Microsoft Developer Network

Defines the shape, coordinates, and associated URL of one hyperlink region within a client-side image map.

Members Table

The following table lists the members exposed by the area object.

Attributes/Properties

Show: Attributes/Properties Behaviors Collections Events Methods Styles

Attribute Property Description ACCESSKEY accessKey Sets or retrieves the accelerator key for the object. ALT alt Sets or retrieves a text alternative to the graphic. ariaBusy   Sets or retrieves the busy state of this element. ariaChecked   Sets or retrieves the checked state of this element. ariaDisabled   Sets or retrieves the disabled state of this element. ariaExpanded   Sets or retrieves the expanded state of this element. ariaHaspopup   Sets or retrieves a value indicating whether this element may display a pop-up window. ariaHidden   Sets or retrieves the hidden state of this element. ariaInvalid   Sets or retrieves the invalid state of this element. ariaLevel   Sets or retrieves the level of this element. ariaMultiselect   Sets or retrieves the multiple-selection state of this element. ariaPosinset   Sets or retrieves the current position of an item within a set. ariaPressed   Sets or retrieves the pressed state of a button that can be toggled. ariaReadonly   Sets or retrieves the read-only state of this element. ariaRequired   Sets or retrieves the form-completion requirement of this element. ariaSecret   Sets or retrieves the secret state of this element. ariaSelected   Sets or retrieves the selection state of this element. ariaSetsize   Sets or retrieves the set size of this element. ATOMICSELECTION Specifies whether the element and its contents must be selected as a whole, indivisible unit. attributes   Retrieves a collection of attributes of the object. canHaveHTML Sets or retrieves the value indicating whether the object can contain rich HTML markup. CLASS className Sets or retrieves the class of the object. COORDS coords Sets or retrieves the coordinates of the object. DIR dir Sets or retrieves the reading order of the object. firstChild Retrieves a reference to the first child in the childNodes collection of the object. hash Sets or retrieves the subsection of the href property that follows the number sign (#). HIDEFOCUS hideFocus Sets or gets the value that indicates whether the object visibly shows that it has focus. host Sets or retrieves the hostname and port number of the location or URL. hostname Sets or retrieves the host name part of the location or URL. HREF href Sets or retrieves the destination URL or anchor point. ID id Retrieves the string identifying the object. isContentEditable Gets the value that indicates whether the user can edit the contents of the object. isDisabled Gets the value that indicates whether the user can interact with the object. isMultiLine Retrieves the value indicating whether the content of the object contains one or more lines. isTextEdit Retrieves whether a TextRange object can be created using the object. LANG lang Sets or retrieves the language to use. LANGUAGE language Sets or retrieves the language in which the current script is written. lastChild Retrieves a reference to the last child in the childNodes collection of an object. nextSibling Retrieves a reference to the next child of the parent for the object. nodeName Retrieves the name of a particular type of node. nodeType Retrieves the type of the requested node. nodeValue Sets or retrieves the value of a node. NOHREF noHref Sets or gets whether clicks in this region cause action. offsetHeight Retrieves the height of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. offsetLeft Retrieves the calculated left position of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. offsetParent Retrieves a reference to the container object that defines the offsetTop and offsetLeft properties of the object. offsetTop Retrieves the calculated top position of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. offsetWidth Retrieves the width of the object relative to the layout or coordinate parent, as specified by the offsetParent property. outerHTML Sets or retrieves the object and its content in HTML. outerText Sets or retrieves the text of the object. ownerDocument Retrieves the document object associated with the node. parentElement Retrieves the parent object in the object hierarchy. parentNode Retrieves the parent object in the document hierarchy. parentTextEdit Retrieves the container object in the document hierarchy that can be used to create a TextRange containing the original object. pathname Sets or retrieves the file name or path specified by the object. port Sets or retrieves the port number associated with a URL. previousSibling Retrieves a reference to the previous child of the parent for the object. protocol Sets or retrieves the protocol portion of a URL. readyState Retrieves the current state of the object. role   Sets or retrieves the role for this element. scopeName Gets the namespace defined for the element. search Sets or retrieves the substring of the href property that follows the question mark. SHAPE shape Sets or retrieves the shape of the object. sourceIndex Retrieves the ordinal position of the object, in source order, as the object appears in the document's all collection. STYLE Sets an inline style for the element. TABINDEX tabIndex Sets or retrieves the index that defines the tab order for the object. tagName Retrieves the tag name of the object. tagUrn Sets or gets the Uniform Resource Name (URN) specified in the namespace declaration. TARGET target Sets or retrieves the window or frame at which to target content. TITLE title Sets or retrieves advisory information (a ToolTip) for the object. uniqueID Retrieves an autogenerated, unique identifier for the object. UNSELECTABLE Specifies that an element cannot be selected. Behavior Description clientCaps Provides information about features supported by Internet Explorer, as well as a way for installing browser components on demand. download Downloads a file and notifies a specified callback function when the download is complete. homePage Contains information about a user's homepage. httpFolder Contains scripting features that enable browser navigation to a folder view. saveFavorite Enables the object to persist data in a favorite Web site. saveHistory Enables the object to persist data in the browser history. saveSnapshot Enables the object to persist data when a Web page is saved. time Provides an active timeline for an HTML element. time2 Provides an active timeline for an HTML element or group of elements. userData Enables the object to persist data in user data. Collection Description all Returns a reference to the collection of elements contained by the object. attributes Retrieves a collection of attributes of the object. behaviorUrns Returns a collection of Uniform Resource Name (URN) strings identifying the behaviors attached to the element. childNodes Retrieves a collection of HTML Elements and TextNode objects that are direct descendants of the specified object. children Retrieves a collection of DHTML Objects that are direct descendants of the object. Event Description onactivate Fires when the object is set as the active element. onbeforeactivate Fires immediately before the object is set as the active element. onbeforecopy Fires on the source object