This command reference lists the commands that are contained in the core module of the coolTip utility. This utility is based upon a similar tool-tip utility called overLIB, but differs from it in one important aspect. coolTip is totally object-based, which means that each popup can have their own set of properties and that there can be more than one popup at a time on a page. This is accomplished by specifically including the ID of the popup's DIV container through use of the PUID command. If this command is not used on the command line, the popup container defaults to ctDiv. In addition, coolTip is aware of all of the commands that are available in the most recent version of overLIB (v4.10).

To make use of these commands, you need to insert the following line in your HEAD section.

<SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript" SRC="cCore.js"></SCRIPT>

This statement must be included with all other plugins and must come first. The other plugins can then be loaded in any order that you want after that.

Remember that commands are always in uppercase (case-sensitive) and can have none or more parameter values.

Download this module as a zip file.

There are multiple ways to customize coolTip and using a long command line to invoke coolTip is NOT the recommended way of calling it. The suggested method for customizing coolTip is to use either of the following approaches:

1. Define your default variables in a separate Javascript block, placed in the HEAD section of your page, like this:

   <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
   <!--
   var cd_width=300;
   var cd_fgcolor='#ffffcc';
   var cd_bgcolor='#666666';
   //-->
   </SCRIPT>
   

   This block can come either before or after the core module is loaded as long as you are not setting either the cd_texts and/or cd_caps arrays. If these are being set, then you'll have to place this code block after the core module loads.
2. The approach that is recommended is to use the ctPageDefaults routine that is in the core module. This routine be called by placing the following little script block after the core module loads (or after all plugins load if you're also specifying parameters that are pertinent to those plugins):

   <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
   <!--
   ctPageDefaults(WIDTH,300,FGCOLOR,'#ffffcc',BGCOLOR,'#666666');
   //-->
   </SCRIPT>

   You'll notice that this routine uses the same command line structure that a call to coolTip does. It will change the default variable settings only for the current page and must be used on each page where you want these changes to be effective. This command could also be used in an onMouseOver or onClick event attached to a triggering link. This is particularly useful for those parameters that behave like toggle switches because now you can effectively toggle that behavior off and on. This method and method #1 don't involve any permanent changes in the coolTip code.

Note that it is not recommended that you try changing the default variables in the code unless you are very comfortable working with Javascript because their initialization in coolTip differs greatly from how its been done previously in overLIB.

Additional features included in the core module include:

• The ability for coolTip to work in conjunction with other scripts that may also be capturing mousemovements.
• A delay on mouseout. The default action is for no delay. However, if you specify a time, in milli-seconds, in the call to the nd( ) routine, as in nd([id], millisecs), there will be a millisecs delay in closing the popup. If there has been any delay scheduled in the appearance of the popup, this action is not applied. This behavior can affect any popup whether its a STICKY or not. If a delay time is specified via this mechanism, any TIMEOUT applied to an earlier popup will be terminated.
• mouseout/mouseoff capability. For STICKY popups, if you specify NOCLOSE on the command line so that there isn't any Close text, the popup can be closed by first mousing into and then out of it. (Of course, activating any other coolTip popup on the page will normally close this popup. See the parameter KEEPCTD.) If there has also been a TIMEOUT scheduled in closing the popup, the TIMEOUT is canceled and the popup closes when you mouseout of it. The parameter MOUSEOFF, described below, allows this same action to be applied to a normal STICKY popup (one which also has a close link).

Leading Argument

The only absolute requirement is that if you are supplying a string argument to a coolTip call, it must be the first argument. In particular if no string is being supplied to coolTip then any of the other parameters can be supplied in any order. The INARRAY or FUNCTION parameters don't need to be the leading argument. Note: any HTML markup that is contained within the string argument supplied to coolTip should convert the characters that deliminate html tags (<...>) to their entity references (&lt; and &gt; respectively). Better yet, your should define a separate text variable in a SCRIPT block within the HEAD section of the document and pass that to the coolTip call. If you do this then you don't need to replace the HTML delimiting characters by their entity references.

This same requirement pertains to the ctPageDefaults routine. If you supply a string argument in a call to this routine, it will become the default setting for the cd_text variable rather than the normal 'Default Text' string.

Multiple popups

coolTip is an object-based version of overLIB and as such supports the display of more than one popup at a time. However, in order to use this feature, the popup ID must be specified via the PUID parameter. In addition, the closing routine, nd() , which accepts the ID (a string value) as its first argument, to control the popup to be closed . If there isn't any PUID parameter or if it is not followed with an ID string value, then the default ID that is used will be ctDiv. These DIV containers will be created dynamically, if they aren't already present, and added to the document tree in all supported browsers. An illustration of this behavior is given below in conjunction with the description of the PUID parameter. (NOTE: Also see the description of the parameter KEEPCTD.)

