Troubleshooting & Support             

Check The Obvious...

  • If you see a "class not found" message, this means what it says -- your browser can't find the .class file specified. This may mean a spelling or case mistake in the CODE= attribute, the wrong location in the CODEBASE= attribute, or that you've forgotten to copy the required class file(s) to the necessary directory. (The class files required to run this applet are listed in Getting Started.)

  • Make sure that your <APPLET> tag, closing </APPLET> tag, and all <PARAM> tags have < and > brackets. Check that the value for every parameter is enclosed between " signs. If one of these signs is missing (or an extra unnecessary sign has crept in), one or more of the parameters listed after it will not be recognized.

  • Check that you've included the Copyright parameter in your HTML code. If you see a "Copyright parameter missing or incorrect" message in the status bar, it indicates a problem in this case-sensitive parameter.

  • If you see a NullPointerException, this is likely to refer to a fault in an image-related parameter: perhaps you've specified an image that doesn't exist, or the spelling or location of the image has been entered incorrectly.

    Check The Browser...
    Recently the two big browser names, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, have gone through some Java security paranoia. With certain browsers, any Java applet that tries to load an external file from your own system such as a sound, image or text file will be prevented from running. Many applets (including ActiveMenu) try to load sound or image files, in particular, and they certainly aren't a threat to your system's security!

    Fortunately Microsoft quickly saw sense on this issue and released a fix. If you're still using IE 3.02 or the first beta of IE4.0 (and haven't already installed the update to the Java Virtual Machine) head for www.microsoft.com/java and install it.

    If you're using Navigator 4.x, you'll be no stranger to waiting for Netscape Corp to see sense -- no fix yet exists. The only option is to prepare the page containing the applet in Internet Explorer, place all necessary files on the server, and use Navigator to open the page via HTTP for testing. Alternatively, you can bypass this problem using our free ComTest utility available for download from Cool Focus.

    Check The Documentation...
    If the applet runs, but you can't make it do what you want it to do, please take another look at the documentation before getting in touch with Cool Focus. Particularly check The Parameters Explained, which does just what it says, and Getting Started.

    Bear in mind that, versatile though they are, a Cool Focus applet may not have facility to do what you're trying to make it do. If we don't mention a particular feature in this documentation, then the applet doesn't do it - we're not known for keeping quiet about features! But if you think it would be a worthwhile addition to the next release please let us know, we'll always be pleased to hear it!