The Renderer object

The Renderer object allows a number of different types of window to be created that in turn incorporate a Sidewinder renderer. Renderers are available for simple text or XHTML, and can be created to stand on their own, or as a dockable child of some parent window.

To create a renderer we simply use the new operator followed by the Create method. Create takes one parameter which is a JavaScript object containing information about how the window should behave. For example, to create an XHTML renderer window that:

• is 850 pixels wide, by 700 high;
• is docked to the top right-hand edge of the display;
• automatically slides off the screen when the user moves their mouse away from the window, and reappears when the user moves their mouse back over the window;
• and is styled to have a title bar, resize borders, close icon and a system menu;

we would write the following script:

var oRenderer = new Renderer;

oRenderer.Create(
  {
    Type         : "xhtml",
    Width        : 850,
    Height       : 700,
    Edge         : "right",
    Position     : "top",
    AutoHide     : true,
    Style        : 0x20001D40
  }
);

(The various parameters, including the Style values, will be explained in more detail in a later section.)