Well, I'm not sure about the DHTML, and if there was a solution out there using that, I'm sure you would run into problems with Netscape.
However, I have seen one solution that used to only work in NS4, but is now honored in NS4 and up and IE 5 and up. And that is the
scrollBy() JavaScript method.
The example I saw was a frame set with three frames. The top frame had the report header, the middle frame had the report content and the bottom frame had the scroll controls. Now, keep in mind that this frameset was launched into a new window which excluded the scroll bars. You can't get rid of the scroll bars in the main window, so the only way this will work is to launch the report into a new window without scroll bars. I mean, the
scrollBy() method will work on a main window, but the physical scroll bars will be there also and those won't invoke the function to move both frames, so it could get confusing for the visitor.
Basically, the bottom frame had four images in it. One for each direction of scrolling. The up and down images only scrolled the middle frame vertically while the left and right buttons scrolled both frames horizontally. Each button scrolled 30 pixels, but you can set it to whatever you want. You could even put in two buttons for the verticle scroll. One for scrolling xx pixels and the other for duplicating a
page-down or
page-up effect using the
innerHeight property.
Anyways, the buttons would fire functions that would look something like this.
Code:
var deltaN = 30
function moveVerticle(direction) {
if (direction == "up") {
deltaN = -deltaN
}
parent.middleframe.scrollBy(0,deltaN)
}
function moveHorizontal(direction) {
if (direction == "left") {
deltaN = -deltaN
}
parent.topframe.scrollBy(deltaN,0)
parent.middleframe.scrollBy(deltaN,0)
}
Then you could make some small images with arrows and have them call the functions. Something like this.
Code:
<a href="javascript:moveVerticle('down');"><img src="downarrow.gif" border="0"></a>
<a href="javascript:moveVerticle('up');"><img src="uparrow.gif" border="0"></a>
<a href="javascript:moveHorizontal('right');"><img src="rightarrow.gif" border="0"></a>
<a href="javascript:moveHorizontal('left');"><img src="leftarrow.gif" border="0"></a>
That's the only method that I can think of that will be honored by NS(4+) and IE(5+). It probably seems a little complicated, but it does work. You'll lose a little functionality in that you won't be able to press and hold the button to make the screen scroll continuously. That's why I think having two more verticle buttons for page-up and page-down is a must. You could even have two more for top and bottom that would navigate to anchors at the top and bottom of the middle frame.
ToddWW
