JWNews NOW!
I'll bet you are Itchin' to Download it!



JWNews is a News Ticker Style Applet that reads input from an external Text File and provides Links to Various "Articles". An Article is indicated by the Heading which is the Large text the scrolls down from the Top.
JWNews was inspired by UCOD Marquee, which was written by Michael Imamura.


Improvements over UCOD Marquee:

  1. JWNews Provides a Much Higher Number of Configurable Parameters
  2. Background and foreground Text Colors/Fonts and Sizes can be COMPLETELY Specified
  3. Target Frame Can be specified Explicitly for each Article Entry
  4. X Offset of Foreground and background Text can be Specified
  5. Implementation lacks Text Y Positioning Errors Found in UCOD Marquee
  6. Applet Coded for future expandability (More Scrolling Styles/ Color Switching Between News Articles)


Deficiencies of JWNews to UCOD Marquee:

NONE That I could Think Of :)

My Thoughts on this Applet:

This applet caught my eye from the first time I saw it looking for something for my Department's Intranet (Nokia Telecommunications MSC/HLR Software Development) Site. UCOD Marquee, although free, lacked certain features that I deemed necessary (i.e. Explicit Frame Target Control). Therefore, I recoded the thing from scratch incorporating the features that I needed, and adding enhancements here and there. An Additional feature I'd like to point out is the use of a triple buffer for flickerfree animation. In fact, all my applets so far implement ether a double or triple buffering scheme.



Legal Specifications:


The Java Source, and Class Binaries are Property of Jeremy C. Witt and I reserve Copyrights. You are granted free use of this applet and the associated source code for whatever you wish with the following Provisions:

  1. I am not Responsible for any Damages that may be caused by the use of this applet or damages that result from completly unrelated events while this applet is in the posession of the user.
  2. I am informed via Email by any Businesses that use this applet on their Internal (NON Internet Viewable) WebSites.
  3. Businesses who wish to use this applet on an External (Internet Viewable) Website, must first acquire Explicit Written Consent from the Author (Jeremy C. Witt)
  4. This applet may be used for personal Web Pages without restriction (Except those that may apply here [ see item 1.]) I would however love to hear from anyone using my applet so drop me a line at the EMail link above!
  5. I Reserve rights to the Java Source and Class Binaries, I reserve the right to revoke any and all liscenses granted at any time I see fit.
  6. I also reserve the right to impose a registration fee on any current or past liscenses where the applet is still in use for any reason I see fit.
  7. Finally I reserve the right to come to your house anytime I want and eat all the potato Chips that I find there.... and Cokes too.
  8. By Downloading this applet, you are agreeing to abide by these Provisions.



Text File Format:

The Text File used must adhere to the following criterion or the applet will most likely crash: (Being that I didn't write a very robust Text File Parser :)
EXAMPLE TEXT FILE WITH EXPLANATION FOLLOWS: (News.TXT)

; This is the Text File that tells the Marquee what to do.
; It is very important that you follow the conventions
; for creating this file, as the File Parser I wrote
; is not very robust, and will crash otherwise..
; Rules:
;*******
;1. Comments are preceded by
; in first Column.. Duh
;2. First Line After Comment MUST be a Header Record
; in the following Format
; BackgroundText~TargetFrame@AbsoluteWebURL
; or
; BackgroundText@AbsoluteWebURL (for _top Frame)
;3. After Header Record, there are Newsblock Records
; These can consist of 1 or more Lines of text with
; the Following gotchas
; a: There must be at least one NewsText Line
; b: If you want a blank line, you MUST put at least a space on it
;4. There is no limit to the number of Headings you can have to have fun ;Author: JEREMY C. WITT 9-4-97 ;************************************************************************
Winter~_top@http://smell.thepit.net/winter This is the New Applet Created to convey the latest news - Click on this text to Goto Winter's Page. Each major heading (indicated by the background text) will take you to the appropriate page.
; Major Heading 2
;****************
BluesNEWS@http://www.bluesnews.com Click here to goto the coolest News Page on the planet. Bluesnews
; Major Heading 3
; ***************
NOKIA@http://www.nokia.com Click here to see my place of business
; Major Heading 4
; ***************
Planetquake@http://www.planetquake.com Check out The Planet
; Major Heading 5
; ***************
Redwood@http://redwood.stomped.com How could we ever do without this one!
; Major Heading 6
; ***************
Feedback~_blank@mailto:winter@smell.thepit.net Go here to Complain :)
; Major Heading 7
; ***************
Thete's Page@http://smell.thepit.net/thete Go look at Thete's Page



Whew.. BTW: The Text File must be stored where the applet codebase is or this wont work right!

Configurable Parameters for the Applet:

Parameter: Default: Description:
string "NoFile" Test String (Try out Colors without File)
font "Helvetica" Text Font
style "PLAIN" Text Style (Underline,Italic,Bold,etc..)
basesize 10 Size of the Smaller Font (Forground)
fps 15 Frames Per Second (Speed of Applet)
bgcolor "DD0000" Hex Color String (Background)
tbcolor "202020" Hex Color Sting (Background Text)
tfcolor "FFFFFF" Hex Color String (Foreground Text)
file "news.txt" FileName to Open for News
lcolor "FFFF00" Hex Color String (Mouse Over Color)
acolor "FF0000" Hex Color String (Mouse Clicked Color)
pobgt 10 Percent X Offset from Left of Background Text
pofgt 15 Percent X Offset from Left of Foreground Text
scrollstyle 1 NOT IMPLEMENTED
sizemult 3 Size Multipler * fg Text size = bg Text size (int)



Example: (do view source for html.. its too dang hard to copy it into an HTML Document without invoking another copy of the applet




Thas All she wrote... have fun