macro makes it easy to embed a tour within a tour when you know the tour number and the tour is in the same MapsAlive account as the tour using the macro. If the tour you want to display is hosted somewhere other than the MapsAlive server, you can use the src parameter to specify the url.
Note: If you want to display a tour that is not part of your MapsAlive account, use the iframe-macro.
To use the tour-macro, go to the Slide Content page and type the macro in the Text field. The format of the tour-macro is:
[tour-macro tour:tourNumber; src:URL]
tourNumber – the number of a tour in your account.
URL – the url specifying the location of the tour specified by tournumber. This parameter is optional. If it is not specified, MapsAlive looks for the tour specified by tournumber in http://tour.mapsalive.com. If it is specified, MapsAlive looks for the tour at the location specified by URL.
MapsAlive uses the dimensions of the tour specified by tourNumber to set the size of the tour displayed in the slide.
This example results in tour number 2851 displaying within the text area of the current slide:
[tour-macro tour:2851]
This example results in tour number 2902 displaying within the text area of the current slide. In this case tour 2902 is hosted at www.myserver.com:
[tour-macro tour:2902;src:http://www.myserver.com/2902]
See also What are the Slide Macros? and How do I get to the Slide Content page?
Learn more (download PDF). |
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