Can a web control appear to cross a frame's border?

[Darius]

Hi everyone,

(This is a newby "How did they do that?" question)

A banking web app I've been using lately (built with ASP it seems)
appears to be using frames. I say 'appears to be using frames' because
if you 'View Source' the banner area (right across the top of the
browser's content area) you see a complete html doc that does _not_
include markup for the menu (down the left hand side, below the banner)
or the main content area (which is the rest of the browsers content
area, to the right of the menu). Likewise if you 'View Source' the menu
or the main content area, there are no html definitions for the other
two areas.

But, there are drop-down combo boxes in the banner area. If you open
these they drop down (past the bottom of the banner) into the main
content area. I'd like to know how that's been done (I have been
thinking that frames disallowed this, as if they were mini browser
windows that would have have to scroll any clipped content into view
within the frame's borders).

Unfortunately I don't know how to 'View Source' the main document
definition since the only way I know to open the app is via their link
which opens a browser window with no tool, menu or address bars (I have
been using IE6 on this site)

So; is there a way to tell the browser to allow content to spill across
into another frame? (I can't see any frame markup that would suggest
this can be done).

Or; is there a way of using multiple html documents on a single page
without frames? (I feel stupid just typing that question, but perhaps
there is something really basic about html I just don't know; I am a
newby to html and web apps in general).

Or; Has this been done using some kind of trick with server-side
includes? (This seems very unlikely since it wouldn't account for
displaying three completely different html document defintions at the
same time).

Thanks in advance for any explanation or reference link you might be
able to provide.

Darius

[Bruce Barker]

dropdowns run in their own window on top of the frames, so they are not
clipped. this is also why flyout menus can not obscure them
-- bruce (sqlwork.com)

"Darius" <da********@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@f14g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com...

Hi everyone,

(This is a newby "How did they do that?" question)

A banking web app I've been using lately (built with ASP it seems)
appears to be using frames. I say 'appears to be using frames' because
if you 'View Source' the banner area (right across the top of the
browser's content area) you see a complete html doc that does _not_
include markup for the menu (down the left hand side, below the banner)
or the main content area (which is the rest of the browsers content
area, to the right of the menu). Likewise if you 'View Source' the menu
or the main content area, there are no html definitions for the other
two areas.

But, there are drop-down combo boxes in the banner area. If you open
these they drop down (past the bottom of the banner) into the main
content area. I'd like to know how that's been done (I have been
thinking that frames disallowed this, as if they were mini browser
windows that would have have to scroll any clipped content into view
within the frame's borders).

Unfortunately I don't know how to 'View Source' the main document
definition since the only way I know to open the app is via their link
which opens a browser window with no tool, menu or address bars (I have
been using IE6 on this site)

So; is there a way to tell the browser to allow content to spill across
into another frame? (I can't see any frame markup that would suggest
this can be done).

Or; is there a way of using multiple html documents on a single page
without frames? (I feel stupid just typing that question, but perhaps
there is something really basic about html I just don't know; I am a
newby to html and web apps in general).

Or; Has this been done using some kind of trick with server-side
includes? (This seems very unlikely since it wouldn't account for
displaying three completely different html document defintions at the
same time).

Thanks in advance for any explanation or reference link you might be
able to provide.

Darius