THE JAVA APPLETS ANY SERIOUS WEB DESIGNER SHOULD HAVE

INTRODUCTION

Let nature do your work! In this tree menu, each menu item is formed by lightning strikes. The applet has the following features:

• Menu items support descriptions and URLs. One target frame is supported.
• The menu is a tree menu and you can have an unlimited number of branches and leafs.
• If the menu item dimensions extends far from the applets, then scrolling functions will be enabled automatically.
• Supports a background image. The background image can optionally be made to scroll with the menu items.
• Specify font type, font size and font style.
• You can specify the lightning colors, text color, item selection color, background color and description color.
• The sound can be disabled.
• Compatible with any Java compatible browser.

Before using this applet you must read the license agreement.

APPLET INFORMATION

DEPENDENT FILES

The following files must be included with the applet in order for it to function properly:

mmlightningmenu.class, mmlightningmenuitem.class, lightning.au

GENERAL PARAMETERS

This applet is configurable with normal HTML applet parameters. The first thing that must be done is to configure the applet main tags:

<APPLET CODE="mmlightningmenu.class" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=160>
</APPLET>

As you can see, the size in the example is 200x160 pixels. You can change the dimensions to whatever size you wish. However, you take note that sometimes a big applet requires more processing power which may be hard for some computers. The following parameters may not be changed:

<PARAM name="mandomartis0" 
value="This is an applet from Anibal's Essential Applets package">
<PARAM name="mandomartis1" 
value="It was developed by Anibal Wainstein / Mandomartis">
<PARAM name="mandomartis2" 
value="Get it at http://www.mandomartis.com/essentialapplets/">

These are Mandomartis credits are are used to identify the applet. The following parameter controls the general frame delay in milliseconds, and thus the frames per second (FPS). The default value is 70:

<PARAM name="delay" value="70">

COPY PROTECTING THE APPLET, THE HOSTNAME AND FILENAME PARAMETERS

The applet is a commercial applet and must therefore be copy protected for your server, so that no one can take the applet and use it for his/hers homepage. There are two parameters that handles this, the encrypted "hostname" and "filename" parameters. What happens is that the applet reads the hidden host name and file name in these parameters and compares it to the server name and file name that it is imbedded in. If they do not match, then the applet will not work. Note that with "filename" we mean both the filename AND the path to the file. Let us take an example:

Let us assume that the URL where the applet will be located is:

http://www.myhostname.com/myapplet/help.html

The host name in this case happens to be "http://www.myhostname.com"
and the filename is "/myapplet/help.html".

The hostname and filename parameters does not have to be exact.
So the possible host names could be "www.myhostname.com", 
"myhostname" or "myhostname.com". While filename could be 
"myapplet", "myapplet/help.html", "help.html" or just "help". 
For the applet the hostname and filename parameters are search 
keywords that are use search in those two strings
 

Please note that in the example above we have not specified the "http://". You must not do that. You should know that the hostname and filename part of the url where the applet is inbedded in must be specified separately. Also the hostname must be more than 4 charaters long.

You can specify several hostnames and filenames if your homepage files can be reached from two or more different servers or from several mirror sites. Suppose that you have a company and you have your own hostname, e.g. "www.yourcompany.com". You have an Internet provider named "internetprovider" as well. Visitors can then access your file through your host "www.yourcompany.com/myfile.html" and through your Internet provider "www.internetprovider.com/yourcompany/myfile.html". The first hostname could be "www.yourcompany.com" and the second "www.internetprovider.com". The filenames could both be "myfile.html.".

As we said earlier the hostname and filename are encrypted. Therefore you must use the encoder applet for each applet and enter the hostname or filename there. You have two fields there where you can write each hostname and filename. The resulting HTML parameter content can then be pasted into the HTML page. The resulting HTML code could look like this:

<PARAM name="hostname0" value="~y31u:PR.FrazjkRsfPhh+k">
<PARAM name="hostname1" value="dl34jk-d~sa:fas">
<PARAM name="filename0" value="dy">
<PARAM name="filename1" value="sadf:ds/dsfa">

To run the encoder applet that was included in the package, you open the HTML file "encoder.html" in your favourite web browser.

