Width & Height
The width and height of the applet are set in the HTML code you add to the web page. Be sure to change the dimensions in the <object> and the <embed> tags.

PowerView's width must be sufficient to display all the column headers and all the rows of items, taking into account your choices of font and amount of ColumnSpacing. If PowerView's height isn't sufficient to display all items, a pair of scroll-buttons will be added at the right of the applet, and the width must be enough to display those. PowerView only uses the width it needs: making the applet wider does not make the applet expand to fill the space; use the ColumnSpacing parameter to widen the columns.

PowerView's height can be whatever you like. If the height is not sufficient to display all rows of items, scroll-buttons will be added.

The simplest way to determine the best dimensions is to use the Testmode parameter.

Parameters
The parameters below should be added to your datafile in the form NAME=VALUE (for instance, BgColor=FF0000). Each parameter should be on a separate line. You can leave blank lines in the list to organize the parameters into groups if you want to. The parameter names are not case-sensitive, and neither are the values, so BgColor=FF0000 is the same as bgcolor=ff0000. You can add the parameters to your file in any order. Most parameters have a default value which we show in bold text below: if you don't include the parameter in your datafile, the default value will be used automatically.

BgColor
Sets the background color of the applet. The default value is FFFFFF (white). This color is used to fill the large area below the column headers, where the items are shown. Individual columns can have their own color which replaces the BgColor for that column. (Note that PowerView can only change the background color after it has loaded. To have the same background color shown before the browser starts loading the applet, change the BgColor setting in the HTML code too.)

ScrollBgColor
If PowerView contains more rows of items than its height can display, a pair of scroll buttons will be added at the right of the items. This parameter sets the background color of that right-hand portion of the applet. By default this will match your chosen BgColor. To specify a different color for this area, include the ScrollBgColor parameter with your chosen color.

Transparent
A choice of yes or no, with a default of no. If set to 'yes', any areas showing either BgColor or ScrollBgColor will be made transparent in compatible browsers, showing the page background or HTML content behind them.

HeaderFont
Sets the name, size and style of font to use for the column headers, with each part separated by commas. The default is Sans,8,plain.

• Name: You can include any number of font names, separated by pipe symbols (|), and the applet will use the first font available on the user's system. To ensure compatibility, finish with one of these generic names: Sans, Serif or Typewriter.
  
• Size: The size of the font in points.
  
• Style: The style can be plain, bold, italic or bold-italic.

HeaderColor
Sets the color of the column headers, with a default of ECE9D8 (light tan). This also sets the color of the scroll-buttons, when visible.

HeaderHighlightColor
Sets the color of the two lighter edges of each column header. The default is FFFFFF (white). This also sets the highlighted-edge color of the scroll-buttons, when visible.

HeaderShadowColor
Sets the color of the two darker edges of each column header. The default is ACA899 (tan). This also sets the shadowed-edge color of the scroll-buttons, when visible.

HeaderTextColor
Sets the color of the text shown on the column headers. The default is 000000 (black). This also sets the color of the arrows on the scroll-buttons, when visible.

HeaderTextFocusColor
If the AllowSorting parameter is set to 'yes' (its default), this parameter sets the color of text on a column header when the mouse moves over it. The default is 316AC5 (light blue). This parameter is also used to set the color of the arrows on the scroll-buttons when the mouse moves over them.

SortArrowColor
If AllowSorting is set to 'yes' (its default), this parameter sets the color of the small sort arrow shown in the column headers. The default is to match your chosen HeaderShadowColor.

AllowSorting
A choice of yes or no, according to whether users should be able to sort the displayed items by clicking the column headers. The default is yes (sorting is enabled). If set to 'yes', the column headers act as clickable buttons. Clicking a header sorts the rows alphabetically by the items in that column. Clicking the same header a second time sorts the items counter-alphabetically. The sort arrow shows which column was last sorted, and in which direction.

SortColumn
This parameter takes a number from 0 to the number of columns displayed, and specifies the column by which the items should be sorted when the applet starts. If set to 0 (the default), the items won't be sorted - they will be shown in the numerical order read from your datafile. To sort by a particular column, set this parameter to the number of the column to sort by, from 1 (for the left-most column). Note that this parameter does not depend on the AllowSorting parameter. You can set AllowSorting to 'no' (to prevent the user from sorting the items) but still use this parameter to sort the items at startup.

SortAlpha
If the SortColumn parameter is set to 1 or higher, this parameter specifies whether or not the items should be sorted alphabetically at startup. Choose yes (the default) for alphabetical sorting, or no for counter-alphabetical sorting. (If SortColumn is set to 0, items won't be sorted at startup and this parameter is ignored.)

ItemFont
Sets the name, size and style of font to use for the item text, with each part separated by commas. The default is Sans,8,plain. This parameter is constructed in exactly the same way as the HeaderFont parameter.

ItemTextColor
This parameter sets the color of individual items that do not behave as links (i.e. they do not have a URL parameter). The default color is 000000 (black).

LinkTextColor
This sets the color of indivudual items that are links (i.e. they do have a URL parameter). The default is 0000A0 (blue). Of course, you can set this to match the ItemTextColor if you want links and non-links to look the same.

