Using Popup and Secondary Windows

The JavaHelp system supports two types of HTML-based secondary windows:

• Popup Windows
• Secondary Windows

Popups and secondary windows are not used in the JavaHelp System User's Guide because they cannot be included in the PDF version. To see actual examples of how these windows can be used, experiment with the object demo located in:

   demos\bin

Popups and secondary windows are functionally very similar. They are both fully capable HTML windows that can include graphics, links, and lightweight components. Most of the features described in this topic apply to both types of windows. The following lists describe their differences:

Popups:

• Are always displayed directly adjacent to the object the user clicks to activate the popup.
• Cannot be resized or moved by the user.
• Are dismissed whenever focus is changed to another part of the help viewer.

Secondary windows:

• Can be displayed anywhere on the screen.
• Can be iconified, resized, and moved by the user.
• Persist until they are dismissed or the help viewer is dismissed.

Working with Popups and Secondary Windows

This section describes the different aspects of popups/secondary windows that you (the help author) can control.

To see examples of popups and secondary windows, try the object demo located in:

   demos\bin

Content

The content of popup/secondary windows is rendered by the same HTML engine used in the main help viewer. Anything that is rendered in the main help viewer can be used in popup/secondary windows--including links, graphics, and lightweight components (for example, popup/secondary windows). Topics displayed in the windows can be specified using URLs or JavaHelp system IDs.

Activation

Users activate popup/secondary windows by clicking on one of the following:

Button ()	A standard button provided as part of the popup/secondary window component. You can use the button as pictured to the left or you can specify a string of text or an image to replace the ">" character on the button.
Text object	A specified string of text inserted inline with the text of the topic. The author can control font characteristics of the text to make it stand out.
Graphic object	A GIF or JPG image.

Window Size

You can specify the height and width of the popup/secondary window. When content exceeds the size of the window, scroll bars are automatically added to the window.

Window Location (secondary windows only)

You can specify the position of secondary windows on the screen.

Named Windows (secondary windows only)

You can name secondary windows. This enables you to reuse an already active window.

Text

When you add text to a button, or use a text object as an activator, you can control the following font characteristics:

Font family	You can set the font family to: Serif SansSerif Monospaced Dialog DialogInput Symbol Additional fonts will be supported in future versions of the JavaTM 2 Platform.
Font size	You can set the size of the font to: xx-small x-small small medium large x-large xx-large bigger (Increases the current base font size by 1) smaller (Decreases the current base font size by 1) nnpt (Sets the font size to a specific point value of nn) +n (Increases the current base font size by a value of n) -n (Decreases the current base font size by a value of n) n (Sets the font size to the point size associated with the index n)
Font weight	You can set the weight of the font to: plain bold
Font style	You can set the style of the font to: plain italic
Font color	You can set the color of the font to: black blue cyan darkGray gray green lightGray magenta orange pink red white yellow

See also:

The JHSecondaryViewer Component