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J-Bots - A FrontPage Javascripting Add-on

If you who have struggled with the problem of writing scripts that work in both Netscape and Internet Explorer, you may find J-Bots to be a very helpful add-on to FrontPage. J-Bots is a third-party program which is distributed by Webs Unlimited (http://www.websunlimited.com). It installes directly into the FrontPage interface, and thereafter appears in the FrontPage Editor's menu.

What J-Bots does is generate Javascripts of various types through the use of easy-to-understand dialog boxes. These scripts are highly configurable, and one of the things you may find most useful about them is that you can also use bits and pieces of the generated scripts to find solutions to your other browser-compatibility scripting issues.

Let me demonstrate some of the scripts which J-Bots can create, as well as show you something of the interface which generates these scripts. Note, however, that some of the things I will be showing you are not yet available, as I am currently beta-testing the latest version of J-Bots, which will hopefully be released soon. I have used the original version in the past, and the new version works in much the same fashion (only better!).

Here is the Current Date J-Bot in one of its' many forms: . Here is the dialog box which was used to create this date:

Note how configurable the date can be. It's simply a matter of typing in the appropriate codes, as well as any additional text you want mixed with it (such as the comma), and pressing the "Generate" button. The script is automatically generated. And because in the latest version, the script is a FrontPage component, you can also go back later, double-click on the component in the page, and change the parameters. The script appears in FrontPage Editor just as it appears in the browser. However, the "component" aspect of this program is not part of the current release. In the current release, it appears just as any other script would, as a Javascript icon.

Here's another example from the program, a Floating Window:

Again, the parameters of the floating window can be adjusted easily through the dialog box which you fill out to create the window:

One more example. I think you'll find this one useful! The drop-down list box below will take you to another page, so be sure to come back and finish reading the article!

My Home Page Discussion: Microsoft FrontPage Discussion: Active Server Pages Discussion: Internet Database Connector

And here is the dialog box used to create it:

I hope you're beginning to see why I wrote this article, not specifically about FrontPage, but about an add-on that I consider to be very helpful! Most of the built-in FrontPage components require the FrontPage extensions to be on the server running the page, but since this generates Javascripts, it doesn't!

See you next time!

Author: Kevin Spencer
Date: 03/13/98

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