Transition Numbers - Page 4

There are 22 different transitions to choose from. There is also transition 23, which chooses a number at random. I just happen to like 12.

And no, you do not need both transitions set to 12. It can be two different numbers. Table 3.1 describes the magic 23 numbers.

After Transition 23, the cycle of effects appears to start over. Any one will work just fine. Some are just more interesting than others.

Make It Go Away

There are really two things to discuss when it comes to reversing the effect: simply setting the current script to go the opposite way and putting a second revealTrans() on a page.

If all you want to do is make the script and SPAN previously noted to go from invisible to visible, it's simple. Everywhere you see the word "visible", you change it to "hidden"; and everywhere you see the word "hidden", you change it to "visible". Don't forget to change the instance in the SPAN as well.

But what if you want to put a second revealTrans() on the same page? You can, but you need to do two things.

First, you need to set a new function name in the script. I chose goAway() for my second function name. Then you need to update that name in the Form Button onClick Event Handler.

Then there's the NAME= in the SPAN. Remember how we named the SPAN in the original script Egg1? Well, that NAME connected the SPAN and the JavaScript. This means that if you put another revealTrans() on a page, the first name is dead and cannot be used by anything else. Thus, you have to change the name of the SPAN and each time that name appears in the script.

Here's a hint to do it quickly: Copy the script and previous SPAN on to a separate text editor, like WordPad or SimpleText. Then, choose Replace from the Edit menu. Type in the current name of the SPAN and then what you would like the new name to be and choose to Replace All. Bingo! It's done.

Now you can copy the new script and SPAN and paste it wherever you want it. No sweat! That's what I had to do here. I went with the name Egg2. Clever, huh?

The following code is the second script and SPAN from before. It has a new function name, a new NAME for the SPAN-which has also been changed throughout the script-and is set to go in the opposite direction of the first revealTrans(). The transitions are still set to 12, though. I really do like that number:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="javascript">
function goAgain() 
{
Egg2.filters[0].Apply();
if (Egg2.style.visibility == "hidden") 
{ 
Egg2.style.visibility = "visible"; 
Egg2.filters.revealTrans.transition=12;
}
else { 
Egg2.style.visibility = "hidden"; 
Egg2.filters[0].transition=12; 
} 
Egg2.filters[0].Play(); 
} 
</SCRIPT> 
<INPUT TYPE=button VALUE="Lemme See It" onClick="goAgain();">
<SPAN ID=Egg2 Style="Visibility:hidden;
Filter:revealTrans(duration=2);width:179;height:110"> <IMG SRC="eggs.gif">
</SPAN> 

No Button

As you can probably tell, using a button to start the effect is not very useful. Just remember that as long as the effect can be surrounded by a SPAN and an Event Handler is used to trigger the function, this can be triggered any number of ways. An onLoad Event Handler can trigger the effect when the page loads. You could also set the effect to trigger using an onMouseOver as illustrated in Figure 3.5.

See the text "Thank You!" coming in?

By the way, I got the effect to occur in less than a second by setting the duration to .25. Faster than that seemed to kill the effect.

RevealTrans Filter - Page 3
Beyond HTML Goodies
Internet Explorer Text and Image Filters - Page 5