The plugin cPIP.js also supports multiple popups, but it is designed specifically for popups in popups (PIP) because it is coded to make sure that subsequent popups always lie above earlier popups. In this plugin, the use of the PUID parameter is mandatory, and if it doesn't have a following ID string value, it will default to ctDiv.

onLoad Handlers

In Netscape 4.x, if you assign a function to the onLoad event associated with the BODY tag, then you need to make sure that it is preceded by the following statement: cLoaded=1; .... This is required because doing so will over-ride the window.onload value [=ctLoadHandler] that is set in the coolTip code and which resets the flag indicating that the coolTip code has been downloaded.

STICKY

Makes the popup stick around until closed.
Variable: cd_sticky

WIDTH pixels

Sets the width of the box to the size given by the value pixels, a number.
Variable: cd_width

HEIGHT pixels

Sets the height of the box to the given value pixels, a number.
Variable: cd_height

LEFT

Makes the popups go to the left of the mouse.
Variable: cd_hpos

RIGHT

Makes the popups go to the right of the mouse. This is the default horizontal position for popups.
Variable: cd_hpos

CENTER

Positions the mouse in the center of the popup.
Variable: cd_hpos

ABOVE

Makes the popups go above the mouse. Note: The HEIGHT of the popup is automatically accounted for internally when positioning the popup.
Variable: cd_vpos

BELOW

Makes the popups go below the mouse. This is the default vertical position of popups.
Variable: cd_vpos

OFFSETX x

How far away from the pointer the popup will show up, horizontally. Positive values move the popup to the right, while negative numbers move the popup to the left, relative to the cursor. A number whose default value is 10.
Variable: cd_offsetx

OFFSETY y

How far away from the pointer the popup will show up, vertically. Positive values move the popup lower, while negative numbers move the popup higher, relative to the cursor. A number whose default value is 10.
Variable: cd_offsety

AUTOSTATUS

Sets the status bar's text to the popup's text. Overrides STATUS.
Variable: cd_autostatus

AUTOSTATUSCAP

Sets the status bar's text to the popup's caption. Overrides AUTOSTATUS and STATUS.
Variable: cd_autostatus

SNAPX grid

Snaps the popup to an even position in a horizontal grid.
Variable: cd_snapx

SNAPY grid

Snaps the popup to an even position in a vertical grid.
Variable: cd_snapy

FIXX position

Position the popup's horizontal position, a number in pixels. Overrides all other horizontal placement commands, except RELX which takes precedence. This position is relative to the upper left hand corner of the document.
Variable: cd_fixx

FIXY position

Position the popup's vertical position, a number in pixels. Overrides all other vertical placement commands, except RELY which takes precedence. This position is relative to the upper left hand corner of the document.
Variable: cd_fixy

RELX position

Positions the popups horizontal position, a number in pixels, relative to the upper left hand corner of the browser window. Overrides all other horizontal placement commands, including FIXX. Negative values will position the popup from the browser's right hand edge (as in this example which positions the popup 100 pixels from the right).
Variable: cd_relx

RELY position

Positions the popups vertical position, a number in pixels, relative to the upper left hand corner of the browser window. Overrides all other vertical placement commands, including FIXY. Negative values will position the popup from the bottom edge of the browser window (as in this example which positions the popup 100 pixels above the bottom edge of the browser window).
Variable: cd_rely

FRAME frame

Controls popups in a different frame. Make sure you have the <DIV> tag in the target frame as well. The frame parameter passed to this command should not be a text string, but a frame reference. Example: coolTip('Text', FRAME, parent.below), assuming you have a frame called below. [NOTE: The Cross Frame Support Module must be loaded before this command will be active.]
Variable: cd_frame

TIMEOUT millisecs

Makes the popup go away after the requested delay, a number. 1000 millisecs is about 1 second.
Variable: cd_timeout

DELAY millisecs

Makes that popup behave like a tooltip. It will popup only after a certain delay specified in millisecs, a number. One second is 1000 millisecs.
Variable: cd_delay

HAUTO

Automatically determine if the popup should be to the left or right of the mouse. This command switches the current state of this parameter to its opposite state. Default value is off (0).
Variable: cd_hauto

VAUTO

Automatically determine if the popup should be located above or below the mouse. This command switches the current state of this parameter to its opposite state. Default value is off (0). This swap occurs near the upper and lower boundaries of the browser window if the popup will become hidden.
Variable: cd_vauto

CLOSECLICK

Force users to click on "Close" to close sticky popups. This command switches the current state of this parameter to its opposite state. Default value is off (0) which means that you close a sticky popup by mousing over the "Close" text.
Variable: cd_closeclick

FGCOLOR color

Color of the inside of the popup box, a string value. Default is '#CCCCFF'.
Variable: cd_fgcolor

