SiteMap

This applet allows you to establish an icon/image on a given page. When the icon is (right) mouse-clicked, a popup-menu appears that allows navigation to other URLs. This is very handy a navigation tool to complement or replace extra 'navigation frames' in a website. For example, by clicking on the icon below, one can go to any other page within the Applet Depot. Note that this applet is written in 1.1+ Java and thus might not work in older browsers (it will work in the latest versions of Netscape (4.06) and Internet Explorer (4.0)).

Downloading

The applet may be downloaded for free by clicking on the TAR-file link below (read the FAQ if you're not sure what to do with a TAR file). The FAQ also has step by step instructions on how to embed an applet into your own webpage.

SiteMap2.tar

Once unTARed, you should find the following classes (plus a '.jar' file if you want to use the archive= attribute in the <applet> tag):

Parameters

Below are descriptions of all the parameters you may use to customize the applets to your webpages. Be sure to enclose any parameters that contain white space in double-quotation marks. Most parameters have default values in case you do not specify your own values, but the first two parameters (AUTHOR and COPYRIGHT) are necessary. If you are not sure how to incorporate an applet into a webpage (with its parameter names and values), looks at the source of this webpage and the applet embedded for an example, or read the FAQ page.

  • AUTHOR: This parameter must appear exactly as follows: 
    <param name=AUTHOR value="Eric Harshbarger, http://www.ericharshbarger.org">

  • COPYRIGHT: This parameter must appear exactly as follows: 
    <param name=COPYRIGHT value="SiteMap applet, Copyright 1998, Eric Harshbarger">

  • BACKGROUND: This parameter points to an image file that is used as a background to the applet. All the various texts of the applet will be painted on top of this image. Consult the FAQ page if you are unsure about what image formats you may use.

  • FOREGROUND: This is the path to the image that appears when the mouse enters the applet (as opposed to the BACKGROUND image that is visible when the mouse is not in the applet).

  • MAPFILE: This parameter points the applet to a text file that lays out the structure and URLs of the PopupMenu and the webpages associated with it. The file must take a very specific format. Each line of the file consists of four parts: The indicator whether this line is a submenu start (a node, symbol '+') or a basic label (leaf, symbol '>'), the menu label (what appears on the popup menu at that position), the URL assciated with the label (this is optional), and the targeted browser frame (defaults to '_self' if omitted). Each part is separated by a TAB whitespace character.

    For example: 

    >Label Name	http://the.url.here	target_frame
    Also, which menu items are 'on the same level' as other menu items is indicated by the number of space characters before the indicator. The first line must not have any spaces, and, in general, no line may have greater than one more space indents than the preceding line. Lines which are indented more than the previous line are considered part of a submenu to the previous menu item. Be sure that any line that is supposed to have submenu items underneath it have their Indicator set to '+'. All non-submenu items have Indicators of '>'.

    This is all rather complex, but can be visualized much more easily by looking at the MAPFILE for the example above. Compare the text file to the popup-menu that appears (Note, there is only one frame name given as I want the rest to default to '_self'). Giving a label the name of '-' inserts a separator bar in the menu at that position.


    APPLET DEPOT: INTRO - NEWS - APPLETS - DEMOS - CUSTOM - FAQ - EMAIL
    The Applet Depot and all associated applets, text, scripts, and images, Copyright © 1998-2002 by Eric Harshbarger unless otherwise noted. 'Java' is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems Incorporated.