Param

Parameters Support Key: [2\|3\|*3.2\|4] [X1\|X1.1] [IE3A1\|M\|N2\|O3.5*]	What is it? Attributes Tag Example	Parent/Content Model Tips & Tricks Browser Peculiarities
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Quick Statistics
End Tag:		Omitted
Standards Details:		In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
XHTML Modules:		Applet and Object
CSS 'display' Type:		NA
CSS Mapping:		NA
Default Rendering:		NA
Official Docs:		HTML 4.x, XHTML 1.1

What is it?: The PARAM element is used to pass values to an embedded OBJECT (usually an embedded program) or to an embedded Java APPLET. In both situations PARAM serves the same purpose and has almost the same implementation (mostly because the official OBJECT with PARAM usage was meant to absorb the APPLET with PARAM functionality.)

Common Attributes
%Core%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N6|O7]
%Data%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N|O]
Specific Attributes
Name
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3A1|M|N2|O3.5]: Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs; Required? Yes; Description:
This attribute identifies a symbolic name for the current parameter. It is coupled to a VALUE attribute to complete the parameter assignment.; Values: CDATA
Type
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE6|M|N??|O6]: Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs; Required? No; Description:
This identifies the MIME type of the resource indicated by the VALUE attribute ONLY when the VALUETYPE attribute has a value of REF.; Values: CDATA. [Alphanumeric MIME type]
Value
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3A1|M|N2|O3.5]: Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs; Required? No; Description:
This identifies a value for the current parameter. It is coupled to a NAME attribute to complete the parameter assignment.; Values: CDATA
Valuetype
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE6|M|N??|O6]: Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs; Required? No; Description:
This identifies the type of the value attribute.; Values:
DATA - [DEFAULT] The value will be passed directly to the OBJECT as a string, after embedded character entities are resolved.
REF - The value indicated by the VALUE attribute is a URL where run-time values are stored.
OBJECT - Indicates a reference internal to the document where values are stored. Value is any valid ID attribute label.

Example
[Applet usage]: <applet codebase="http://www.foo.com/java/"
code="javaexample.class" width="200" height="300">
   <param name="text1" value="Example Text 1" />
   <param name="imagecaption" value="Image Caption" />
   <param name="bounceimage" value="bounce1.gif" />
   <img src="non_java_image.gif" width="200" height="300"
   border="0" alt="You are missing the full Java Experience." />
</applet>
[Object usage]: <object codetype="application/java-vm" codebase="http://www.foo.com/applet.class"
classid="java:program.start" height="100" width="100">
<param name="options" value="xqz" />
If you can read this you are too close.<br />
AND your browser does not support Java.
</object>

Parent Model: <applet> | <object>
Content Model: This element does not accept any content

Tips & Tricks

Nothing to Report

Browser Peculiarities

The online DTD and HTML reference for Microsoft Internet Explorer mentioned support for the TYPE and VALUETYPE attributes in the 3.0 version timeframe, but the IE 4.0 version of the documentation did NOT. I have yet to verify if these two attributes are really supported in either version yet. Note: These attributes are back in IE's references as of IE6.
The TYPE and VALUETYPE attributes may have been supported before Opera 6 - The information for these two attributes is based on support information on Opera's website and not verified.
Support information for the %Core% attributes (actually, only the ID attribute makes any sense for this element) is purely semi-educated guesswork. ID can be used by the DOM to add or delete a PARAM element, or change a PARAM's attributes. The versions listed for %core% reflect the general version where real DOM changeability was added to the indicated browsers.

Parameters