onmouseover calling event on table column activated from another

Basically, when I put the mouse over 'link', i want 'about' to be shown or hidden.
Are you talking about a little hover such as the alt does for images?

First off, don't put {} around variables. They only envelope functions, statements, and loops. Your code is very hard is very confusing. I cleaned it up a little but I still don't get exactly what you are trying to do.
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
var b;

function PrtRow(name, about) {
newcol = "</TD><TD ALIGN='LEFT'>";
size = "<font size=\"4\">";
var cfd;
var bool;
var hold;
var twenty47;
cfd = LinkName(name);
hold = b;
twenty47 = procBool(b);

link = "<a href=\"http://www.xxx/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "onMouseOver=\"showText()\" onMouseOut=\"hideText()\";>"}
document.write(" <TR> <TD WIDTH=\"40%\"> ", link, size , name, twenty47 ,"</font>", "</a>" , newcol,"<div id=\"theInvisText\" style=\"display:none;\">", about,"</div>", newcol, "</TD></TR>\n")


function showText(){
document.getElementById("theInvisText").style.display="block"};
}


function hideText(){
document.getElementById("theInvisText").style.display="none"};
}

PrtRow("Cantos ","");

function procBool(c){
if(c == true){
c = "<font color=\"#FF0000\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: #FFFF00\">24x7</span></b></font>";
return c;
}
else if(c == false){
c = "";
return c;
}
}

function LinkName(a){
if(a == "Cantos "){
a = "supported_applications.asp\"";
b = false;
return a;
}
}

Okay, I thought of some other suggestions for you.

1. Always have functions defined before they are called. For example, you have LinkName() and procBool() at the bottom. Notice that they are called when you execute PrtRow("Cantos ","") which is before them. That means you will get an error saying that the functions are undefined or unknown.

2. document.write uses + (plus) not , (comma).

3. If your table has more than 1 row, which I am sure that it does, that means that each div will have the same id (theInvisText). So when you call it, you won't get the one you want.

To change the color give the TD an ID as well.

onmouseover=\"document.getElementById(TD_ID).style.background='#HEXCOLOR'\"
onmouseout=\"document.getElementById(TD_ID).style.background='#HEXCOLOR'\"

p.s. i moved all the code round as you said and now it doesnt work ;) lol.

The ID would go in the TD tag.

<td id="whatever">

but surely that will change the colour of the whole of the table rather than just one of the columns?
No. The ID is in the TD, not the TABLE tag. This means you will only affect the TD.

Since I do not have the same table output, it would be very beneficial to you to download Firefox, execute the page and look at the Error Console. That is an amazing scripting debugger.

stin didn't say what part was wrong but it was a typo in his coding somewhere. He did not say where.

The Error console is located under the Tools menu. I would suggest downloading Firefox 2 RC3. It is very stable and I love it. (At least when I am on a PC and not using my Mac)

i can get it to show/hide the text in the right hand column for the first entry in the table, but for any row after the first it does not work - can you tell me how exactly the id works in the DIV tag - I would've thought that it gives the same id to every row defined, but it appears that it only gives it to the first?
Do all the DIVs have the same ID?

Try the following.
1. Create an integer outside of whatever loop you have.
var divInt = 0;
2. Make the DIV id have that integer.
<div id='div" + divInt + "'></div>
3. Increment the variable.
divInt++;
Now, each of your divs will be div1, div2, div3...

great - very nifty - i was trying to give each an individual name :)
That can get tedious really fast. Glad to be of help.

edit ** for some reason my loop outputs the last number (48) on the first line :( i have no idea whats happening now??
That is because you have the loop set do run through. Notice, you call the function, and right away the loop makes divInt = 1,2,3,4...48. Try the following.

var divInt = 0;
function PrtRow(name, about) {
divInt++;

newcol = "</TD><TD ALIGN='LEFT'>";
size = "<font size=\"4\">";
var cfd
var bool
var hold
var twenty47
cfd = LinkName(name);
hold = b;
twenty47 = procBool(b);

link = "<a href=\"http://www.xxxxxxxx.com/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "onMouseOver=\"showText()\" onMouseOut=\"hideText()\";>"
document.write(" <TR> <TD WIDTH=\"40%\"> " + link + size + name + twenty47 +"</font>" + "</a>" + newcol + "<DIV id='theInvisText" + divInt + "' style=\"visibility:hidden;\">" + about + "</div>" + "</TD></TR>\n")

}

Please remember to use [code] tags. Use a function variable like so...

function showText(whichdiv){
document.getElementById(whichdiv).style.visibility ="visible";
}

function hideText(whichdiv){
document.getElementById(whichdiv).style.visibility="hidden";
}

function PrtRow(name, about){
divInt++;
newcol = "</TD><TD ALIGN='LEFT'>";
size = "<font size=\"4\">";
var cfd
var bool
var hold
var twenty47
cfd = LinkName(name);
hold = b;
twenty47 = procBool(b);

link = "<a href=\"http://www..xxxxxx.com/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "onMouseOver=\"showText('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\" onMouseOut=\"hideText('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\";>"
document.write(" <TR> <TD WIDTH=\"40%\"> " + link + size + name + twenty47 +"</font>" + "</a>" + newcol + "<DIV id=\"theInvisText" + divInt + "\" style=\"visibility:visible;\">" + about + "</div>" + "</TD></TR>\n")

}

PrtRow("Cantos ","hello");

Error: document.getElementById(whichdiv) has no properties
That means that the following line is setup wrong.
link = "<a href=\"http://www..xxxxxx.com/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "onMouseOver=\"showText('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\" onMouseOut=\"hideText('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\";>"
Put the following in the function and see what div id it is trying to call.
alert(whichdiv);
whichdiv is called by the function variable (function showText(whichdiv){)

Okay, well then I will see you on Monday would be my assumption.

You can play around with it. Like I said, the error is because of the line...
link = "<a href=\"http://www..xxxxxx.com/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "onMouseOver=\"showText('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\" onMouseOut=\"hideText('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\";>"

In the showText() and hideText functions you must provide the which variable. The function then assigns which as the div it will hide or show.

Here I have changed the functions from changing the text, to alerting you what DIV it is attempting to change. What does the alert say?
link = "<a href=\"http://www.xxxxxx.com/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "onMouseOver=\"alert('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\" onMouseOut=\"alert('theInvisText" + divInt + "')\";>";

Does Firefox give any errors? What does this one say?

link = "<a href=' http://www.xxxxxx.com/xxx/xxx/support/" + cfd + "' onMouseOver=alert('" + divInt.toString() + "') onMouseOut=alert('" + divInt.toString() + "')>";

Glad to hear it. Good luck with the rest!