Each of PowerMenu's parameters is 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. As you read, click the red references to other parameters to jump to them.

Most of PowerMenu'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. Older browsers will ignore the archive files and retrieve the class files instead.

When PowerMenu is used with the Cool Focus Satellite add-on, these references to the JAR and CAB files should be removed and the loose .CLASS files in the \classes\Sat subfolder should be uploaded.

If Satellite isn't being used, upload the JAR, CAB and CLASS files in the \classes\noSat folder and leave these references in your applet code.

Applet Width & Height
Because PowerMenu is intended for us in a permanent left frame, you'll usually want the applet to be as narrow (and perhaps as short) as possible. To determine the best minimum applet dimensions you can use Testmode. We recommend always testing dimensions in Netscape Navigator since this browser requires a great deal more space for everything than Internet Explorer.

Width should be sufficient to display the right-most edge of your widest right-most submenu. Testmode has a brave stab at judging this, but (to minimize applet size) excludes a few menu-positioning situations that arise occasionally, so the suggested width may not be accurate.

Height must obviously be sufficient to let you see your lowest Caption and your tallest submenu. Testmode will suggest a minimum height for the applet. If you increase the applet's height beyond this, submenus stemming from the lower captions will have space to position themselves more neatly. Submenus always aim to drop below their trigger-item if there's space. Failing that, they try to place themselves immediately above the trigger-item. If there isn't enough height to do either, the submenu will usually partly cover the trigger-item.

Tip:  When setting up the applet dimensions, it's far easier if you use the BgColor parameter to temporarily set the applet background to something that stands out from your page background. When you've set the dimensions to your liking, return the BgColor setting to the color you wanted.

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.

Name
This optional parameter is used to specify a unique name for an instance of an applet on a site when the Satellite add-on applet is used. If you're not using Satellite with PowerMenu, you can ignore this parameter.

Satellites
A simple yes or no parameter that determines whether or not this applet should send mouse-move information to the Cool Focus satellites system. If you are using Satellites, include this parameter with a value of 'yes'. If you're not, either set the value to 'no', or leave out this parameter. Setting this parameter to 'yes' when no Satellite is being used will have the effect of making the applet respond to the mouse extremely sluggishly. If you use Satellites, remember also to remove references to Powermenu.jar and PowerMenu.cab from your applet code and upload the class files in the \classes\Sat subfolder.

BgColor
Hex triplet for the applet's background color. This will fill the entire applet area. The default color is 000000 (black). You would usually want to set this color to match that of your page background.

PanelColor
The color of the rectangular 'panel' on which the always-visible Captions are drawn. The default color is 0080C0 (light blue).

CaptionColor
The color of a Caption's text when unfocused (the mouse isn't over it). The deafult is 000000 (black).

CaptionFocusColor
The color of a Caption's text when the mouse is over it, taking a default of F0F0FF (our favorite blue-white, as long time users may have noticed!).

CaptionPressColor
The color of a caption when the mouse is clicked over it, with a default of C00000 (mid-red).

CaptionSelectorColor
When the mouse moves over a Caption, a rectangular selector can be drawn. This parameter sets the color of that selector, with a default of 000000 (black). If you prefer to have no selector, set this parameter to match your chosen PanelColor which will make the selector effectively invisible. You can make additional choices about the display of selectors in the WideSelectors parameter.

CaptionFont
A comma-delimited string giving the name, style and size of the font you want to use for the Caption text. The default settings are Dialog, in plain, at size 12, which would be written as Dialog,plain,12. Two important things to note: first, there must be no spaces in this entry; second, the three items must appear in the order name,style,size. Note also that the style part of this setting can be plain, bold, italic or bolditalic, and these are not case-sensitive.

CaptionSpacing
A number that spaces the amount of vertical space in pixels between each Caption. The default is 5. A lower value will, of course, bring the Captions more tightly together.

CaptionIndicatorColor
The 'indicators' are the small symbols to the left of the captions which react to mouse movement, and indicate whether a caption acts as a link or a trigger to open a submenu. Use this parameter to determine what color these indicators should be. The default is F0F0FF (the infamous blue-white). Since the indicators sit on your chosen BgColor, they can be hidden from view by setting this color to match the BgColor.

CaptionIndicatorFocusColor
Welcome to our longest-ever parameter name! It sets the color of the indicator belonging to the Caption that the mouse is currently over, with a default of C00000 (mid-red). Once again, if you want to hide Caption indicators, you would set this to match either your BgColor or your CaptionSelectorColor (depending on your setting in WideSelectors).

MenuBorderColor
Each flyout submenu has a single-pixel border, and this parameter sets the color of that border. The default color is 0080C0 (light blue). The same color is also applied to your MenuDividers if you choose to display them.

