WebTree Online Help

This online manual describes how to use the Java Applet WebTree. There are three components that need to be setup, each of these are described below.

Frames Setup

In order to make the most of WebTree it is best to use one or more frames. Frames split the your Web browsers window so that you can have more than one active window . An example of frames is this Web site that you are using now! So in order to see how to do it look at the source for the following pages:

Applet Setup

The following shows an example of how to instantiate the Java Applet with one of your pages: 
	<applet
    	    code=WebTreeApplet.class
	    id=WebTreeApplet
	    width=250
	    height=350 >
	<PARAM NAME="ExpandImage" VALUE="plus.gif">
	<PARAM NAME="CollapseImage" VALUE="minus.gif">
	<PARAM NAME="TreeFile" VALUE="nav.tree">
	<PARAM NAME="BackGroundBmp" VALUE="background.gif">
	</applet>
As you can see there are quite a few different options available. Here is a list of all options:
Option Description Valid Values
TreeFile The data file for the WebTree to display (described below) See Data File Setup
BackGround Background colour (if no background bitmaps are supplied). Valued hexadecimal value, e.g. 0xFFFFFF for white. Default colour is Grey
OpenTextColour The colour of the text displayed for the currently selected item in the WebTree. Valid hexadecimal value. Default colour is White.
OpenTextBackGroundColour The background for the text that is currently selected. Valid hexadecimal value. Default colour is Blue.
BackGroundBmp Background graphic to be shown in the applet, the graphic will be tiled. GIF or JPG file. Warning: this slows the applet considerably.
FontSize The font point size to be used for all text. Default value is 12
FontFace The font face to be used. Default value is TimeRoman
ExpandImage The image used to indicate an expandable branch. No default value.
CollapseImage The image used to indicate a collapsable branch. No default value.

Data File Setup

The data file defines how the tree is displayed. At the moment all data must be entered by hand.
Each node in the WebTree has four lines within the text file (the file must not have any errors as the error handling currently is poor for parsing of the data file). The four lines are as follows
  • The title of the node. Can be any string or blank if you only want an image.
  • The ID of the node. ID's are defined like book chapters. An example is shown below.
  • The target frame to display the page or NA for No Action (useful for title nodes).
  • The HTTP reference. This should be any valid HTTP reference.
  • The image file for the node or blank if you don't want an image.
The easiest way to work out the format is to look at the data file used for the creation of the applet used here. The simple version contains only the images used in the key and the complex version shows what can be done if you have more bandwidth.
The ID's must be in numerical order, i.e. you cannot define 1.3 before defining 1.2.

Please note that text in red indicates that the "option" must be defined :-)

This help page is also under construction, if you have any suggestions then please email Trevor Lyall with any comments or suggestions.