Question

I have a span tag as parent to an object tag that loads a Java class. The span tag has style display:none. When a reference to the object tag is retrieved in Javascript and a method of this object tag is called, it fails.

But, if the span tag does not have display:none set OR visibility:hidden, then it works.

Why is this?

<span style='display:none'>
  <object type="application/x-java-applet" width="100" height="100" name="my_class" id="my_class">
    <param name="codebase" value="http://www.whatever.com/class">
    <param name="code" value="myclass.class">
    <param name="mayscript" value="yes">
    <param name="scriptable" value="true">
 </object>
</span>

Answer 1

This is basic styles (CSS), a hidden object is still included in the page, while an element with display:none is not even included.

Solution:

• Make the applet around 10x10 pixels in size
• Put it in some innocuous part of the web page (e.g. at the end)
• Use visibility:hidden to hide it from view. Note that is visibility, not display!