MenuColor
The color of the flyout menus themselves, taking a default of 000000 (black).

MenuOffset
This value sets a horizontal offset for the position of the left edge of the flyout menus. The default is 40 pixels. The details of this parameter are complicated to explain, particularly since a number of failsafes are built in which can override the value to ensure a sensible layout. In essence, setting a lower value will bring every submenu at every level closer to the left of the applet, but this is one to experiment with if a 40-pixel offset isn't to your taste.

MenuDividers
A simple yes or no parameter for which the default is no. The values are not case-sensitive. If you choose 'yes', a single-pixel dividing line will be drawn between each entry on each submenu, using your chosen MenuBorderColor.

WideSelectors
A choice of four possible values that determine whether and how 'wide' selector bars are displayed. This parameter applies both to Captions and submenu Entries. As mentioned elsewhere on this page, you can prevent the display of selectors for Captions and/or Entries by altering the colors of CaptionSelectorColor and/or EntrySelectorColor to make the selectors invisible.

By default, the selector bars will not stretch so far left as to cover the indicators (so they're 'narrow' selectors). Wide selectors do stretch to the extreme left. For the Captions level, this means that the selector strecthes to the extreme left of the applet; the submenus, the selector stretches to the left edge of the submenu. The non-case-sensitive options for this parameter are as follows:

no:  Wide selectors will not be used for either captions or menu entries

captions:  Wide selectors will only be used for captions

entries:  Wide selectors will only be used for menu entries

both:  Wide selectors will be used for both captions and menu entries

EntryColor
A hex color that sets the text-color of an unfocused Entry on a submenu. The default is 00C0F0 (light blue).

EntryFocusColor
The text color of the currently-focused menu entry, with a default of F0F0FF (yes, it's that blue-white again).

EntryPressColor
The color of a menu entry when the mouse is clicked over it, taking a default of 000000 (black).

EntrySelectorColor
This is very similar to the CaptionSelectorColor, setting the equivalent color for entries on the submenus. The default color for the selector bar is 0080C0 (light blue). You can effectively 'hide' the selectors bars if you don't want them by matching this color to your chosen MenuColor.

EntryFont
The font to be used for entries on the submenus. The details of this parameter are exactly the same as those for the CaptionFont. The only difference is the default, which is Helvetica,plain,11.

EntrySpacing
A figure that sets the vertical spacing between entries on the submenus. The default is 2 pixels. A higher number applies more vertical space between each entry, thus making each submenu taller.

EntryIndicatorColor
The color of the small indicator icons beside each entry on a submenu when unfocused. The default is that white again, F0F0FF. Well we like it. These indicators can be hidden by setting this color to match your chosen MenuColor.

EntryIndicatorFocusColor
A close second in the "longest-ever parameter name" battle, this sets the color of a menu-entry's indicator icon when focused. The default is C0C000 (mid-green). If you want to hide these indicators, set this color to match either your MenuColor or EntrySelectorColor (depending on your choice for WideSelectors).

DownSound
Specifies the path (if necessary) and name of a Sun/NeXT format (.au) audio file to be played when the mouse is clicked over a linking entry. This may be a Caption that acts as a link, or a submenu-entry that links. The location of the file is treated exactly as a URL: you might enter only a filename (if the file is in the current directory), a relative location (such as ../sounds/daftsound.au) or an absolute location (such as http://www.server.com/folder/subfolder/daftsound.au). If you don't want any sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your HTML code.

UpSound
Specifies the path (if necessary) and name of the audio file to be played when the mouse is released after clicking a linking entry. The same details apply to this parameter as apply to DownSound, of course. As above, there's no obligation to include this parameter if you don't want a sound to play for this event.

MenuSound
The name and location of an audio file to play when a submenu appears. It should be noted that this could turn into quite a cacophony if you have a lot of submenus, and might get irritating. again, if you want to no sound played for this event, just leave this parameter out.

DefaultTarget
When using any menu applet you need to be able to choose different frame names for each link. This normally means that for every linking item on the menu you need a URL and a Target parameter. However you'll probably want most of these links to open in one particular frame, meaning that almost all of those Target parameters would be identical. The DefaultTarget parameter gives you a way to leave out all those identical Target parameters. Simply enter the name of the frame or window into which most (or all) of the links should open; this frame-name will then be used by default for any link that doesn't have its own Target parameter.

This parameter's own default value is _top, so if you leave this parameter out, any URL that doesn't have a corresponding Target parameter will use _top.

