Comic Book

This applet allows you to create an online 'Comic Book' complete with multiple images, 'speech bubbles', and even sound files.

ComicBook1.tar

<param name=COPYRIGHT value="ComicBook applet, Copyright 1999, Eric Harshbarger">
  • URL: The web address of the page that is spawned if the applet is clicked upon.

  • TARGET: The browser frame in which the spawned URL will appear. The default is "_self".

  • BUBBLE.#: This is a series of parameters (BUBBLE.0, BUBBLE.1,...) used to define comic bubbles that will be used/drawn in the ACTIONs. The parameters' values should be in the following format: 
    <param name=BUBBLE.0 value="type | direction | x | y | message | fontname | fontstyle | fontsize | fg_color | bg_color">
    • type == 'speech', 'thought', 'narrative', or 'stick' (determines the shape of the bubble)
    • direction == 'northeast', 'southeast', 'southwest', or 'northwest' (indicated the direction of the bubble)
    • x & y == the coordinates of the origin of the bubble
    • message == The phrase to be placed in the bubble. Multiple lines are separated by the LINEBREAK character.
    • font characteristics are used if the message is to be in a font different than that defined by FONT-parameters'
    • fg_color & bg_color define the color of the bubble if it is to be different than that of FGCOLOR and BGCOLOR. If you use these characteristics, then you MUST include font characteristics for place holders.

  • IMAGE.#: This is a series of parameters (IMAGE.0, IMAGE.1,...) used to define images that will be used/drawn in the ACTIONs. The parameters' values should be in the following format: 
    <param name=IMAGE.0 value="path_to_image | x | y">
    X & Y indicate the upper left corner of the image when it is drawn; if omitted both coordinates default to 0.

  • SOUND.#: This is a series of parameters (SOUND.0, SOUND.1,...) used to define audio clips that will be played in the ACTIONs (read the FAQ about what audio formats are accepted by Java). The parameters' values should be in the following format: 
    <param name=SOUND.0 value="path_to_sound">

  • ACTION.#: This series of parameters (ACTION.0, ACTION.1,...) actually tells the applet what to do (and in what order). Examples format of ACTION parameters: 
    <param name=ACTION.0 value="command() | command() | ... | command()">
<param name=ACTION.1 value="command()">
    'Commands' are one of the following:
    • drawBubble(#): Draws BUBBLE.#
    • drawImage(#): Draws IMAGE.#
    • playAudio(#): Plays SOUND.# (if the AudioClip has been completely loaded).
    • loopAudio(#): Loops SOUND.# (if the AudioClip has been completely loaded).
    • stopAudio(#): Stops SOUND.#
    • wait(#): Waits # milliseconds before going to the next command.
    • goto(#): Returns to ACTION.# for the next set of commands.
    • showDocument(URL target): Opens a new webpage from URL in browser frame 'target'.
    As exampled, a single ACTION prameter may contain a series of commands (which will be executed in order). However, the applet only repaints at the end of a particular ACTION parameter. After all the commands in one ACTION parameter are executed, it proceeds to the next (#+1) ACTION unless there are no more ACTIONs (at which point it stops).

  • LINEBREAK: The is the character that defines separate lines in the message of a BUBBLE. The default is the backslash character (\). If, however, you actually want to display such a character, you may redefine the LINEBREAK to another character.

  • DELIMITER: In all of the parameters above which use a pipe-symbol (|) to separate various arguments and terms, this parameter may be used to define a different separator (in case you want to use the | symbol in a message of a bubble or something).