Documentation

Configuration of JazzNews is done using a simple text file - specified in the <APPLET> tag in your HTML file. This text file uses a format similar to HTML. Here is an example of one such config file, with comments about each 'tag' in brackets.

<number_of_sections> 1 (this is very important - it must match the number of sections)

<section> (start a new section - must be matched with </section>)
  <pause> 5000 (the number of milliseconds to wait once the headline has reached the top
                          - 5000 milliseconds = 5 seconds)
  <delay> 10 (this affects the scroll speed - the lower the number, the faster the scroll)
  <titlefont> Helvetica 20 BOLD 255 0 0 (See note below on fonts)
  <link> http://www.sygem.com (Optional - an URL to go to when the headline is clicked)
  <frame> _top (Optional - you can put the name of any frame here)
  <title> Welcome to SyGem Software </title> (the headline for this section)
  <textfont> TimesRoman 12 PLAIN 0 0 0 (See note below on fonts)
  <text> This is the text which |    (the body text. As you can see, this can span)
will appear in the body of the |     (multiple lines. It will only stop reading the text)
applet | | Note that this can span  (when it it encounters a </text> tag.
multiple lines... </text>
</section> (the end of this section)

The body text has some extra attributes - namely the use of the vertical bar '|'. This can be used to force a line break. As long as there is a space either side of the bar, that's how it will be interpreted. To force a paragraph break (a blank line between paragraphs), use 2 bars, again with space between, like this ' | | '. The body text will word-wrap itself, so there is no need for you to insert line breaks, unless you actually need them.

Fonts: There are 3 possible font names - Helvetica, TimesRoman and Courier. These are case-sensitive, so if you get it a bit wrong, JazzNews defaults to using Helvetica. You can chose BOLD, ITALIC or PLAIN for your font style, and the 3 numbers at the end specify the colour of the font - R, G, B values (each number can have a value between 0 and 255, giving a total of 16777216 possible colours).

There is no limit to the number of sections you are allowed in your file.

Once you have your config file completed, all you need to do then is put the <APPLET> tag into your HTML file. It should look something like this...

<applet code="jazznews.class" width="300" height="300">
  <param name="bred" value="238">
  <param name="bgreen" value="238">
  <param name="bblue" value="255">
  <param name="filename" value="jazznews.txt">
</applet>

Note that this example assumes that the jazznews.class file is in the same directory as the HTML file. It doesn't have to be - as long as you specify the correct relative path, it can be anywhere you like.

The first 3 parameters allow you to alter the background colour of the JazzNews applet. This can make it appear more a part of the web-page. For example, 238,238,255 is the colour of the background of these web-pages.

The final parameter specifies the config file. The path to this file will be relative to the HTML file the applet is located in.

And that's about it! Simple, isn't it... What I suggest you do now is play around with some of the demo files, and create your very own news scroller. And enjoy!