LinkTextFocusColor
Sets the color of any linking item when the mouse moves over it. (A 'linking item' is any item that has a URL parameter included.) The default is 316AC5 (light blue).

LinkUnderline
A choice of yes or no, with a default of no. This specifies whether linking items (items that have a URL parameter) should be underlined. Choose 'yes' if they should be underlined, or 'no' if they should not.

LinkHoverSwapUnderline
A choice of yes or no, with a default of yes. This parameter specifies that the underline state of a linking item should be swapped when the mouse moves over it. In other words, if LinkUnderline is set to 'no', a linking item would show an underline when the mouse hovered over it. If LinkUnderline is set to 'yes', the underline would be removed when the mouse hovered over it. If you don't want the underline state to change when the mouse moves over a link, set this parameter to 'no'.

SelectorBorderColor
If ShowSelector and ShowSelectorBorder are set to 'yes', this sets the color of the border shown around the selector-bar highlighting a row when one of its items is clicked. The default border color is 316AC5 (light blue).

SelectorFillColor
If ShowSelector is set to 'yes', this sets the fill color of the selector-bar that highlights a row when one of its items is clicked. The default fill color is BDCFEC (pale blue).

SelectorFillOpacity
If ShowSelector is set to 'yes', this sets the opacity level of the SelectorFillColor, taking a value from 0 to 100 where 0 is fully transparent and 100 is fully opaque. The default value is 25.

ShowSelector
A choice of yes or no (with a default of yes) according to whether or not the selected row should be highlighted by displaying a selector bar. (A row is 'selected' by clicking anywhere within that row. Once the selector is visible, it can be moved using the up/down arrow keys on the keyboard. The selector has no functional role, other than to help the user follow the items in a row, or track a particular row when sorting.)

ShowSelectorBorder
If ShowSelector is set to 'yes', this parameter determines whether a border should be shown around the selector (using SelectorBorderColor) or not. The possible options are yes or no, and the default is no.

ColumnSpacing
This parameter applies extra space (or padding) to the width of each column. PowerView autosizes the columns according to the width of each column's widest text, but you can use this parameter to create extra space. The default value is 8 pixels, and the minimum possible value is 2. (If you enter a figure of less than 2, PowerView will default to a 2-pixel spacing.)

ColumnRuleColor
If used, this parameter sets the color of vertical ruler lines that divide each column. If you don't want to display column rules, leave this parameter out of your datafile. If you do want to display rules, include this parameter with the color to be used for the rules.

RowRuleColor
Similar to the parameter above, this sets the color of horizontal ruler lines dividing each row. Leave this parameter out of your datafile if no row rules are wanted, or include this parameter with the color of the lines required.

RowExtraHeight
This parameter lets you add vertical padding to the height of each row of items. The default value is 0 (no padding applied). To add padding, include this parameter with the amount of extra space required. This parameter expects an even number; if an odd number is specified, it will be increased by 1.

ImageWidth
The items in the first column (items with parameter names beginning 1-Item) can have icon-images placed beside them. PowerView needs to know the width of the images in advance of loading them, in order to lay out the items correctly. If you use images for any items, specify the width of the images (which should all have the same dimensions) in this parameter. (Note that this parameter is simply used to reserve sufficient space for the images; if you specify an amount greater than the width of the images, it will not affect how the images are display, it will just create a wider gap between the image and the text beside it.) The default for this parameter is 0. If you don't use any images, this parameter is ignored.

ImageHeight
The details of this parameter are explained for ImageWidth, above. In the same way, this parameter tells PowerView the heights of all the images.

SoundLinkClick
Specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when the mouse is clicked on a linking item (i.e. an item that includes a URL parameter). If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

SoundLinkRelease
Specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when the mouse is released after clicking a linking item. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

SoundSort
If AllowSorting is set to 'yes', this specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when a column header is clicked to sort the items. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

SoundScroll
If the scroll buttons are visible, this specifies the absolute or relative URL of an MP3 audio file to play when a scroll-button is clicked. If you don't want to play a sound for this event, just leave this parameter out of your datafile.

DefaultTarget
Every item can optionally link to a URL, and it can open it into a separate frame or window: we provide numbered Target parameters for that. However, you probably want most (or maybe all) the links to open into one particular frame. Enter the frame name in this parameter, and every item without its own Target parameter will open the link into this 'default' frame. You can use the HTML names _self, _top, _parent, _blank or _new as well as the names of frames or windows you've created. If you leave this parameter out of your datafile, links will open into _self (the frame or window containing the applet).

Name
Specifies a name for this instance of the applet. This is only necessary if you are using the applet in conjunction with our free Satellite add-on, and it's explained in the documentation for Satellite, available from the Cool Focus web site. If you are not using Satellite with this applet, it's best not to include this parameter in your datafile (although nothing bad will happen if you do).

ShowVersion
A yes or no value. This parameter is included in all Cool Focus Flash applets, and its default is no. If set to 'yes', the version number of the applet (and other details) will be shown when the applet starts. This is included only for troubleshooting purposes, to help you determine which version of an applet you're using. It should be set to 'no' (or removed from your datafile) before you publish your page.

