The Parameters Explained             

Each of PictureWindow's parameters is explained below, with reference to the clickable example code in the left frame: you can click a parameter from the example code to jump to its explanation, or simply read this page from top to toe. As you read, click the red references to other parameters to jump to them.

Most of PictureWindow's parameters have a default setting which is mentioned below. If the default setting is the option you'd like to use in your own implementation, you can leave that parameter out of your HTML code.


Applet Width & Height
PictureWindow is a two-part applet: the clickable link and the image-window. The second of those is self-sizing and you never need to bother about it. All you're concerned with is getting the link to look and act as you'd like.

If you use a text or image link, the only reactive area of the applet is that containing the text or image itself. Any space around these is 'dead space'. So you want to minimize those applet dimensions. The easiest way to do that is to run the applet in your browser with Testmode set to 'yes', move the mouse inside the applet and read the dimensions from the statusbar. These are minimum dimensions, and depend to some degree on different browsers' interpretations of font sizes. We recommend testing the page in Netscape to ensure that everything is fully visible, since this browser has its own interpretation of just about everything.

If you use a button link, Testmode can't help you. Instead you'll have to use the standard 'trial-and-error' method of adjusting the size and taking a look until it's as small as you dare make it. As a tip, leave the BgColor set at something different from your page background while you do this so that you can see how close you're getting.

Image
PictureWindow's most important parameter, which specifies the name and location of the GIF or JPEG image that should be displayed in the picture-window when the link is clicked. If you enter just a filename, the browser will expect to find the image in the current document directory. You can also specify the image location by prefixing the filename with a relative location (such as ../images/picture.gif) or an absolute location (http://www.server.com/images/picture.jpg).

BgColor
Sets the background color of the applet. This will form the background to the text (if you use a textual link). It will fill the area surrounding the image if you use an image link and your applet dimensions are larger than the image dimensions. It will also fill the area around the button if you use a button link. The default value is FFFFFF (white).

If you use an image link and the image is a GIF with a transparency setting, the transparent color will be replaced by the BgColor.

WindowBgColor
The background color with which the picture-window will be filled, again with a default of FFFFFF (white). The window will be slightly larger than the Image, with the image centered in the window and this color visible around it.

Clickable
The parameter that lets you choose what should form the clickable link on the page. The default is a form-style button with the text 'Click Here' (which would be entered into this parameter as button|Click Here).

The parameter consists of two parts separated by a pipe symbol (|) and both parts must be included. The first part can be one of:

and these are not case sensitive. The second part depends upon your choice for the first. If you opted for 'text' or 'button', the second part specifies the text to be used, or the text to be placed on the button's label. If you opted for 'image', this part is where you provide the name (and absolute or relative location, if necessary) of the image to use, just as you did with the Image parameter.

If you use the 'image' option, the image will be placed in the top left corner of the applet area, and will not be scaled or altered in any way. The intention is that you would use a small and fast-loading icon here, perhaps a thumbnail version of the main Image to be displayed.

If you use the 'text' option, you can specify the font and mouse-reactive colors for the text using parameters explained below.

Testmode
A simple yes or no value for this one, according to whether Testmode should be switched on or off. By default it's off ('no'). When set to 'yes', moving the mouse inside the applet area will display the minimum applet dimensions required to display your text or image (as set in the Clickable parameter). This helps you avoid having dead space on the page, and saves the irritating trial-and-error process of resizing until the applet is large enough without being too large.

If you opted for the 'button' in the Clickable parameter, Testmode will not function. We can only recommend the irritating trial-and-error process advertized above.

After setting the applet dimensions as required, don't forget to reset this parameter to 'no', or remove it entirely!

Font
A comma-delimited string giving the name, style and size of the font you want to use if you opted for a 'text' link in the Clickable parameter. The default settings are Helvetica, in plain, at size 12, which would be written as Helvetica,plain,12. Two important things to note: first, there must be no spaces in this entry; second, the three items must appear in the order name,style,size. The style part of this setting can be plain, bold, italic or bolditalic, and these are not case-sensitive. If you didn't opt for a text link, this parameter is ignored.

TextColor
The color of the text when unfocussed (the mouse isn't over it) if you opted for a 'text' link in the Clickable parameter. The default is 000000 (black). If you didn't opt for a text link, this parameter is ignored.

TextFocusColor
The color of the text when focussed (the mouse is over it) if you opted for a 'text' link in the Clickable parameter.. The default is 0000CC (blue). If you didn't opt for a text link, this parameter is ignored.

TextPressedColor
The color of the text when clicked if you opted for a 'text' link in the Clickable parameter. The default is CC0000 (red). If you didn't opt for a text link, this parameter is ignored.




































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