TipLink's parameters are 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.

Most of TipLink'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. The .JAR, .CAB and .CLASS files must all be in the same directory, and the CODEBASE= attribute is used in the normal way, if required, specifying the absolute or relative location of this directory. Older browsers that are unable to read either the JAR or the CAB file will instead read the loose CLASS files.

Applet Width & Height
The applet's background will be filled with either your chosen BgColor or BgImage, which probably match your page background, so if space is not at a premium on your page, try to increase the width of the applet well beyond your widest text link and (especially) increase the height well below your last link. This allows for browsers that require more space to display text, and should allow the tooltip of the bottom link to be displayed below the link rather than above it.

For those times when space does matter, TipLink includes a Testmode that displays the minimum width/height for the applet.

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
Specifies a unique name for an applet when used with the Cool Focus 'Satellite' system. This name may be anything you like, but it should be the only applet currently running that has this name. If you're not using the Satellite system, 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 'Satellite' 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.

BgColor
A hex triplet specifying the background color of the applet, which would usually be set to match the color of your page's body background. The entire applet area is filled with this color. The default value is 000000 (black).

BgImage
The absolute or relative URL of a GIF or JPEG image to display as the background to the applet. The image can optionally be tiled (see the parameter below). If a transparent GIF is used, the transparent color will be replaced by your chosen BgColor.

TileBgImage
A simple (non-case-sensitive) yes or no to whether the BgImage should be tiled. The default value is 'no'. If the image is not tiled, it will be scaled to exactly match the dimensions of the applet.

PanelColor
The 'panel' is the area of the applet where the text links are displayed. The applet determines what space is needed for this area according to the number of links displayed and their widths. By default (ie. if this parameter is not included) the panel color will match your chosen BgColor.

PanelImage
The absolute or relative URL of an optional JPEG or GIF image filling the 'panel' area. This image will be automatically scaled to match the panel area (unless it's tiled using the parameter below), so it's recommended that you choose an abstract or patterned image, or design the image to roughly match the panel's dimensions. If you use a GIF image with transparency, the transparent color will be replaced by your chosen PanelColor.

TilePanelImage
Another non-case-sensitive yes or no to whether the PanelImage should be tiled. Once again, the default value is 'no', and if the image is not tiled it will be scaled to exactly match the dimensions of the panel area.

TextColor
The color of the font used to display the menu entries, as a hex triplet. The default color is FFFFFF (white).

FocusTextColor
The color of a link when the mouse moves over it. The default is 0080FF (medium blue).

PressTextColor
The color of a menu entry when clicked. The default is FF8000 (orange).

SelectTextColor
The color of the last-clicked menu entry. The default is 00FF00 (lime). This parameter has effect only if the Sticky parameter is set to 'yes' (its default).

Sticky
A yes or no parameter, with a default value of 'yes'. When set to 'yes', the last clicked entry will be shown using the SelectTextColor. If set to 'no', the SelectTextColor parameter is ignored and a clicked entry will revert to TextColor when the moves moves away from it.

InitialSelect
This option has effect only if Sticky is set to 'yes'. It takes an integer value specifying which entry on the menu should be shown as 'selected' when the applet first appears. The default is 0, meaning no entry initially selected.

SelectorStyle
A choice of three options which allow a selector bar to be shown beneath the currently-highlighted entry. The values are not case sensitive.

none:  no selector will be shown.
border:  a rectangular border will be drawn around the entry.
panel:  A Windows-style selector-bar will be shown.

SelectorColor
This parameter has no effect is SelectorStyle is set to 'none'. Otherwise, it sets the color of the selector, with a default of FFFFFF (white).

EntryFont
A comma-delimited string giving the name, style and size of the font you want to use for TipLink's menu entry 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 that the style part of this setting can be plain, bold, italic or bolditalic, and these are not case-sensitive.

EntrySpacing
An integer value specifying the vertical space in pixels between each entry on the menu. The default value is 5.

TextSensitive
A yes or no parameter (with a default of 'no') which determines whether only the text of a menu entry is sensitive to mouse movement or whether the whole width of the applet can be used to focus an entry. At the default setting, the mouse can move or click to the right of the text and the entry will still be treated as focused. When set to 'yes', the mouse must be over the text of the entry.

DefaultTarget
HTML offers it's own range of recognized targets for links: _top, _self, _blank and _parent. But when you use an applet like TipLink that can take a number of links, you'll often be opening your pages into a main frame in your browser, perhaps called 'Main', so almost every entry on the menu will need a Target parameter with the value "Main". The DefaultTarget parameter gives you a way to avoid entering all those parameters. Just enter the name of this frame in the DefaultTarget parameter and it will be used by default for any entry on your menu that doesn't have its own Target parameter to override it.

Testmode
A straightforward yes or no parameter. Most of the time you'll leave this set at its default no (when uploading the files to your server, for example). When setting up the applet, set this parameter to yes and then move the mouse over the applet. The minimum width and height for the applet will be displayed in the statusbar. Bear in mind that these really are minimum dimensions. Ideally, you should increase the applet's height so that the tip for the last link is displayed below it rather than above it. If possible, add a few extra pixels to the applet's width too. Make sure you test the applet in a Netscape browser since greater space will be required for display.

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 menu entry. 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 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.

TipBgColor
A hex color specifying the background color of the tooltip. The default is 000000 (black).

TipBorderColor
The color of the border around the outside edge of the tooltip, taking a default of 0080FF (medium blue).

TipTextColor
The color of the tooltip text, with a default of 0080FF(medium blue).

TipWidth
The maximum allowable width for the tooltip, in pixels. TipLink automatically wraps the tip text itself and uses this value to determine where to place line breaks. The actual width of the tooltips will vary according to the text displayed, but none will be greater than the figure you enter here. After deciding how much width on the page you can afford to allocate to TipLink, choose how wide a tooltip should be. The default is 150, which should be fine if your applet is about 180 pixels wide or greater. If you'd prefer that tooltips appeared further to the right, either increase the applet's width or decrease the TipWidth value. Note that the minimum value for this parameter is 75. Any lower figure will be reset to 75.

TipFont
A comma-delimited string giving the name, style and size of the font you want to use for the tooltip text. The default value is Helvetica,bold,10. This parameter works in exactly the same way as EntryFont.

Entry1, Entry2, ..., Entryn
The text entries to appear on TipLink's menu. An unlimited number of entries can be added, each with its own URL, frame-target, and tooltip text. Each must have a unique number suffix. Although the order of parameters in your web page does not matter, consecutive number suffixes must exist. For example, if you're trying to add 20 entries, but you've forgotten to add an Entry9, only the first 8 entries will appear on the menu. When a '9' is not found, the applet will stop searching for more.

URL1, URL2, ..., URLn
The absolute or relative URL to which the entry bearing the same number-suffix will link when clicked. For color- and reactivity-testing purposes, you can prevent the applet linking anywhere when clicked by prefixing the URLs with a dollar sign ($). (Don't forget to remove these again before publishing the page!)

Target1, Target2, ..., Targetn
The names of the frames or windows into which each of the correspondingly-numbered URLs should be opened. Any URL that has no corresponding Target parameter will use the frame-name specified in the DefaultTarget parameter, so these individual Target parameter need only be included for links that should open into a different frame or window.

Tip1, Tip2, ..., Tipn
The text that should appear in a tooltip when the mouse moves over the correspondingly-numbered menu entry. Tooltips are optional - if no Tip parameter exists for a particular entry, no tooltip will be displayed. Note: please do not use the pipe symbol | within tooltip text. This symbol is used internally by TipLink and cannot be displayed.







































.