MenuApplet2L


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A small Java applet to show two-levels menus in web pages

(New version: 1.32, updated Jan 26 2003)

This page hosts a Java applet that allows the creation and utilization of a two-levels menu applet (what? another one?) to be used in web pages.

A number of more or less similar applets already exist over the Internet, so the obvious question is:

Why another menu applet?

The answer is:

Because existing menu applets don't satisfy my needs, they don't perform so well, or they have design limitations; moreover, writing a new applet is always enjoying, provided that I have enough spare time.

Anyway, let's go ahead.

Applet description

This applet allows to show a menu of choices in a web page by a Java1.1-compliant browser (so old browsers such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer earlier than 4.x, are *not* able to run this applet): every choice may have a small image (i. e. a GIF or a JPEG file) and/or some text. When the user clicks on a menu choice, the browser will open the page with the corresponding URL. If the number of choices is high, it's possible to organize them in two levels: clicking on a top-level choice, corresponding sub-level choices will be shown.

The appearance of this applet is widely configurable by means of PARAM tags:

  • General parameters
    • ScrollingAllowed: boolean value (TRUE or FALSE) that makes the menu scrolling possible if the applet area is too small for the menu being completely displayed (default FALSE). (note: feature added in v. 1.3)
    • Background: colour of applet background, in RRGGBB hexadecimal format (i.e. 000000=black, FFFFFF=white, FF0000=red, etc.). Default: FFFFFF (white).
    • BackgroundSubMenu: colour of sub-menu background (when visible), in RRGGBB hexadecimal format. Default: FFFFFF (white).
    • DefaultFont: default font (format: "Name,attributes,pointSize", i.e. "SansSerif,BOLD+ITALIC,14"); this may be overridden for single menu choices by using ChoiceN-FONT parameter. Default: "SansSerif,BOLD,12". (note: because of a bug introduced in previous versions, this parameter did not work; starting from v. 1.31 it works regularly)
    • TextColor: menu choices text color. Default: 000000 (black).
    • TextColorSubMenu: sub-menu choices text color (when visible). Default: 000000 (black).
    • TextColorHighlight: menu choices text color while they under the mouse pointer. Default: 0000FF (blue).
    • TextColorPressed: menu choices text color while they are "pushed" by the mouse. Default: FF0000 (red).
    • DefaultFrame: name of destination frame to open URLs. This option may be overridden for single menu choices by using ChoiceN-FRAME (see below). Default: _self (the same frame of the applet).
    • DefaultChoiceHeight: height of each menu choice. Default: 25.
  • Specification of menu choices
    • ChoiceN (N ranging from 0 up): text of choice no. N (i.e., first choice must be named Choice0, second choice must be named Choice1, etc.). If the text is "-" (a single dash), *no* text will be shown for this choice (tipically for graphics-only choices).
    • ChoiceN-URL (N ranging from 0 up): URL to open whe user clicks choice no. N (optional).
    • ChoiceN-IMG (N ranging from 0 up): URL of image to be shown on the left of menu choice text no. N (optional).
    • ChoiceN-IMG2 (N ranging from 0 up): URL of image to be shown on the left of menu choice text no. N while it is under the mouse pointer (optional).
    • ChoiceN-IMG3 (N ranging from 0 up): URL of image to be shown on the left of menu choice text no. N while it is "pushed" by the mouse (optional).
    • ChoiceN-FRAME (N ranging from 0 up): name of destination frame of the URL of choice no. N (optional).
    • ChoiceN-FONT (N ranging from 0 up): font to be used for menu choice no. N (format: "Name,attributes,pointSize", i.e. "SansSerif,BOLD+ITALIC,14") (optional). (note: because of a bug introduced in previous versions, this parameter did not work; starting from v. 1.31 it works regularly)
    • ChoiceN-HEIGHT (N ranging from 0 up): height of choice no. N (optional). (note: feature added in v. 1.2)
  • Specification of sub-menu choices
    • ChoiceN-M (N and M ranging from 0 up): text of choice no. M of sub-menu no. N (i.e., first choice of first sub-menu must be named Choice0-1, second choice of first sub-menu must be named Choice0-1, first choice of second sub-menu must be named Choice1-0, second choice of second sub-menu must be named Choice1-1 etc.). If the text is "-" (a single dash), *no* text will be shown for this choice (tipically for graphics-only choices).
    • ChoiceN-M-URL (N and M ranging from 0 up): URL to open whe user clicks choice no. M of sub-menu no. N (optional).
    • ChoiceN-M-IMG (N and M ranging from 0 up): URL of image to be shown on the left of menu choice text no. M of sub-menu no. N (optional).
    • ChoiceN-M-IMG2 (N and M ranging from 0 up): URL of image to be shown on the left of menu choice text no. M of sub-menu no. N while it is under the mouse pointer (optional).
    • ChoiceN-M-IMG3 (N and M ranging from 0 up): URL of image to be shown on the left of menu choice text no. M of sub-menu no. N while it is "pushed" by the mouse (optional).
    • ChoiceN-M-FRAME (N and M ranging from 0 up): name of destination frame of the URL of choice no. M of sub-menu no. N (optional).
    • ChoiceN-M-FONT (N and M ranging from 0 up): font to be used for menu choice no. M of sub-menu no. N (format: "Name,attributes,pointSize", i.e. "SansSerif,BOLD+ITALIC,14") (optional). (note: because of a bug introduced in previous versions, this parameter did not work; starting from v. 1.31 it works regularly)
    • ChoiceN-M-HEIGHT (N and M ranging from 0 up): height of choice no. M of sub-menu no. N (optional). (note: feature added in v. 1.2)

Conditions

Use of this applet is free, and there are no limitations. The source can be freely downloaded and modified, too. Obviously, I'll be glad if someone sends me improved versions of this applet, so I can make them available on this page.

Examples and download