What are MMF files?

Every People 3.0 user has seen the HTML feature in the program. It enables users to quickly create a "Meet My Friends" section for on their homepage / Company IntraNet. Since the Update has been I've had a couple of requests to add other "Templates" to the HTML program. The "Templates" were coded into the program, not really accessable to users.

Now I'm working on the MMF files, MMF actually stands for "Meet My Friends". These are user-defined HTML files with special TAGS.

The MMF Tags

The MMF Tags represent a field from the People Database. By making MMF files for use with the HTML Creation program you'll make your live a whole lot easier.

Imagine: you have a database of 100 chatfriends and now you want to make a "Meet My Friends" section on your site. You want to include everybody you know, including pictures, E-Mail address and homepage addy along with some extra information about that person.

You know this is going to take days to create... NO... it will only take you about half an hour to create a "Meet My Friends" section on your site (I assume you already have collected all the info in the People database). All you do is the following...

  • Create a page with a standard HTML creation program, like frontpage.. so that you'll get the page the way you want it. (this will take you about 29 minutes ;)
  • Change the tags a bit... an example:

    Made by Frontpage:

    <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2415"><IMG SRC="Arjen.JPG">Arjen Wiersma</A>

  • Open the file in a text editor like NotePad and change the above to the following:

    <A HREF="<!--#Homepage-->"><IMG SRC="<!--#Photo-->"><!--#First--> <!--#Last--></A>

  • Save the file as Homepage.MMF

    This is all there is to it... now you load the People / MMF program and as Template file select Homepage.MMF... and press CONVERT... you will have a 100 page "Meet My Friends" section on your homepage within a couple of seconds... You only need to design a page once and after you've created your 100 page site the MMF file will still be unchanged and available to you the next time you want to update your site

    As you can see, The fieldnames from the database are represented by tags. Down here you'll find a complete list of fields and their tags.

    CAUTION The tags are Case Sensitive... they have to be put into the MMF document the way they are written down here...

    FieldTAG
    First Name <!--#First-->
    Last Name <!--#Last-->
    Nickname 1 <!--#Nick-->
    Nickname 2 <!--#Nick2-->
    Homepage <!--#Homepage-->
    E Mail address <!--#EMail-->
    Extra info <!--#Extra-->
    Picture / Photo<!--#Photo-->
    ICQ <!--#ICQ-->
    Address <!--#Address-->
    Zipcode <!--#Zip-->
    City <!--#City-->
    State <!--#State-->
    Country <!--#Country-->
    Phone <!--#Phone-->
    Date Of Birth <!--#DoB-->
    Credits <!--#Credit1--> ( the first line )
    <!--#Credit2--> ( the second line )
    Back button link <!--#Back-->

    As you can see, there is also a NON database tag... <!--#Credit1--> and <!--#Credit1-->.... these tags give you control over where you want to put a link to the PEOPLE SUPPORT PAGE... I let people use this program for free, but in return I would really appreciate a link back to the program's support page... fair enough hey?

    Pictures?? Photo's?? where do i keep them??

    If you use People to store the info on your friends, then you've probably put a picture of that friend in there too... now you can delete the original picture from your harddisk coz People doesn't need it anymore... every time you create a "Meet My Friends" page the program recreates the picture from the picture that is stored in the database.

    The program makes an JPG picture... *not* GIF coz of licensing problems... they want $$$$ and I don't have $$$$ to spend on the rights to use the format!!... I'm better of spending it on something more usefull.... Anyways... One of the parameters is also a Image directory... if that is set the program will store the pictures there...

    Hope this will help you a bit... it's all of the documentation I have at the moment... feel free to add to it as you see fit...

    See ya Martijn.... (^^^^^^^ This is taken from the original E-Mail)