The last thing you should know is that if you have put the applet on an URL called "http://www.yourhost.com/index.html" then you must specify a slash "/" as filename. Because you can reach this URL by writing "http://www.yourhost.com/" and "http://www.yourhost.com/index.html". By writing a slash "/" you cover both possibilities. Here are more examples of hostname and filename specifications:

Your URL:                  http://www.hellespoint.com/
Recommended hostname:      hellespoint
Recommended filename:      /

Your URL:                  http://www.larshomepage.com/products.html
Recommended hostname:      larshomepage
Recommended filename:      products.html

Your URL:                  http://henkesimage.sweden.se/list/
Recommended hostname:      henkesimage.sweden
Recommended filename:      list

Your URL:                  http://myhost.lnet.com/~john/home.html
Recommended hostname:      myhost.lnet.com
Recommended filename:      ~john/home.html

The applet will "see" what you see in the adress field on your browser when you enter your homepage. As long as you remember this you will be able to configure the applet without problems. Note also that you must have the exact number of hostnames and filenames for else the applet will not work (one filename for each hostname).

SETTING UP THE MENU ITEMS WITH DESCRIPTIONS, URLS AND A TARGET FRAME

When you write the menu items you should note that this is a tree menu. Let us say that you want to have a top item called "Products", under that item there will be three products available, "product 1", "product 2" and "product 3". These are called subitems and they will appear when you click the "Products" item. The configuration for these items would look like this:

<PARAM name="item-0" value="Products">
<PARAM name="item-0-0" value="Product 1">
<PARAM name="item-0-1" value="Product 2">
<PARAM name="item-0-2" value="Product 3">

As you see the subitems also have the first index 0, this is to indicate that they are subitems for "item-0". Now let us further assume that there are several types of "Product 2" (the parametere "item-0-1"). Then we should write the parameters like this:

<PARAM name="item-0" value="Products">
<PARAM name="item-0-0" value="Product 1">
<PARAM name="item-0-1" value="Product 2">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-0" value="Product 2A">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-1" value="Product 2B">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-2" value="Product 2C">
<PARAM name="item-0-2" value="Product 3">

Here the "Product 2A", "Product 2B", "Product 2C" are subitems to "Product 2". Now say that you want a second top level item called "Contact us", under that top level item there should be email's to the sales section and to the development section of your company. We also add another top level item called "Goodbye". The items could therefor look like this:

<PARAM name="item-0" value="Products">
<PARAM name="item-0-0" value="Product 1">
<PARAM name="item-0-1" value="Product 2">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-0" value="Product 2A">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-1" value="Product 2B">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-2" value="Product 2C">
<PARAM name="item-0-2" value="Product 3">
<PARAM name="item-1" value="Contact us">
<PARAM name="item-1-0" value="Contact our sales section">
<PARAM name="item-1-1" value="Contact our developers">
<PARAM name="item-2" value="Goodbye">

If you take a close look at the parameters here above then you will notice that the items actually are ordered like the menu structure that you want in your menu. It could be a good idea to organize the parameters this way, it gives you a better overview of the menu. The same system of adding items is applied for the item descriptions ("description") and the URLs ("url"), you should write these parameters under each associated item parameter in order to preserve the structure:

<PARAM name="item-0" value="Products">
<PARAM name="description-0" value="Take a look at our 3 products">
<PARAM name="url-0" value="">
<PARAM name="item-0-0" value="Product 1">
<PARAM name="description-0-0" value="Buy this product for just $1">
<PARAM name="url-0-0" value="http://www.ahost.com/product1.html">
<PARAM name="item-0-1" value="Product 2">
<PARAM name="description-0-1" value="We have 3 types">
<PARAM name="url-0-1" value="">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-0" value="Product 2A">
<PARAM name="description-0-1-0" value="Buy Product 2A for just $2">
<PARAM name="url-0-1-0" value="http://www.ahost.com/product2A.html">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-1" value="Product 2B">
<PARAM name="description-0-1-1" value="Buy Product 2B for just $3">
<PARAM name="url-0-1-1" value="http://www.ahost.com/product2B.html">
<PARAM name="item-0-1-2" value="Product 2C">
<PARAM name="description-0-1-2" value="Buy Product 2C for just $4">
<PARAM name="url-0-1-2" value="http://www.ahost.com/product2C.html">
<PARAM name="item-0-2" value="Product 3">
<PARAM name="description-0-2" value="Buy Product 3 for just $9">
<PARAM name="url-0-2" value="http://www.ahost.com/product3.html">
<PARAM name="item-1" value="Contact us">
<PARAM name="description-1" value="Give us your feedback!">
<PARAM name="url-1" value="">
<PARAM name="item-1-0" value="Contact our sales section">
<PARAM name="description-1-0" value="Click here to email sales!">
<PARAM name="url-1-0" value="mailto:sales@ahost.com">
<PARAM name="item-1-1" value="Contact our developers">
<PARAM name="description-1-1" value="Email the developers!">
<PARAM name="url-1-1" value="mailto:developers@ahost.com">
<PARAM name="item-2" value="Goodbye">
<PARAM name="description-2" value="Click here to say goodbye!">
<PARAM name="url-2" value="http://www.ahost.com/goodbye.html">

