HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
For instance, our clock applet example might let users specify the time
zone by which it sets its hour hand. To pass the parameter identified
as "timezone" with the value "EST" to our example applet, specify the
parameters as:
<object classid="clock.class">
<param id="timezone" value="EST" />
</object>
The browser passes the name/value pairs to the applet, but that is no
guarantee that the applet is expecting the parameters, that the names
and values are correct, or that the applet will even use the parameters.
Correct parameter names, including capitalization and acceptable val-
ues, are determined by the applet author. The wise HTML/XHTML author
works closely with the applet programmer or has detailed documenta-
tion to ensure that the applet parameters are named correctly and are
assigned valid values.
12.2.2.2. The type and valuetype attributes
Use the
type
and
valuetype
attributes to define the type of the parameter
the browser passes to the embedded object and how that object is to in-
terpret the value. The
valuetype
attribute can have one of three values:
data
,
ref
, or
object
. The value
data
indicates that the parameter value
is a simple string. This is the default value. The
ref
value indicates that
the value is a URL of some other resource on the Web. Finally,
object
indicates that the value is the name of another embedded object in the
current document. This may be needed to support interobject commu-
nication within a document.
The value of the
type
attribute is the MIME media type of the value of
the parameter. This usually is of no significance when the parameter
value is a simple string, but it can be important when the value is ac-
tually a URL pointing to some other object on the Web. In those cases,
the embedded object may need to know the MIME type of the object in
