AlphaNet's parameters are 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.
Most of AlphaNet'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.
The 'Archive' attribute & 'CabBase' parameter
JAR (Java ARchive) and CAB (cabinet) files are archives containing Java class files in compressed form, making them easier to handle and quicker to download. Most modern browsers are able to read one or other of these formats, and the Archive attribute and CabBase parameter tell the browser the name of the archive file to open. The .JAR, .CAB and .CLASS files must all be in the same directory, and the CODEBASE= attribute is used in the normal way, if required, specifying the absolute or relative location of this directory. Older browsers that are unable to read either the JAR or the CAB file will instead read the loose CLASS files.
Applet Width & Height
When starting to add AlphaNet to a page, begin with the applet dimensions reasonably large (w275 × h450 for example). After adding all the required entries to the menu, adjust the HEIGHT= attribute to assign as much of the page to the applet as you want to. If the applet height isn't sufficient to display all entries, a vertical scrollbar will be added. Finally, run the applet with the Testmode parameter set to 'yes', move the mouse inside the applet and read the details in the browser's statusbar. Set the applet's width and height to match these suggested settings: the applet should then be perfectly sized without taking more page space than it deserves. (Remember to set Testmode to 'no' afterwards.)
Copyright
This parameter must be included or the applet will not run, whether registered or unregistered. To prevent mistakes we recommend that you copy/paste it into your code from the Getting Started page: it is case-sensitive, single-spaced throughout and should appear on a single line. If there's a problem with this parameter, you'll see a status-bar message that reads "Copyright parameter missing or incorrect" which should lead you to the problem.
BgColor
A hex triplet specifying the background color of the applet. With the applet perfectly sized, as above, this color should not be visible around the entries list. However, if you have to compromise on applet dimensions for different browsers, you can set this to match your page background. The default for this parameter is FFFFFF (white).
BorderColor
Another hex triplet to specify the color of the single pixel border around the entries list. The default is 000000 (black).
ListColor
The background color of the entries list, taking a default of FFFFFF (white).
TextColor
The color in which all the entries on the menu will be displayed while the mouse isn't over them. The default is 000000 (black).
FocusColor
The color used to draw the entry currently under the mouse. (Exactly how the focussed entry will appear depends on your choice in the ReverseFocus parameter.) The default color is 0000FF (blue).
PressColor
The color used to draw an entry when it's clicked. (Again, the display style depends on your choice in the ReverseFocus parameter.) The default color is FF0000 (red).
SplitterColor
Specifies a particular color to be used for any splitters you place on the menu. If this parameter is missing, splitters will default to matching your chosen TextColor.
ReverseFocus
A simple and non-case-sensitive choice of yes or no, with a default of yes. When this parameter is set to 'yes' and the mouse moves onto an entry or clicks it, a selection bar will appear that takes the FocusColor or PressColor and the text itself will take the ListColor. If this parameter is set to 'no', only the text will react by changing color and no selection bar will appear.
FixedWidthFocus
Another yes/no parameter, again with a default of yes. If set to 'yes', an entry can be selected from the entire width of the list box. If set to 'no', the mouse must pass over (or click on) the text to select it. If this parameter is set to 'yes' and ReverseFocus is also set to 'yes', the selection bar will always be the width of the list box. In general, the best results come from setting both parameters to 'yes' or both to 'no'.
Font
A comma-delimited string that specifies the name, style and size of the font used for the entries on the menu. Each element must be separated by a comma, and spaces can be used but aren't necessary. The most important point to note about this parameter is that the three elements must be in the order name, style, size. The 'style' element can be plain, bold, italic or bolditalic, and these are not case-sensitive. The default font is Helvetica,plain,12.
DownSound
The name (and location if necessary) of an optional .AU format sound file to play when the mouse is clicked on an entry. The location can be specified as either an absolute or a relative URL.
UpSound
An optional .AU format sound file to play when the mouse is released after clicking an entry.
Sticky
A yes/no (not case-sensitive) parameter with a default of 'yes'. If set to 'yes', AlphaNet will continue to indicate the last-selected entry by coloring it with StickyColor. This entry will then not change color when the mouse passes over it subsequently or clicks it a second time (although it can be clicked a second time to open its link again). When another entry is clicked, that entry will become 'sticky' instead. If this parameter is set to 'no', all entries will be painted in the same color apart from those brief occasions when the mouse passes over or clicks one.
StickyColor
If Sticky is set to 'yes', this parameter sets the color in which the current 'sticky' entry will be painted. If Sticky is set to 'no', this parameter has no effect. The default color is 00C000 (green).
Alphabetical
One more yes/no parameter, also with a default of 'yes'. After all our hard work to provide alphabetical sorting of links, it'd be sad to set this to 'no', but if you must... ;-) With a 'no' setting, all alphabetical sorting will be dropped, and your entries will be placed on the menu in numerical order (ie. from 1 to 1000 according to the number suffix attached to the Entry parameter) allowing you to use AlphaNet simply for its interface if you prefer to.
Testmode
Another yes/no parameter. This has a default of no since you rarely need to use it. After setting up the applet's menu entries and height as required (as in the details at the top of this page), run the applet with Testmode set to 'yes' and adjust the applet's WIDTH= and HEIGHT= attributes according to the details displayed in the browser statusbar when you move the mouse into the applet area.
UseHandCursor
A yes or no parameter that determines whether or not a typical 'web-style' hand cursor is used when the mouse moves over an entry on the menu. The default value is yes, so you need include this parameter only if you want to set it to 'no' and stick to the default pointer. This feature is applied only when an applet is running in a Java 1.1-compatible browser (Internet Explorer 4x or higher, Netscape Navigator 4.07 or higher). In other browsers, this parameter is ignored and the default pointer will be used.
Entry1, Entry2, . . . Entry1000
The Entry parameter is split into 3 sections, each separated by a pipe symbol (|). The first section contains the text to be displayed on the menu. AlphaNet reads these sections from every Entry parameter and automatically sorts them into alphabetical order before displaying them. (For details and extra organizational features, read Menu Layout and Adding Splitters.)
The 2nd section, following the first pipe symbol, specifies the number of the URL parameter that this entry should open when clicked. In the example code to the left, clicking on Entry1 would open a page named 'musical.htm'.
The 3rd section, after another pipe symbol, specifies the number of the Target parameter to be used for this URL. In the example code, clicking on Entry1 opens the 'musical.htm' page into a frame called 'mainframe'. In fact, all but Entry5 open their URLs into that same frame; Entry5 opens 'drama.htm' into a new window.
You can include up to 1000 Entry parameters (thus 1000 links on the menu). There are no rules to the numbering or organization of these parameters other than that every entry must have a unique number, and those numbers must be between 1 and 1000.
URL1, URL2, . . . URL1000
These parameters create an invisible list of the URLs you want to make available for the applet. These parameters and their numbers are entirely independent of the Entry parameters. Thus, even if you have 50 entries on your menu, if between them they only link to 10 URLs, you just need 10 URL parameters. However, you can have up to 1000 URL parameters, allowing your 1000 entries to link to 1000 different URLs.
As an aid to testing colors, sounds and reactivity, you can prevent the applet linking anywhere when the button is clicked by prefixing URLs with a dollar sign ($). Remember to remove it before uploading your page though!
Target1, Target2, . . . Target1000
Working in exactly the same way as the URL parameters, use the Target parameters to create a list of the frame or window names you need to open documents into. You may want to open every entry's URL into the same frame, in which case you'd need just one Target parameter.
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