The content of each "description" parameter will be displayed when you move the mouse pointer across the area where the associated item is. If you click on that item then the applet will jump to the associated URL. Note that some of the items have no URLs associated with them, this is because the URL in an item that has subitems will not be used. Note the "http://" and the host on each URL. You MUST specify full URLs. Relative URLs will not work with this applet.

To specify the target frame that you want the URLs to be invoked on you write the name of the frame in the following parameter:

<PARAM name="target" value="mylittleframe">

If a target frame name has been specified then all the URLs will be invoked on that specific frame. The values "_top", "_self", "_left" and so on, are standard built-in HTML target frames.

SELECTING COLORS

With the "textcolor" parameter you can specify the color of the menu items:

<PARAM name="textcolor" value="ffff00">

When you move the mouse pointer across a menu item, then the color specified in the "selectedtextcolor" will be activated.

<PARAM name="selectedtextcolor" value="000000">

The "backgroundcolor" will only be used if you do not use a background image.

<PARAM name="backgroundcolor" value="000000">

The "decriptiontextcolor" is the color that the description text will have. The "descriptionbackgroundcolor" is the background color of the description text bar.

<PARAM name="descriptiontextcolor" value="00ff00">
<PARAM name="descriptionbackgroundcolor" value="00007f">

With the "lightningcolor0" and "lightningcolor1" you can change the color of the lightning ray. The "lightningcolor0" parameter is used to specify the inner color in the ray beam and the "lightningcolor1" parameter is used to specify the outer color.

<PARAM name="lightningcolor0" value="ffffff">
<PARAM name="lightningcolor1" value="00007f">

FONT PARAMETERS

The font parameters affect the font type ("font" parameter), font size ("fontsize" parameter) and the font style ("bold" and "italic" parameters):

<PARAM name="font" value="Helvetica">
<PARAM name="fontsize" value="16">
<PARAM name="bold" value="no">
<PARAM name="italic" value="yes">

The font types can be "TimesRoman", "Helvetica", "Courier" and "Dialog". If you want the font style to be bold or italic then specify the value "Yes" on these parameters.

OTHER PARAMETERS

The background image can be specified by the "backgroundimage" parameter:

<PARAM name="backgroundimage" value="background.gif"> 

This parameter overrides the "backgroundcolor" parameter's effect if you specify it. By leaving this parameter blank you can disable the background image and use the background color instead. Note that the background image must have at least as large as the applet window.

The background image can be set to scroll together with the menu items by setting the parameter "scrollbackgroundimage" to "yes":

<PARAM name="scrollbackgroundimage" value="no">

However, please note that if the background image is too small, then the scrolling can lead to strange effects on the menu outskirts.

You can disable the sound effect by specifying "yes" or "no" in the "soundon" parameter:

<PARAM name="soundon" value="yes">

The "itemdisplacement" parameter is used to displace each menu item in the horizontal direction and thus giving the appearance of a menu structure.

<PARAM name="itemdisplacement" value="12">

The "descriptiontextspeed is used to set the description text scrolling speed:

<PARAM name="descriptiontextspeed" value="5">

Use the "scrollspeedx" and "scrollspeedy" parameters to increase menu scrolling speed. These parameters will be used when the menu it to large to fit in the applet window:

<PARAM name="scrollspeedx" value="10">
<PARAM name="scrollspeedy" value="10">

If you set the parameter "reanimatesubitems" to "yes", then the lightning will reform the sub items each time you open a parent item. If you set this to "no", then closing a parent item and then opening it again will not cause the sub items to be animated again.

<PARAM name="reanimatesubitems" value="yes">       

If you set the parameter "closesubitems" to "yes", then the whole menu structure under a parent item will be closed.