BGCOLOR color

Color of the border and caption area of the popup box, a string value. Default is '#333399'.
Variable: cd_bgcolor

TEXTCOLOR color

Sets the color of the text inside the box, a string value. Default is '#000000'.
Variable: cd_textcolor

CAPCOLOR color

Sets the color of the box's caption text, a string value. Default is '#FFFFFF'.
Variable: cd_capcolor

CLOSECOLOR color

Sets the color of the close text, a string value. Default is '#9999FF'.
Variable: cd_closecolor

TEXTFONT font

Sets the font to be used by the main text, a string value. Default is "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica".
Variable: cd_textfont

CAPTIONFONT font

Sets the font of the caption, a string value. Default is "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica".
Variable: cd_capfont

CLOSEFONT font

Defines the font for the "Close" text, a string value. Default is "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica".
Variable: cd_closefont

TEXTSIZE size

Size of the main text's font, a number. Default is 11(px), and the assumed length unit is pixels.
Variable: cd_textsize

CAPTIONSIZE size

Size of the caption's font, a number. Default is 11(px), and the assumed length unit is pixels.
Variable: cd_captionsize

CLOSESIZE size

Size of the "Close" text's font, a number. Default is 11(px), and the assumed length unit is pixels.
Variable: cd_closesize

TEXTALIGN body text alignment

Specifies how the body text should be aligned. Permissible values are 'left', 'center', or 'right'. The default value is 'left'. This parameter can be specified in either lower case or upper case letters. This is a convenience command so that users can easily align the body text without resorting to writing a custom class.
Variable: cd_textalign

CAPALIGN caption text alignment

Specifies how the caption text should be aligned. Permissible values are 'left', 'center', or 'right'. The default value is 'left'. This parameter can be specified in either lower case or upper case letters. This is a convenience command so that users can easily align the caption text without resorting to writing a custom class.
Variable: cd_capalign

FGBACKGROUND picture

Defines a picture to use instead of color for the inside of the popup, a string value. You will most likely want to set FGCOLOR to '' or the color will show as well. Default is the null string ('').
Variable: cd_fgbackground

BGBACKGROUND picture

Defines a picture to use instead of color for the border of the popup, a string value. You will most likely want to set BGCOLOR to '' or the color will show as well. When having a Close link, Netscape will re-render the table cells, making things look bad. Default is the null string ('').
Variable: cd_bgbackground

CAPICON url

Displays a small icon before the popup caption, a string value giving the URL of the image. Default is the null string (''). There is a 5 pixel horizontal spacing around the image and it is aligned to the middle of the text in the caption.
Variable: cd_capicon

BORDER pixels

Makes the border of the popups thicker or thinner, a number. Default is 1.
Variable: cd_border

BACKGROUND picture

Instead of using the table box as background, your picture will be used, a string value giving the URL for the picture. Use with the FULLHTML command. See below. Default is the null string ('').
Variable: cd_background

PADX left right

Pads the background picture with horizontal whitespace for text placement. Both values are numbers. Default is 1. Note that this is a two parameter command.
Variable: cd_padxl and cd_padxr

PADY top bottom

Pads the background picture with vertical whitespace for text placement. Both values are numbers. Default is 1. Note that this is a two parameter command.
Variable: cd_padyt and cd_padyb

FULLHTML

Allows you to control the html over a BACKGROUND picture completely. Default value is off (0). The html code is expected in "text". If you employ this parameter, it is best to put the html code into a separate string variable defined in a script block and supply that as the first argument to the call. If you put it directly into the call, then you should convert the characters that deliminate html tags (<...>) to their entity references (&lt; and &gt; respectively).
Variable: cd_fullhtml

cInfo Object

This object contains the core level version number, whether this is a pre-release version, the major and minor numbers of the release, the revision number of the release, and the function meets(requiredCoreVersion), which returns true if this release meets the requiredCoreVersion number, othewise it returns false (even when there is no parameter specified). This information is contained in the global variable cInfo.

CSSOFF

Turns off CSS features and resorts to standard html tags. This is the default for all popups unless you specifically invoke one of the other styling commands (CSSSTYLE or CSSW3C). [The command CSSCLASS is not needed but is recognized. Any values specified for the class commands will over-ride the default formatting.]
Variable: cd_css

CAPTION title

Sets the caption of the popup, a string value. Default is the null string ('').
Variable: cd_cap

