For windowed element like Flash objects, Flash player 7+ can be declared with wmode="transparent" or "opaque", then DHTML menus are shown above Flash movie under IE6/7 and FF2, including the smooth shadow of Dynarch.

For Java applet, situation is more difficult. Dynarch DHTML menu can still show above applets with IE6 and IE7 under my XP-SP2. Shadow cannot be smoothed but it's still usable for me.

Dynarch DHTML menu cannot show above applets with Mozilla/FF2. Microsoft try to control Java applets but browsers based on Gecko v1.8 don't. I didn't find this issue in the "What-to-do" list for Gecko v1.9/FF3.0.

Some DHTML menu software are trying to control the visibility of windowed elements, including applets. It will be VERY NICE that Dynarch menu do the same. I've read your message on 2006/01/11.

I always put my applet in a cell <td> of a <table> structure. One of working idea for hidding applets is to create a <div> within the cell to contain the applet (responsibility of the user):
<td width=... height=...>
<div ID="myApplet" style="position:relative">
<applet archive=...>
<param name=... value=...>
</applet>
</div>
</td>

When needed, we can hide the applet, while keeping its reserved area, with some java-script that could be:
function hideApplet() {
var elm=document.getElementById("myApplet")
if (elm) {elm..style.visibility="hidden";}
}
and show it again:
function showApplet() {
var elm=document.getElementById("myApplet")
if (elm) {elm..style.visibility="visible";}
}

To be compatible with frames or iFrame, one idea is to send a list of objects to HMenu, something like this :
[ "frame1_name", "appletA_div_ID" ]
[ "frame2_name", "appletB_div_ID" ] (if frame_name is null or zero length, it will be the main document)

Then the Dynarch script perform this:
when a main menu item, having sub-items, must be opened, the script read the list of applet_div_ID, check if this ID exist in the document or frame then hide the applet. When all sub-menus roll back to main menu only, the script check again this list and show the existing applet_div_ID.

I don't request that the script check if the sub-menu can cover or not the applet, I think the script can simply hide the applet, that's the minimum to make Dynarch menu usable with applets under Mozilla/FireFox.

I'd like to continue with Dynarch DHTML menu, so it's important that Dynarch menu give the opportunity to hide applets when needed for people using FireFox or others. If Dynarch cannot implement some way to hide applets as proposed here, is it possible for me to add an event listener to know when the main menu is opening and closing sub-menus ?

Thanks for your interest in reading this long message.

• --Marco