Hiermenus Go Forth, I - DHTML Lab

Hiermenus Go Forth, I:
Version 4 - The External Arrays

Elements 1 and 2 - left_position and top_position

Description

Set the absolute page pixel position of the top-level menu in a menu tree.

Value

Pixels
May be specified as:

integers
strings
string JS expressions to be evaluated

Example Values

integers: 100,120

The top-level menu will appear 100 pixels from the left edge of the page and 120 pixels from the top. integers: ,120

The left_position parameter is omitted. The top-level menu will appear 120 pixels from the top of the page and user's mouse horizontal position. integers: 100,

The top_position parameter is omitted. The top-level menu will appear 100 pixels from the left edge of the page and user's mouse vertical position.
strings: "100","120"

The top-level menu will appear 100 pixels from the left edge of the page and 120 pixels from the top. strings: "","120"

The left_position parameter is omitted. The top-level menu will appear 120 pixels from the top of the page and user's mouse horizontal position. strings: "100",""

The top_position parameter is omitted. The top-level menu will appear 100 pixels from the left edge of the page and user's mouse vertical position.
JS expressions: "getLeft()","getTop()"

left_position

top_position

JS expressions: "(IE4) ? ((document.body.clientWidth<800) ? 50 : 100) : ((window.innerWidth<800) ? 50 : 100)",120

100

top_position

Default

There are no default values for these parameters. If omitted, the top-level menu will appear at the mouse position.

Differences from Version 3 equivalent

Version 3 accepted only integer values.

Comments

The use of JS expressions will probably be very popular for the setting of these position values. Many (very many) implementations of Version 3 included workarounds to introduce this feature.

For example, the menus are required to appear next to a list of vertical links in a table. Since we know the table's left position and the width of each link, we can simply include integer values for the parameters to place the menus.

However, what if the table was centered on the page. Its left position, and consequently the required menu absolute position, would be different for every browser window width!

You can create a function that finds the correct position each time the menu needs to be displayed. Then include the function call as a string in the array.