Why was this information scrolling applet created?
Problem: Scrolling in an HTML page requires user intervention. Since some information may not be proactively sought by the user but may be of interest the need for some automatic way of increasing the 'information window' to the user is needed.

Solution: We developed this java applet to address the problem of an increased non-user required way of showing information and thereby increasing the information visibility to the user.

You should look at the HTML for these files in case any of the examples are still not clear or you are interested in how we installed them into frames and tables. Good luck and if we can be of assistance give us a call at EnQue Corporation, 704.377.3327 or send us an email.

• Background can be either a color or image
• Mouse over hilights when over information items
• Status line information for each information item
• Variable scrolling speed
• Scroll stop has 50% duty cycle
• Scroll stop on each information item at top of window
• Script enabled - can call script functions (no parameter support)
• Can specify target frame for URL or script transfer
• Left, Center, or Right alignment of information items
• Can add spacer lines between information items
• drag mode allows you to stop and/or drag info items screen up or down

• Runs in the "sandbox" of the client browser
• Requires license file installed on the web site in a secure directory
• getParameterInfo(), and getAppletInfo() are not implemented in order to reduce file size
• Both class files total 11,165 bytes, but if compressed in a jar file they become 6,698 bytes

<applet code="InfoScroll.class" width=236 height=332>
<param name=licdir value="Lic/">
</applet>


Note that the license directory is specified in the 'licdir' parameter. That directory must be protected from illegal downloads of this applets' license file. Specifying directories in general uses the same form as that in HTML pages. For instance, if you had this applet in a directory such as

'//host/common/InfoScroll.class'

and the license file was in '//host/Lic/EnQueL05.txt'

then the 'licdir' parameter would be '../Lic/'. Note, the trailing forward slash is required.

The 'InfoFile.txt' file looks like this:

"HEADLINES - January 20, 2000"
"ABC Company initiates changes","ABC Press Release","TestPage1.htm"
"Big stock buyback from DEF Company","Financial Bomb Shell","TestPage2.htm"
"Wall Street has Major Gains","Wall Street","TestPage1.htm"
"New Laser developed at Moon Crest Labs","New Technology","TestPage2.htm"


• You can use an applet 'codebase' to make it easier to configure this applet within the web site.
• At least use the bundled jar file (InfoScrl.jar contains InfoScroll.class and NItem.class) for the classes supplied with this package. This both reduces the number of HTTP requests to the server and makes the overall data volume lower because of the compression in the jar files. By bundling the class files the overall file size used for downloads is reduced by approximately 45% including the manifest.

Here is sample code that uses java archives:

<applet code="InfoScroll.class" archive="InfoScroll.jar" width=250 height=200>
<param name=licdir value="../Lic/">
</applet>



"Headlines for Today"
"New high power laser under development","LaserCom Lasers","IHello.asp?Item=LaserCom"
"EnQue begins Java development", "","IHello.asp?Item=Java"
"Surprise Here","","IHello.asp?Item=Surprise"
"Home of Santa Clause discovered","Merry Christmas","IHello.asp?Item=Santa"
"Advertisers seek web page space","Electronic Advertisers","IHello.asp?Item=Advertisers"
"Happy Thanksgiving"


Notice all lines use a URL of 'IHello.asp' with a query string attached. This is an active server page the simply takes the query string and concatenates it to a message that displays in the target frame.

• Insure license file is located in a directory that the applet can find. Use standard URL rules such as '../' for going back one directory level, and make sure the final directory specified to the license file has the forward slash in it. ('/'). The license file directory is relative to the code base while menu files and their entries are relative to the document base. See examples above for explicit specification.

• Only 'left' or 'right' are valid with the 'align' parameter.
• When specifying a font for an applet, you must use those recognized by the internal java 'Toolkit'. For instance, the font "Times New Roman" is "TimesRoman" for the applet.
• Targets specified in the info file override the applet target parameter.
• If applet doesn't appear or is very small then you probably do not have the width and height values set properly.
• When using external scripts, if the function name is 'MyFunction()' for instance, specify 'javascript:MyFunction' as the string for the script in the info file. The point being NOT to include the parenthesis.
• Make sure you use the 'MAYSCRIPT' tag in the applet if you are calling scripts.
• Do not place the info file in a jar file. It is a text file and the applet can't find a text file in a jar archive.