<PARAM name="closesubitems" value="yes">

EXAMPLE OF A FULL CONFIGURATION

The following HTML text is an example of an applet configuration:

<APPLET CODE="mmlightningmenu.class" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=160>
<PARAM name="mandomartis0" 
value="This is an applet from Anibal's Essential Applets package">
<PARAM name="mandomartis1" 
value="It was developed by Anibal Wainstein / Mandomartis">
<PARAM name="mandomartis2" 
value="Get it at http://www.mandomartis.com/essentialapplets/">
<PARAM name="hostname0" value="9lZbt3Y2SCnMi5=Vx=WC">
<PARAM name="filename0" value="!l">
<PARAM name="delay" value="90">
<PARAM name="font" value="Helvetica">
<PARAM name="fontsize" value="14">
<PARAM name="bold" value="no">
<PARAM name="italic" value="yes">
<PARAM name="backgroundimage" value="lightningmenuback.jpg">
<PARAM name="textcolor" value="000000">
<PARAM name="backgroundcolor" value="00007f">
<PARAM name="descriptiontextcolor" value="ffffff">
<PARAM name="descriptionbackgroundcolor" value="00007f">
<PARAM name="selectedtextcolor" value="ff00ff">
<PARAM name="lightningcolor0" value="ffffff">
<PARAM name="lightningcolor1" value="00007f">
<PARAM name="descriptiontextspeed" value="5">
<PARAM name="scrollspeedx" value="10">
<PARAM name="scrollspeedy" value="10">
<PARAM name="itemdisplacement" value="12">
<PARAM name="reanimatesubitems" value="yes">
<PARAM name="closesubitems" value="yes">
<PARAM name="soundon" value="yes">
<PARAM name="scrollbackgroundimage" value="no">
<PARAM name="item-0" value="Mainpage">
<PARAM name="description-0" 
value="Click here to go to the main page.">
<PARAM name="url-0" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/essentialapplets/clickpage.html">
<PARAM name="item-1" value="Products">
<PARAM name="description-1" value="Our products.">
<PARAM name="url-1" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/essentialapplets/clickpage.html">
<PARAM name="item-1-0" value="Anibal's Essential Applets">
<PARAM name="description-1-0" 
value="The applets any serious web designer should have.">
<PARAM name="url-1-0" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/essentialapplets/">
<PARAM name="item-1-1" value="Anibal's Violent Playground">
<PARAM name="description-1-1" value="Violent Freeware applets.">
<PARAM name="url-1-1" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/violentplayground/">
<PARAM name="item-1-2" value="Games For Rent">
<PARAM name="description-1-2" value="Play online Java games.">
<PARAM name="url-1-2" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/gamesforrent/">
<PARAM name="item-1-2-0" value="MMShipMarauder">
<PARAM name="description-1-2-0" 
value="Blast those ships to pieces!">
<PARAM name="url-1-2-0" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/gamesforrent/mmshipmarauder/">
<PARAM name="item-1-3" value="Online Courses">
<PARAM name="description-1-3" value="Learn Java for free.">
<PARAM name="url-1-3" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/onlinecourses/">
<PARAM name="item-1-3-0" 
value="Course in Special Effects and Game Programming in Java">
<PARAM name="description-1-3-0" 
value="Learn how to make Java games and effects.">
<PARAM name="url-1-3-0" 
value="http://www.mandomartis.com/onlinecourses/">
<PARAM name="item-2" value="Contact us">
<PARAM name="description-2" value="Give us your feedback.">
<PARAM name="url-2" value="mailto:info@mandomartis.com">
<PARAM name="item-3" value="Recommended sites">
<PARAM name="description-3" value="The best sites we know.">
<PARAM name="url-3" value="">
<PARAM name="item-3-0" value="Johnston Resource Links">
<PARAM name="description-3-0" 
value="The best webmaster links on the Internet, 1800+ links!">
<PARAM name="url-3-0" 
value="http://www.xcelco.on.ca/~johnston/htmllinks.html">
<PARAM name="item-3-1" value="Javahuset">
<PARAM name="description-3-1" 
value="Scandinavias Greates Java and Javascript resource site!">
<PARAM name="url-3-1" value="http://www2.passagen.se/javahuset/">
<PARAM name="item-3-2" value="Plutonium Software">
<PARAM name="description-3-2" 
value="The world leading Java developer, Tonny Espeset's company!">
<PARAM name="url-3-2" value="http://www.plutoniumsoftware.com/">
</APPLET>

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