Note: If the applet is not registered, this information will always be shown when the applet starts, regardless of the ShowVersion parameter's setting.

Testmode
A yes or no value, with a default of 'no'. This parameter is included in most Cool Focus Flash applets, and is used to help you determine the best width and height for the applet. (Because of this, it's best to use this parameter when you've got everything in the applet the way you want it.) Set this parameter to 'yes', then view the applet in your browser and click anywhere inside the applet. You'll see the minimum width and height displayed in a tooltip message, and you can copy these values into the page's HTML code. When you're done, remember to set the Testmode parameter back to 'no' or delete it from your datafile.

Note: If you've specified a list of font names in the applet's font parameters, it's a good idea to check that the applet will be big enough whichever of those fonts is used: with Testmode set to 'yes', move each font name to the beginning of the list and refresh the page to see if Testmode reports that larger dimensions are needed.

1. The ideal width and height are shown first; these are the dimensions to use if you want all items to be visible without scrolling.

2. After the word 'or', dimensions are shown for a scrollable view. The width allows extra space for the scroll buttons. The height is calculated as the height of the column headers (18 in the example above) added to the total height of the rows you want to display. In the example above, if you wanted 4 rows to be visible, you would set the height to 110 (23 * 4, + 18).

Columns
The three parameters below create PowerView's column headers (and establish the number of columns that are created). You must include at least one numbered Column parameter, but you will usually want to include more than one. The other two parameters are optional.

The parameters all have numbers after their names, and the numbers must be consecutive, starting from 1. If you want to create 5 columns, but you forget to include a Column4 parameter, PowerView will stop looking for any more, and will only find columns 1 to 3.

Column1, Column2, ..., Column_n
These parameters specify the text you want PowerView to display for each column header. The columns will be displayed in numerical order from the left, starting from 1, and you can include as many columns as you like.

ColumnBgColor1, ColumnBgColor2, ..., ColumnBgColor_n
This optional parameter specifies a background color for the entire column (similar to the way Windows XP shades one column in Details view of a folder). Any columns that don't have a corresponding ColumnBgColor parameter will be colored with BgColor.

ColumnAlign1, ColumnAlign2, ..., ColumnAlign_n
By default, the header text and item text in each column is aligned to the left of the column. This optional parameter lets you specify that particular columns should use different text-alignment. The available options are left (the default), center or right.

ColumnSortType1, ColumnSortType2, ..., ColumnSortType_n
If the AllowSorting parameter is set to Yes, users can click a column header to sort the items in that column. By default, PowerView sorts items alphabetically. If you have a column that contains only numbers, this would result in '11,000' being placed higher than '502' (because in alphabetical terms 1 comes before 5). The ColumnSortType parameter lets you specify either Text or Number for a column. The default is Text. If you specify Number for a column, PowerView will sort the items in that column numerically.

Note: The numbers in the column can use decimal points (.), and can optionally use a comma (,) as a thousand separator. Using any other character than decimal points, commas and digits will result in sorting errors.

Items
The Item-related parameters below are used to fill the columns with text items. Here we have to apologize - this isn't as intuitive as most of our menu applets! You have to think in columns when adding items, not in rows. All these parameters are prefixed with a number and a hyphen, and this number refers to the Column you are adding this item to. 1-Item1 is the first item added to Column1. 1-Item2 is the second item for Column1 and so on. To add items to Column3, you would use 3-Item1, 3-Item2, and so on.

The Image, URL and Target parameters for the item should be numbered exactly the same way as the Item parameter they work with.

Note that there are differences in the way the Items for the first column are set up (the parameters starting 1-Item). Only items in the first column can display images, and items in the first column cannot be blank.

The table below shows how the parameter numbers relate to positions in the applet:

1-Item1, 1-Item2, ..., 1-Item_n
These parameters specify the text you want PowerView to display for each item. The items will be displayed in numerical order, starting from 1 at the top of the column. For columns 2 upwards, any item can be blank: you can leave an Item parameter out if you want a blank space at that point in the column. However, for Column1 (parameters beginning 1-Item) this is not possible: PowerView uses the first column to determine the total number of rows being created, and when it comes to a missing parameter number it assumes that it has found all the parameters for Column1.

1-Image1, 1-Image2, ..., 1-Image_n
These parameters can only be used in the first column - in other words, any parameters beginning 2-Image or 3-Image will be ignored. They let you specify an image to be displayed beside the items in the first column. This can be any non-progressive JPEG image, or a GIF image converted to SWF format (you can use our free Design Studio application for Windows to convert GIFs to SWFs). If you use any images, remember to specify the ImageWidth and ImageHeight parameters.

1-URL1, 1-URL2, ..., 1-URL_n
The optional URL to which the Item with the same numeric prefix and suffix should link when clicked. Any item, in any column, can act as a link just by including a URL parameter for it.

1-Target1, 1-Target2, ..., 1-Target_n
The name of the frame or window into which the URL with the same number should open. If you don't include this parameter, the frame name set in the DefaultTarget parameter will be used.