UseHandCursor
A yes or no parameter that determines whether or not a typical 'web-style' hand cursor is used when the mouse moves over a linking item in the applet. 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 fully 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. (We emphasize 'fully' here: PowerMenu requires a 1.1 compatible browser, and we include Navigator 4.05 in that. However, Netscape's endless struggle with Java meant that cursor support didn't arrive until v4.07. Thus no hand cursors when run in v4.05.)

Testmode
Setting up applets can be a painful process of trial and error as you try to ensure that everything is visible while minimizing the real estate you have to sacrifice on your page. That's why we include a Testmode parameter, which takes a yes or no value to switch it on or off. The default, of course, is no. After setting everything the way you want it (and it pays to make the applet dimensions huge while you do that and test the results), set this parameter to 'yes', and view the applet in Netscape Navigator. In the status bar you'll see a WIDTH value and a MINIMUM HEIGHT value displayed.

We recommend that you set your applet dimensions to match those suggested, and then refresh the browser view to check the result. The WIDTH setting should usually be adequate, but (as mentioned earlier) occasional layout variables may mean that you can remove a little width or may need to add a little. The MIN HEIGHT setting assumes that you really want to save real estate. Increasing the height may mean that submenus will appear in more sensible locations.

Don't forget to set Testmode back to no when everything is as you want it!

For the remaining parameters below, we recommend using the included 'PowerMenu Creator' utility to setup your entries and links if you have a 32-bit Windows^® operating system. The parameter descriptions below are therefore minimal. If you're not able to use Creator, follow the step-by-step example in Getting Started.

Caption1, Caption2, . . . Captionn
The 'Captions' are the text entries that you see initially when PowerMenu is displayed. A Caption can either act as a direct link or as a touch-sensitive trigger that opens a submenu. This series of numbered parameters contains the text to display for each caption. An unlimited number of Caption parameters can be included, but the numerical suffixes must be consecutive: if you try to include 25 captions, but forget to include a Caption16 parameter, Powermenu will see nothing beyond Caption15.

URL1, URL2, . . . URLn
If you want a Caption to act as a link (rather than opening a submenu) include a URL parameter, with the same number-suffix as the Caption parameter, pointing to the absolute or relative URL that should be fetched when that caption is clicked. If a caption has a URL parameter, PowerMenu will ignore any Entry parameters you tried to assign to it. If no URL parameter exists for a caption, it will be assumed that the caption should act as a trigger to open a submenu. The indicator symbols beside each caption are assigned automatically on this basis.

Target1, Target2, . . . Targetn
If you've specified a URL parameter (above) for a Caption, intending it to act as a link, you can also add a Target parameter with the same number suffix to specify a frame or window target name to open the link into. If no Target parameter exists, the name you set in the DefaultTarget parameter will be used.

The Entry, URL and Target parameters below relate to submenus and contain a small forest of number prefixes and suffixes. These are explained in step-by-step style in Getting Started.

Entry parameters
An 'Entry' parameter contains the text that will appear at a particular point on a particular submenu. As with the Caption parameters above, an Entry can act either as a link or as a touch-sensitive trigger to open another submenu. Adding a URL with the same number prefixes and suffixes makes an Entry act as a link; if no URL is used, it's assumed to be a trigger. However, since Powermenu supports only three levels of submenus, any Entries at that 3rd level will be automatically assumed to be links whether they have URL parameters or not.

Here's a quick explanation of the number prefixes and suffix:

Suffix:  The number that appears after the word Entry (or URL, or Target) denotes its position on the submenu. So Entry1 appears at the top of the submenu, Entry2 appears below it, and so on.

Prefixes:  The prefixes are separated by dashes (-) and denote the Entry's parentage. 1-2-3-Entry4, for example, means that if you move the mouse over Caption1 to open its submenu, move over the second entry on that submenu (1-Entry2) to open the next level submenu, then move over the third entry on that submenu (1-2-Entry3), you'll see this Entry fourth down.

URL parameters
The URL parameters relating to Entry parameters determine whether an Entry will act as a link or a touch-sensitive trigger to open another submenu. To designate an entry as a link, include a URL parameter that has the same number prefixes and suffix as the entry, pointing to an absolute or relative URL.

As an aid to testing colors and layouts, you can prefix your URLs with a dollar sign ($). You can then click the applet without error messages appearing or being linked elsewhere. Don't forget to remove those dollar signs before uploading the page!

Target parameters
These Target parameters relate to the Entry and URL parameters above. If an Entry has been set as a link by including a URL parameter, you can specify the frame or window into which it should open by including a Target parameter with the same number prefixes and suffix. If you don't include a matching Target parameter, the frame name specified in the DefaultTarget parameter will be used.

Remember that frame names are case-sensitive. If you're trying to make something open in a frame and your browser persists in opening a new window for it instead, check that the case and spelling of the name match in the Target parameter and in your HTML <frameset> tag.


































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