before the selection is copied to the system clipboard. onbeforecut Fires on the source object before the selection is deleted from the document. onbeforedeactivate Fires immediately before the activeElement is changed from the current object to another object in the parent document. onbeforeeditfocus Fires before an object contained in an editable element enters a UI-activated state or when an editable container object is control selected. onbeforepaste Fires on the target object before the selection is pasted from the system clipboard to the document. onblur Fires when the object loses the input focus. onclick Fires when the user clicks the left mouse button on the object. oncontextmenu Fires when the user clicks the right mouse button in the client area, opening the context menu. oncontrolselect Fires when the user is about to make a control selection of the object. oncopy Fires on the source element when the user copies the object or selection, adding it to the system clipboard. oncut Fires on the source element when the object or selection is removed from the document and added to the system clipboard. ondblclick Fires when the user double-clicks the object. ondeactivate Fires when the activeElement is changed from the current object to another object in the parent document. ondrag Fires on the source object continuously during a drag operation. ondragend Fires on the source object when the user releases the mouse at the close of a drag operation. ondragenter Fires on the target element when the user drags the object to a valid drop target. ondragleave Fires on the target object when the user moves the mouse out of a valid drop target during a drag operation. ondragover Fires on the target element continuously while the user drags the object over a valid drop target. ondragstart Fires on the source object when the user starts to drag a text selection or selected object. ondrop Fires on the target object when the mouse button is released during a drag-and-drop operation. onfocus Fires when the object receives focus. onfocusin Fires for an element just prior to setting focus on that element. onfocusout Fires for the current element with focus immediately after moving focus to another element. onhelp Fires when the user presses the F1 key while the browser is the active window. onkeydown Fires when the user presses a key. onkeypress Fires when the user presses an alphanumeric key. onkeyup Fires when the user releases a key. onlosecapture Fires when the object loses the mouse capture. onmousedown Fires when the user clicks the object with either mouse button. onmouseenter Fires when the user moves the mouse pointer into the object. onmouseleave Fires when the user moves the mouse pointer outside the boundaries of the object. onmousemove Fires when the user moves the mouse over the object. onmouseout Fires when the user moves the mouse pointer outside the boundaries of the object. onmouseover Fires when the user moves the mouse pointer into the object. onmouseup Fires when the user releases a mouse button while the mouse is over the object. onmousewheel Fires when the wheel button is rotated. onmove Fires when the object moves. onmoveend Fires when the object stops moving. onmovestart Fires when the object starts to move. onpaste Fires on the target object when the user pastes data, transferring the data from the system clipboard to the document. onpropertychange Fires when a property changes on the object. onreadystatechange Fires when the state of the object has changed. onresizeend Fires when the user finishes changing the dimensions of the object in a control selection. onresizestart Fires when the user begins to change the dimensions of the object in a control selection. onselectstart Fires when the object is being selected. ontimeerror Fires whenever a time-specific error occurs, usually as a result of setting a property to an invalid value. Method Description addBehavior Attaches a behavior to the element. applyElement Makes the element either a child or parent of another element. attachEvent Binds the specified function to an event, so that the function gets called whenever the event fires on the object. blur Causes the element to lose focus and fires the onblur event. clearAttributes Removes all attributes and values from the object. click Simulates a click by causing the onclick event to fire. cloneNode Copies a reference to the object from the document hierarchy. componentFromPoint Returns the component located at the specified coordinates via certain events. contains Checks whether the given element is contained within the object. detachEvent Unbinds the specified function from the event, so that the function stops receiving notifications when the event fires. dragDrop Initiates a drag event. fireEvent Fires a specified event on the object. focus Causes the element to receive the focus and executes the code specified by the onfocus event. getAdjacentText Returns the adjacent text string. getAttribute   Retrieves the value of the specified attribute. getAttribute Retrieves the value of the specified attribute. getAttributeNode Gets an attribute object referenced by the attribute.name property. getBoundingClientRect Retrieves an object that specifies the bounds of a collection of TextRectangle objects. getClientRects Retrieves a collection of rectangles that describes the layout of the contents of an object or range within the client. Each rectangle describes a single line. getElementsByTagName Retrieves a collection of objects based on the specified element name. getExpression Retrieves the expression for the given property. hasAttribute   Determines whether an attribute with the specified name exists. hasChildNodes Returns a value that indicates whether the object has children. insertAdjacentElement Inserts an element at the specified location. insertAdjacentHTML Inserts the given HTML text into the element at the location. insertAdjacentText Inserts the given text into the element at the specified location. mergeAttributes Copies all read/write attributes to the specified element. normalize Merges adjacent TextNode objects to produce a normalized document object model. releaseCapture Removes mouse capture from the object in the current document. removeAttribute   Removes the given attribute from the object. removeAttribute Removes the given attribute from the object. removeAttributeNode Removes an attribute object from the object. removeBehavior Detaches a behavior from the element. removeExpression Removes the expression from the specified property. replaceAdjacentText Replaces the text adjacent to the element. scrollIntoView Causes the object to scroll into view, aligning it either at the top or bottom of the window. setActive Sets the object as active without setting focus to the object. setAttribute   Sets the value of the specified attribute. setAttribute Sets the value of the specified attribute. setAttributeNode Sets an attribute object node as part of the object. setCapture Sets the mouse capture to the object that belongs to the current document. setExpression Sets an expression for the specified object. swapNode Exchanges the location of two objects in the document hierarchy. Style attribute Style property Description behavior behavior Sets or retrieves the location of the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) behavior.