CELLPAD normal, 5, 10, and 20 pixels of padding; can also have variable padding

Padding, in pixels, for the main body text in a popup. Default value is 2. There can be up to four additional values following this command. If there is more than one value, then their interpretation will follow the rules of CSS. If four values are specified then they must be in the order TOP, RIGHT, BOTTOM, LEFT, which is the conventional clockwise order of CSS (see the last link above). If three values are specified, then the first one refers to the TOP padding, the second value is the RIGHT and LEFT padding amounts, and the last value of the three is the BOTTOM padding. When two values are specified, the first value is the TOP and BOTTOM padding, while the second value is the LEFT and RIGHT padding. With a single value, the padding is applied equally on all sides. This feature isn't available in Netscape 4.x. If there is more than one padding value, only the first one will be applied in Netscape 4.x.
Variable: cd_cellpad

CLOSETITLE title attribute

Sets the text string of the TITLE attribute on the close event if CLOSECLICK is 1. Default value is "Click to Close". If you don't want any TITLE to show, then set this variable to the null string.
Variable: cd_closetitle

CLOSETEXT text

Replaces the text "Close" with something else, a string value.
Variable: cd_close

COMPATMODE treats custom classes & nd() like overlib v3.51

Render custom classes in a manner similar to that implemented in v3.51 of overlib. In addition, the behavior of nd() is similar to that in v3.51; in other words, the popup is closed immediately when the user moves off of the triggering link, regardless of any value assigned to TIMEOUT. Default value is off (0). When used in the command line it will switch the associated variable to its opposite state.
Variable: cd_compatmode

DONOTHING example

As the name implies, this command does absolutely nothing at all. It was introduced because it was a feature requested by an experienced user in order to make programming shell wrapper functions easier. There is no associated variable associated with this command.

FOLLOWMOUSE example

Sets whether the popup should follow the cursor. Default is true (1). When used on the command line, it will switch the current state of the associated default variable to the opposite state.
Variable: cd_followmouse

KEEPCTD switch

Normally, each call to coolTip() causes the ctDiv container to be hidden if it's visible. This parameter controls this behavior of the ctDiv container. Its default value is off (0) so that the normal action indicated above occurs. When used on the command line, it causes the default state of the associated variable to be switched to its opposite state. (NOTE: this parameter name stands for keep coolTipDiv.)
Variable: cd_keepctd

PUID divID     Using ctDiv     Using div1

The ID name, a string value, to be assigned to the DIV container that will hold a popup's content. divID must be unique on the page. If no value is assigned to PUID for a popup, then it defaults to ctDiv, the ID for the primary popup. NOTE: the parameter PUID must be specified if you're using a secondary popup. If there is more than one level of popup, then the parameter value following PUID must be given. Any DIV container not present on the page will be created dynamically.
Variable: cd_puid

NOCLOSE

Doesn't display the text "Close" on stickies with caption. When used on the command line, it will set event handlers so that you can close your popup by mousing over it and then off of it [see the following command]. This will also cancel any TIMEOUT that has been scheduled for your popup.
Variable: cd_close

MOUSEOFF example  example (with 1 sec delay)

Will apply the same event handlers that are applied when using the NOCLOSE parameter to a sticky popup that may also have a "Close" text. Default is off (0). When used on the command line, it will switch the current state of the associated default variable to its opposite state. This feature is disabled if the coolTip popup and source code are in different frames or windows.

The MOUSEOFF command also accepts an optional parameter, which specifies the delay in closing the popup (in milli-seconds) when a user mouse's off of the popup so that he/she can return to click on any specified links that were in the popup. It is used like this: coolTip(..., MOUSEOFF, 1000, ...). Like the TIMEOUT command, any delay that is specified with this command is cancelled when mousing back onto the popup and becomes reactivated when mousing off of the popup again.
Variable: cd_mouseoff

INARRAY id

Tells coolTip to read the text from the cd_texts array, located in cCore.js (or on page). This parameter can be used instead of text. id is the index of the element within the cd_texts array that you want. Note: in javascript, arrays start with an index value of 0.
Variable: cd_texts

CAPARRAY id

Tells coolTip to read the caption from the cd_caps array. (See description under INARRAY).
Variable: cd_caps

FUNCTION functionname

Calls the specified function and takes the return value as the text that should be displayed in the popup. The function is called when the coolTip command parser runs.
Variable: cd_function

This parameter can be called in one of four different ways:
1. FUNCTION showMe
2. FUNCTION showMe(ONE, TWO)
3. FUNCTION myFunctionCall where myFunctionCall is "showMe('One','Two')"
4. FUNCTION noparameters

STATUS text

Sets the text in the browsers status bar to text, a string value. Default is the null string (").
Variable: cd_status

WRAP example

Will cause the popup to be 'shrink-wrapped' around its content so that it is no wider then is necessary. Default value is off (0). When used on the command line it will switch the current state of the associated default variable to its opposite state. This command is not meant to be used with a large amount of text. If it is and the resulting popup width exceeds the width of the brower window, then the popup's width is reset to the browser window width. See also the "unofficial" Adaptive_Width plugin.
Variable: cd_wrap