Using imagemaps

Big Sister supports graphical image maps since version 0.22. To use this feature follow this procedure:

  1. check if you've installed the Perl module GD.pm

  2. create a background image you want to place your status lights on (e.g. a geographical map) and save it as a GIF, PNG or JPEG, e.g. display_map.png

    [Note]Note

    Older versions of GD only support GIF while newer versions support PNG and JPEG!

  3. think about what you'd like to display on the image map. Note that you need to have a group for any of the buttons that should appear on the map. So configure the necessary groups in bb-display.cfg

  4. think about where to place the buttons in the image map and get the display coordinates (sorry, you have to use your tools for that, but this should be not too much work)

  5. create an image map config file, e.g. display_map.cfg. It could look like:
    # read the background image from adm/display_map.png
           
    template        adm/display_map.png
    
           
    # use the png stat*.png for red/yellow/green/purple
    # status
            
    red           www/skins/default/statred.png
    yellow        www/skins/default/statyellow.png
    green         www/skins/default/statgreen.png
    purple        www/skins/default/statpurple.png
    clear         www/skins/default/statclear.png
    blue          www/skins/default/statblue.png
    
               
    # display status of group GENF at display coordinates
    # 15,308, etc.
            
    at              15,308  GENF
    at              80,238  LAUSANNE
            
            
     # include a custom link/icon
    # link          90,238 http://myweb.com/lausanne/ adm/lausanneicon.png
    # dump the resulting image out to www/map.png
            
    dump            www/map.png        
            
           

    [Note]Note

    The generated image will be called www/mapxx.png, where xx is a sequence number hold in adm/display_map.cfg.seq

  6. in adm/bb-display.cfg add the line %image some.path/display_map.cfg to the %Page statement you want to appear the map in.