Remarks

Any number of area elements can be contained within the same map element.

The format of the COORDS value depends on the value of the SHAPE attribute.

This element is not rendered.

This element does not require a closing tag.

Example

This example provides the code for an image map of the solar system. It creates links from the image map to individual images of the planets using the area element with the map element, COORDS value, and SHAPE attribute. The user clicks the sun or any planet to link to an individual image. To return to the solar system image map, the user clicks the Back button.

<P><IMG SRC="solarsys.gif" WIDTH=504 HEIGHT=126 BORDER=0
    ALT="Solar System" USEMAP="#SystemMap">

<MAP NAME="SystemMap">
    <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="0,0,82,126"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/sun.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="circle" COORDS="90,58,3"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/merglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="circle" COORDS="124,58,8"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/venglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="circle" COORDS="162,58,10"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/earglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="circle" COORDS="203,58,8"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/marglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="poly" COORDS="221,34,238,37,257,32,278,44,284,60,
        281,75,288,91,267,87,253,89,237,81,229,64,228,54"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/jupglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="poly" COORDS="288,19,316,39,330,37,348,47,351,66,
        349,74,367,105,337,85,324,85,307,77,303,60,307,50"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/satglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="poly" COORDS="405,39,408,50,411,57,410,71,404,78,
        393,80,383,86,381,75,376,69,376,56,380,48,393,44"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/uraglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="poly" COORDS="445,38,434,49,431,53,427,62,430,72,
        435,77,445,92,456,77,463,72,463,62,462,53,455,47"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/nepglobe.gif">
    <AREA SHAPE="circle" COORDS="479,66,3"
        HREF="/workshop/graphics/pluglobe.gif">
</MAP>

This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

Standards Information

This object is defined in HTML 3.2  and is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .