JavaObjects.net User Documentation
Sliding Arrow Menu
Note : Graphics only available on on-line or Word document formats
http://www.javaobjects.net
(c) Fugazi Consulting Ltd 2003

Overview

A compact, attractive menu with interactive sliding arrow showing current selection.  Has the following features :
•	Infinite number of menu options, URLs and target windows 
•	8 arrow styles, 3 line styles and 5 line end styles
•	Text, background and 'arrow' color all configurable 
•	Choose font, font style, size and spacing of text 
•	Any size menu 
•	Tooltips for each menu option, displayed in browser status bar
•	Settable Initial selected menu option (to signify current page) 


HTML Example

<applet code="jonetMenu1.class" width=160 height=125>
<param name="arrowtype" value="1">
<param name="linetype" value="1">
<param name="lineend" value="1">

<param name="forecolor" value="444444">
<param name="backcolor" value="B4FFB4">
<param name="insertcolor" value="C0C0C0">
<param name="startpos" value="1">
<param name="textspace" value="20">
<param name="fontstyle" value="TimesRoman">
<param name="fonttype" value="Bold">
<param name="fontsize" value="12">
<param name="arrowpos" value="right">

<param name="menu_1" value="Yahoo Search Engine">
<param name="menu_2" value="Google Search Engine">
<param name="menu_3" value="Hotmail Email">
<param name="menu_4" value="Email">

<param name="url_1" value="http://www.yahoo.com/">
<param name="url_2" value="http://www.google.co.uk/">
<param name="url_3" value="http://www.hotmail.com/">
<param name="url_4" value="mailto:example@email.address">

<param name="target_1" value="_blank">
<param name="target_2" value="_blank">
<param name="target_3" value="_blank">
<param name="target_4" value="_blank">

<param name="tooltip_1" value="This is menu option 1">
<param name="tooltip_2" value="This is menu option 2">
<param name="tooltip_3" value="This is menu option 3">
<param name="tooltip_4" value="This is menu option 4">
<param name="tooltip_5" value="This is menu option 5">
</applet>


Installation and Configuration

Copy the above code (in bold) into your HTML (note, not the content !) of your web page, then copy the class file purchased from http://www.javaobjects.net into the same directory on your web server. 

You may wish to adjust the WIDTH and/or HEIGHT in the first line of the HTML to suit your web page, and the size of menu you wish to display.   Lengthy menu text will need a bigger WIDTH, more menu options will need a bigger HEIGHT.  Finding the right size is a little bit “try it and see”, but try not to make the applet much bigger than the size of the menu options being displayed.

You can customise your applet further by changing the following parameters (some of which are optional, i.e. can be omitted) :
  
forecolor
backcolor
insertcolor	The colour of the text/lines, background and the insert on the position pointer (arrow) respectively.  Defaults to black, white and orange if any of these parameters are omitted.

arrowtype
linetype
lineend		Numeric value to signify which arrow type, line ends and line type should be used.  See below.

startpos 	Which menu option the pointer (arrow) is pointing at as a default.  There will be no initial selection if parameter is omitted (in other words, no arrow will be shown on the menu unless the user points at the menu).  Can be useful for indicating which page the user is currently on within your site, as an initial state.

textspace 	The amount of free space between each menu option, defaults to 20 pixels if parameter is omitted.

fontstyle 	Helvetica, TimesRoman or Courier.  Defaults to Helvetica if parameter is omitted.  Note that these are the only three fonts which are guaranteed to be on all web browsers, hence why only these fonts are offered (other fonts would cause unpredictable results on certain browsers / machines)

fonttype 	Plain, Bold, Italic.  Defaults to Bold if parameter is omitted.

fontsize 	The size of the menu text.  Defaults to 11 if omitted.

arrowpos	"left" or "right", the side the arrow should appear on.  If “left”, the arrow and bar will appear to the left of the menu options.  If “right” the arrow and bar will appear on the right of the options.

menu_n 		A list of the menu option texts, starting at 1.  So, your first menu option would be on parameter menu_1, your second menu option would be on parameter menu_2, and so on.

url_n 		The URL to go to if the user clicks on the corresponding menu option.  Can also include an email address (as above, see example)

target_n 	The target window to open the URL in.  Valid values of _top _self _parent or _blank.  See URL Targets below for more info.

tooltip_n	Tooltip to be displayed in the browsers status bar for the menu option being pointed at.  Optional


Note : ideally there should always be one url_n and one target_n parameter for every menu_n parameter, as shown above, for example : 

<param name="menu_8" value="a value">
<param name="url_8" value="www.this.com">
<param name="target_8" value="_blank"> 

So, if you have 5 menu options you will have five parameters called menu_1 through menu_5, five parameters called url_1 through url_5 and five parameters called target_1 through target_5.

We recommend, for clarity of reading the HTML, that all the menu parameters are grouped together, and all the url and target parameters are grouped together, however this is not necessary for the applet to work.

Notes on Color : the color values are hex values of RGB (red, green, blue).  A value of FF8844 means a red value of FF, a green value of 88 and a blue value of 44.  In decimal, this hex converts to 256, 128 and 64.  For a full description on working out color values, refer to the full explaination later in this document.


Arrow, Line and Line End Combinations

	Arrow Types :
	0 	no arrow
	1 	arrow, infilled
	2 	single line
	3 	double line
	4 	solid box
	5 	box, infilled
	6 	arrow
	7 	double arrow

	Line Types :
	0 	no line
	1 	single line
	2 	double line

	Line Ends :
	0 	no end
	1 	solid box end
	2 	line end T
	3 	solid box, infilled
	4 	arrow


Support

Remember, if you are struggling to set up your applet, or are having problems, we are here to help.  Our support team can be contacted on support@javaobjects.net.  

Please supply as much information about your problem as possible, including the applet name you are having problems with, the HTML code you are using, and if relevant the URL of the site where the applet is being used.


URL Targets

URL Target Window parameters specify which browser window the destination URL will open up in, when the user clicks on a menu option or graphic (depending on the applet in question).

Valid values : 

_blank – open in a brand new window, leaving this window still open 

_top – open in the current window, whole page

_self – open in the current frame.  Only really used when using frames on your page.

_parent -  open in the parent window.

The most commonly used options will be _blank (new window) and _top (same window) which should cater for most scenarios.


Color Hexadecimal Values :

Color values used on HTML pages and Java applets are represented as six character hexadecimal values, where “000000” is pure black, “FFFFFF” is pure white, and ever other possible color combination can be found in between.

The six digits in each colour value can be split into three 2 character Red, Green and Blue values.  So, a value of “112233” means a Red value of 11, a Green value of 22 and a Blue value of 33.

A note on Hexadecimal representation :

As humans with, generally speaking, 10 fingers and 10 toes, we are used to the decimal number system, that is, a ten digit number system starting at 0 and going up to 9.  When we reach 9, we “roll over” back to zero again and, of course, add a 1 to the left hand side to give 10.

Whereas decimal has ten values per digit, hexadecimal has sixteen values per digit.  The standard ten from 0 to 9, but then of course we run out of occidental numbers.  So, we start using letters …. A for value 10, B for 11, C for 12, D for 13, E for 14 and F for 15.  Once we reach ‘15’ (or F) we “roll over” back to zero again, and add that one to the left, giving 10 (which is the equivalent of value 16 in decimal)

Here are a few example of hexadecimal (or “hex”) values and decimal values :

Hex 1 = Decimal 1
Hex 9 = Decimal 9
Hex A = Decimal 10
Hex 10 = Decimal 16
Hex 1F = Decimal 31
Hex FF = Decimal 255

So, how do we turn “slightly light blue” into a series of 6 hexadecimal characters ?

Well, the easiest way to do this, if you have a Windows operating system, is using the Paint package.   Open up Paint, then choose the menu options Colors / Edit Colors.  Click on the Define Custom Colors button to bring the color wheel up like this :

 

Choose the desired color you are after using the large color area, and chose the shade using the slider on the right.  Here we have chosen that light blue colour we love so much.

On the bottom right hand side you can see that there are three values – Red, Green and Blue.  But these values are represented in decimal (not hex) which is no use for web work.   We know our RGB values, we just need to convert them to hex !

The easiest way to do this is as follows.  Let’s take the Red value, 84.  Divide 84 by 16 to get 5.25.  At this point all we are bothered about is the integer part of this result, i.e. the 5.  That’s our first digit.   Take the 5 and times that by 16 to give 80.  Take 80 from the original number (84) to give a remainder of 4.  That’s our second digit.  So, the two characters which represent Red in hexadecimal is “54”.

Carry on and do the same for Green and Blue.  Let’s work through Green first.  175 / 16 = 10.9375.  Forget the .9375 and concentrate on 10.  We already know that in hex the value 10 is represented by the letter A so ‘A’ is our first digit.  10 * 16 = 160.  175 – 160 equals a remainder of 15.  15 we know is F in hex.  So, our Green value is ‘AF’

Finally blue.  203 / 16 = 12.6875.  Drop the .6875 to give 12, which is ‘C’.  12 * 16 = 192.  203 – 192 = 11 (or ‘B’).  So, our Green value is ‘CB’

Put the three values together, and we arrive at a color value for “slightly light blue” of “54AFCB” ….. result !

If this seems a little long winded or complicated, don’t worry.  Try this a few times, and pretty soon this will become second nature.

Examples :

 			Black			000000
 			White			FFFFFF
 			Light Gray		B0B0B0
 			Dark Gray		808080
 			Red			FF0000
 			Green			008000
 			Blue			0000FF
 			Dark Blue		000080
 			Bright Green		00FF00
 			Purple			800080
 			Light Purple		FF00FF
 			Brown			800000
 			Cyan			00FFFF
 			Yellow			FFFF00


 
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