Using DHTML to create a robust user interface

Note

A detailed sample of code illustrating use of DHTML on the M-Business Anywhere platform is available online—see Dynamic HTML – ExecDash.

In both desktop and mobile Web-based enterprise applications, dynamic HTML (DHTML) is used to simulate the user interface features that would otherwise be programmed in compiled code, including:

  • Expanding/collapsing menu trees

  • Pop-up help text

  • Toolbars and navigation bars

  • Consistency in text formatting

The big differences

  • No layers – when a hidden element appears, such as pop-up text or an expanded menu tree, anything downstream on the page moves to make room for it.

  • No external style sheets – inline styles (inside HTML elements) and internal style sheets (inside the <head> tag) are supported, but external style sheets (.css files) can not currently be used in M-Business Client.

  • No onmouseover/onmouseout – most mobile devices use a stylus in place of a mouse, so JavaScript events typically must be triggered by onmousedown / onmouseup or onclick, which register either mouse or stylus actions.

A detailed reference on HTML 4 features that are supported by M-Business Anywhere appears in HTML 4 Support in M-Business Client 5.x and Later.

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