The art of the graceful exit
You can probably figure this out without help, but let's go through it anyway. What we're talking about is how to go about dismissing the main engenu editor.
Who doesn't know how to dismiss a window on the web? You just hit the "back" button, right?
Not in engenu.
We're deliberately not using any Javascript on the editing side of engenu. What that means is that we have no way of knowing if anything has been changed or not. The default presumption, when you enter the main editor, is that the page has been changed. In consequence, if you enter a folder then immediately click on the "back" button, the stoplight for that folder will change to red, even if it had been green before. You'll have to go back in and exit gracefully to get it back to green. Might as well learn how to exit gracefully in the first place, no?
But that doesn't mean you have to be a button-pusher.
engenu is nothing but HTML forms, really. You deal with forms on the internet all the time, and they all pretty much work the same way. engenu splits its forms across multiple pages -- so as not to overwhelm you with one really huge and ugly form -- but forms are forms.So: How do you dismiss a form? The fastest way is to type "Return or "Enter" in any one-line text box. You can "Tab" and "Shift-Tab" your way through any form, anyway, and you should learn how to do this in engenu -- very fast for editing captions or sidebar links. But when you're done, you're done.
In a sub-editor, typing " Return or "Enter" in a one-line text box will save your work but it won't dismiss the sub-editor. You'll have to close the window by clicking on the X-box or using the keyboard equivalent command.
In the main editor, typing " Return or " Enter" in a one-line text box is the exact equivalent of clicking on the "Save and Exit" button -- which will be discussed below.
Let's push the buttons anyway...
In a minute, we'll go through the logic of the four buttons you will see at the bottom of the main editor window.
But first: Let's back-up a minute:
When you enter an engenu folder from the index page, engenu makes a back-up copy of each of its own PHP files -- if any exist in the folder at the point. At that one moment, the live versions of those files and the back-ups will be identical.
Save and Exit
This will update all of engenu's PHP files -- the live versions, not the back-ups -- and then exit back to the index page for that hierarchy of folders. The stoplight for that particular folder should be green. From there, you can proceed to the next page you plan to edit.Save and Continue
As with Save and Exit, all engenu's PHP files are updated. But instead of exiting the editor, it refreshes in place. At the top of the editor window, a link will offer to let you "Preview Saved Changes" -- which will open a preview of the current state of that page in a new browser window or tab.What's the point of this? So that you can see what you are doing -- in case you want to do something differently. Particularly in the case of resequencing photos, Save and Continue can save you a lot of time.
When you're finished editing, you'll need to Save and Exit.
Abandon Changes
This will take you back out to the index for that hierarchy without saving any of the changes you have made in the main editor. If you have made changes in the sidebar or supplemental sidebar editors, those will be retained.Restore Previous Version
This will copy the most recently saved set of back-up files back out onto the respective PHP files. If you've really screwed something up, this will get you back to your most-recently saved version.Note that the Restore Previous Version button will only show if there is a previous version to be restored. If no back-up has been saved yet, there is nothing to back-up to.