Applet

What is an applet?
applet: a Java program that can be inserted into a web page and run by loading that page in a browser brings web pages to life with interactive content, multimedia, games, and more the feature of Java that is primarily responsible for its initial popularity users can run applets simply by visiting a web page that contains an applet program (if they have the Java runtime environment installed on their computer)
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Applets
Graphical Java programs Run inside web browser or AppletViewer Platform-neutral

Web Browsers Accessing a Web Page

User enters URL for a web site ..

HTML file sent back from web server ..

Applet byte code file sent down from server and interpreted by browser ..

Applets
An applet is a Panel that allows interaction with a Java program A applet is typically embedded in a Web page and can be run from a browser You need special HTML in the Web page to tell the browser about the applet For security reasons, applets run in a sandbox: they have no access to the clients file system

What is an applet
You write an applet by extending the class Applet Applet is just a class like any other; you can even use it in applications if you want When you write an applet, you are only writing part of a program The browser supplies the main method

Applet classes in Java

implementation a top-level container, like a JFrame behaves more like a JPanel

class javax.swing.JApplet
java.lang.Object java.awt.Component java.awt.Container java.awt.Panel java.applet.Applet javax.swing.JApplet

The genealogy of Applet

java.lang.Object | +----java.awt.Component | +----java.awt.Container | +----java.awt.Panel | +----java.applet.Applet

The simplest possible applet

TrivialApplet.java
import java.applet.Applet; public class TrivialApplet extends Applet { }

TrivialApplet.html <applet code="TrivialApplet.class width=150 height=100> </applet>

The simplest reasonable applet

import java.awt.*; import java.applet.Applet; public class HelloWorld extends Applet { public void paint( Graphics g ) { g.drawString( "Hello World!", 30, 30 ); } }

Applet methods
public public public public public Also: public public public public void void void void void init () start () stop () destroy () paint (Graphics)

void repaint() void update (Graphics) void showStatus(String) String getParameter(String)

Why an applet works

You write an applet by extending the class Applet Applet defines methods init( ), start( ), stop( ), paint(Graphics), destroy( ) These methods do nothing--they are stubs You make the applet do something by overriding these methods

Applet life cycle

browser visits page containing an applet browser calls init on that applet, once browser calls start on that applet browser goes away from that page browser calls stop on that applet browser comes back to that page browser calls start again on that applet

init()
start()
do some work

stop() destroy()
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... browser shuts down browser calls destroy on the applet, once

public void init ( )

This is the first method to execute It is an ideal place to initialize variables It is the best place to define the GUI Components (buttons, text fields, scrollbars, etc.), lay them out, and add listeners to them put code that would have been in GUI's constructor in init instead Almost every applet you ever write will have an init( ) method

public void start ( )

Not always needed Called after init( ) put code that would have been in GUI's main method in start instead Called each time the page is loaded and restarted Used mostly in conjunction with stop( ) start() and stop( ) are used when the Applet is doing time-consuming calculations that you dont want to continue when the page is not in front

public void stop( )

Not always needed Called when the browser leaves the page Called just before destroy( ) Use stop( ) if the applet is doing heavy computation that you dont want to continue when the browser is on some other page Used mostly in conjunction with start()

public void destroy( )

Seldom needed Called after stop( ) Use to explicitly release system resources (like threads) System resources are usually released automatically

Methods are called in this order

init and destroy are only called once each init() start and stop are called whenever the browser start() enters and leaves the page do some work is code called do some work by your listeners paint is called when the stop() applet needs to be repainted destroy()

public void paint(Graphics g)

Needed if you do any drawing or painting other than just using standard GUI Components Any painting you want to do should be done here, or in a method you call from here Painting that you do in other methods may or may not happen Never call paint(Graphics), call repaint( )

repaint( )
Call repaint( ) when you have changed something and want your changes to show up on the screen repaint( ) is a request--it might not happen When you call repaint( ), Java schedules a call to update(Graphics g)

update( )
When you call repaint( ), Java schedules a call to update(Graphics g) Here's what update does:
public void update(Graphics g) { // Fills applet with background color, then paint(g); }

Sample Graphics methods

A Graphics is something you can paint on
g.drawString(Hello, 20, 20); g.drawRect(x, y, width, height);

Hello

g.fillRect(x, y, width, height);

g.drawOval(x, y, width, height); g.fillOval(x, y, width, height); g.setColor(Color.red);

Painting at the right time is hard

Rule #1: Never call paint(Graphics g), call repaint( ). Rule #2: Do all your painting in paint, or in a method that you call from paint. Rule #3: If you paint on any Graphics other than the Applets, call its update method from the Applets paint method. Rule #4. Do your painting in a separate Thread. These rules aren't perfect, but they should help.

Other useful Applet methods

System.out.println(String s)
Works from appletviewer, not from browsers Automatically opens an output window.

showStatus(String) displays the String in the applets status line.

Each call overwrites the previous call. You have to allow time to read the line!

Applets are not magic!

Anything you can do in an applet, you can do in an application. You can do some things in an application that you cant do in an applet. If you want to access files from an applet, it must be a trusted applet. Trusted applets are beyond the scope of this course.

A very simple applet

An applet can be treated like a drawing panel or a container to hold other components.
import java.awt.*; import javax.swing.*;

public class HelloWorldApplet extends JApplet { public void paint(Graphics g) { super.paint(g); g.drawString("Hello World!", 30, 30); } }
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Applet inside a web page

applet programs live inside web pages when the browser reaches the web page: all necessary class files are downloaded from server, loaded onto JVM in web browser, and executed

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HTML (web pages)

Web pages are written in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Web pages have two main sections: head: header information (not shown on screen) body: actual text of the web page HTML text is placed into tags between < and >

<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE> <BODY> (content)

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 An applet is accessed by an HTML file. HTML is a mark-up language (it adds to text content by marking it up with tags) Browsers display the text and process (render) the tags For example, a file might begin with the line: IS C313 <i> Homework </i> Assignment The browser would display: IS C313 Homework Assignment

<HTML> <u> here comes an applet </u> <applet code= file.class width =500 height=500> </applet> </HTML> When a browser renders this HTML file, it will display underlined text and the applet whose byte code is in the file file.class

Web page with an applet

Put a page like this in your project's folder:
<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>My Applet Page</TITLE> </HEAD>

<BODY>
<applet code=" HelloWorldApplet.class width=150 height=100> </applet> </BODY> </HTML>
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JApplet restrictions
can't read or write any files on user's hard disk can't make network connections to computers other than web server hosting applet can't execute other programs can't read much information about system on which it is running any window popped up by applet will have a warning at the bottom

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Other JApplet methods

public void showStatus(String str) Places the given text into the browser's status bar. public URL getCodeBase() Returns the URL of the folder where this applet's web page resides on the web.

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Passing parameter to applet

Parameters can be placed in the HTML code of your web page, which your applet can read:
<!-code="mypackage/MyApplet.class" width=400 height=300> <PARAM name="password" value="Tacoma"> </PARAM> -->

Methods in the JApplet class:

public String getParameter(String name) Returns the value of the parameter with the given name. String password = this.getParameter("password"); public String[][] getParameterInfo() Returns an array of all parameter names, descriptions, and values.

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