[TMF] Add a bookmark button on your Manialink (XML)

[gouxim]

1 - Introduction

You can add a bookmark button on your Manialink for people to add your Manialink in their bookmarks. The button looks like this:



In this guide we will see how to add such a button on your Manialink by using XML code only. Everything is based on a Manialink Include, you just need to specify the right URL. Let's see how!

Looking for the same feature with the ManiaHome PHP Library?
Check out this tutorial!

2 - Simple button

At least, you need to specify the code/url of your Manialink. Let's take an example with "maniapub" (change maniapub with whatever your Manialink is!). The code is very simple. Just put it in your page where you want to display the button.

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=maniapub"/>

3 - Button with a formatted name

You can also specify the name of your Manialink using special characters. Let's take an example with the manialink "maniapub" and it's name "$i$F60ManiaPub" (change maniapub and the formatted name with whatever your Manialink is!). The code is the same but we add the "name" parameter. Note that parameters are not separated by "&" but by "&". This because the URL is XML-escaped.

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=maniapub&name=%24i%24F60ManiaPub"/>

You just saw something weird didn't you? I wrote "$i$F60ManiaPub" before, and "%24i%24F60ManiaPub" in the URL above. Okay, this is important so I'll write it with big letters:
URL-ENCODE YOUR PARAMETERS BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN THE URL!

URL-encoding is very simple. Here's a tool to do that: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/dencoder/

4 - Button with an image

You can change the default image that is associated with the bookmarks page on ManiaHome. To do that, you need to specify the "picture" parameter in the URL. Let's take an example with "manialive" and its beautiful banner (courtesy of aseco ):

Only JPG and PNG are supported now. DDS is not supported anymore!

Our three parameters (url, name, picture) are:

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manialive
$i$F60ManiaLive
http://manialink.manialive.com/images/manialive_bookmark.png

In case you missed the sentance the first time:
URL-ENCODE YOUR PARAMETERS BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN THE URL!

So those three parameters once encoded are:

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manialive
%24i%24F60ManiaLive
http%3A%2F%2Fmanialink.manialive.com%2Fimages%2Fmanialive_bookmark.png

And then we just need to put everything in the URL of the include:

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=manialive&name=%24i%24F60ManiaLive&picture=http%3A%2F%2Fmanialink.manialive.com%2Fimages%2Fmanialive_bookmark.png"/>

[Electron]

It works. But how to position the bookmark button on the Manialink?

The following Manialink shows the bookmark button always centered behind the text (or other elements).

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manialink>
  <type>default</type>
  <format textsize="2" textcolor="900f"></format>
  <background bgcolor="ffcf" bgborderx="2" bgbordery="1.5"></background>
  <line>
    <cell>
      <text halign="center">Some text</text>
    </cell>
  </line>
  <include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=Electron"/>
</manialink>

When i attempt to position the button like following, it does not load.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manialink>
  <type>default</type>
  <format textsize="2" textcolor="900f"></format>
  <background bgcolor="ffcf" bgborderx="2" bgbordery="1.5"></background>
  <line>
    <cell>
      <text halign="center">Some text</text>
    </cell>
  </line>
  <line height="0.05">
    <cell></cell>
  </line>
  <line>
    <cell>
      <include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=Electron"/>
    </cell>
  </line>
</manialink>

[gouxim]

I am not sure what's the beaviour when you mix old-style manialink code with the most recent manialink format. Bear in mind that the include tag will include new-style manialink code.

Basically when you make the include the game just replace the include tag with the code of the include. So in your case the code is:

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<frame>
  <quad sizen="20 5" manialink="maniahome?authentication=1&ml-
    forcepathinfo=%2Fbookmarks%2Fadd%2F&name=&
    url=Electron&picture=&1886542185="
    image="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/images/favAdd.dds" 
    imagefocus="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/images/favAdd_focus.dds"/>
</frame> 

So it just create a 20x5 quad where the include is. When you use the new manialink format, to position the button in your page, you can use a frame, like this:

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<frame posn="12 -24 1">
    <include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=Electron"/>
</frame>

[Electron]

Using the frame element to position the button works. Thank you!

But i have still a problem. My user-defined picture is not shown...

The ratio of the banner must be of four to one (mine is 300x75) and JPG, PNG and DDS file formats are supportet, right?

I can change the formatting/coloring of the ManiaLink URL (second param) and immediate can see the results. But no banner picture... Here is my Manialink code:

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<frame pos="0.155 -0.67 -0.75"> 
<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=GbxDump&name=%24i%24ff3GbxDump&picture=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolfgang-rolke.de%2Fmisc%2Fgbxdump.png"/>
</frame>

[gouxim]

Actually only JPG and PNG are supported (DDS is not supported anymore), I updated the guide accordingly.

There may be a small bug with image, I'll look into it next week.

[Manowar_bg]

Hi
I try to do this but don't works.My Manialink is TrackManiaManowar

I try with this codes:

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=trackmaniamanowar"/>

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add.php?name=[TrackManiaManowar]&url=[TrackManiaManowar]&picture=[urlimage.jp]"/>

[gouxim]

Hi
I try to do this but don't works.

The right code is the first one:

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=trackmaniamanowar"/>

If you want to add a picture:

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<include url="http://maniahome.trackmania.com/add/?url=trackmaniamanowar&picture=http%3A%2F%2Furl.com%2Fof%2Fyour%2Fpicture.jpg"/>

If you still have an error, tell me the exact time at which the error happend to I can check the error logs.

[Manowar_bg]

thanx,now it works

[TStarGermany]

Is this already functional for TM2 ? I just wonder, I always get a "Cannot retrieve the Manialink. http error 403".

[farfa]

We are working on it. It will be back very soon