Omni Scroller 2 Applet Documentation

Version 1.1 release (13 September 98)

©Copyright George Eleftheriou 1998

Contents

License agreement
Applet overview
Applet Files
Applet Parameters
Explanation of Applet tags
Examples
Browser compatibility

You may use this program free of charge only for Non Commercial purposes. Please read the license agreement for non commercial sites. If your site is commercial you need to purchase a license. Please read the license agreement for commercial sites.

Applet Overview

Omni Scroller 2 Applet is a small and fast loading applet that scrolls arbritrary number of text messages in any of the four directions: UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, or makes text fade in and out. The difference with omni scroller is that text can come in and out from different directions and stays centered for a specified time. Each text message can be associated with a URL. Font size, font name, font style, background and text color, speed of scrolling are fully customizable.

Applet files

Omniscroller2.class (10k)

Applet Parameters

TextToDisplay contains the text messages you want to display. Each string must be separated with semicolon ";". The LAST string must NOT have a semicolon

URLtoDisplay is the URLs that correspond to the above text messages.The number of text messages and URLs must be the same. Each URL must be separated with semicolon ";". The LAST URL must NOT have a semicolon. URLs must be absolute, not relative.

Direction_in: Controls how each message will scroll till it reach the center. It can be UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, FADE_IN. These values correspond to the above text messages and must be separated with semicolon ";". The last value must NOT have a ";".

Direction_out: Controls how each message will scroll from the center out of the applet's area.It can be UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, FADE_OUT. These values correspond to the above text messages and must be separated with semicolon ";". The last value must NOT have a ";".

bgCOLOR is the background color of the applet. All colors are defined as triples of R,G,B values where 0<=R,G,B<=255. All values zero "0,0,0" indicate black, all values 255 indicate white. To help you choose colors quickly and easily I created the RGB applet.
textCOLOR is the color of text
textCOLOR2 is the color of text when the mouse is over the applet.
Delay is the number in milliseconds between frames
Delay2 is the number in milliseconds that each text message stays centered.
Step The number of pixels the text will scroll at each frame.
FontSize is the font size
FontName is the name of the font. If you don't know what fonts your java support, use my Fonts applet which is provided freely. Common fonts are: "TimesRoman", "Arial" and "Helvetica".
FontStyle: the style can be "PLAIN" or "BOLD" or "ITALIC", or "BOLDandITALIC". Default is "BOLD".This means that if you don't specify this parameter, or if you specify it wrong, fontstyle will be "BOLD"
Target can have any of the values "_self", "_parent", "_top", "_blank" or the name of the frame you want the URL to appear. This target will apply for all URLs.Default is "_blank".The meaning of each target is explained below(this part is taken from java documentation):
- "_self" : Show in the window and frame that contain the applet.
- "_parent" " Show in the applet's parent frame. If the applet's frame has no parent frame, acts the same as "_self".
- "_top" : Show in the top-level frame of the applet's window. If the applet's frame is the top-level frame, acts the same as "_self".
- "_blank": Show in a new, unnamed top-level window.
- name : Show in the frame or window named name. Please note that names don't have to start with "_". If a target named name does not already exist, a new top-level window with the specified name is created, and the document is shown there.
Author and Email do not affect your applet and must not be changed

Important note: When you name your frames, don't start their name with "_". IE4 has a problem with that.

Explanation of Applet Tags

Each applet is characterised by a pair of tags: "<applet>" and "</applet>". The applet must be contained in the body section of the html document. The applet tag must at least specify the "CODE", "WIDTH", and "HEIGHT" modifieres. In addition it can have other modifiers like "CODEBASE" and parameters. For example

Your browser doesn't support Java or Java is not enabled.

</APPLET>

CODE tells the browser which is the main class (An applet can comprise many class files)
CODEBASE tells the browser in which directory are the class files. In this example we have a dot, which means the current directory. We could also have stated CODEBASE="classes/" which means that the class files are located in a directory called classes relative to the directory of your html document. The URL of your html document is called documentbase. If CODEBASE="../classes/" this means that the class files are in a directory named classes relative to the parent directory of your html document.If CODEBASE and DOCUMENTBASE are the same, that is the class files exist in the same directory with the html doucument, then CODEBASE can be omitted.
WIDTH and HEIGHT specify in Pixels the amount of space the browser will devote to the applet.
PARAM, short for parameters, is used to pass information to applets. This information can be the text you want to appear in the applet, the URL links, the colors etc. Each parameter has a name and a value. Names are not case sensitive but Values are. This means that "FileName" is the same as "FILENAME" but "message.txt" is Not the same as "MESSAGE.txt". It is always a good practise and some times necessary to include the name and value of parameters in quotes
The line "Your browser doesn't support Java or Java is not enabled." will appear in the place of the applet if java is not enabled or the browser doesn't support Java.

Other things to note: Class names are case sensitive. "MyApplet.class" is different from "MyAPPLET.class". Class files are binary files and should be uploaded in binary mode. The applet tags can be written in lower or uppercase characters. CODE is the same as code or Code.

Examples

The best way of learning how applets work is to see at the examples and play with the values of parameters.

Example of omni scroller 2 applet

Browser compatibilty

This applet works with all major browsers. It has been tested with Netscape Navigator 3.04, Netscape Communicator 4.04 and Internet Explorer 4.