Value-adding JRE browser plug-in

[Qu0ll]

With all the hype about RIA at the moment and just because they are really
useful, I think Java applets deserve a second look. I have been developing
a framework for applets and the only real problem that I have encountered is
the overall size of the applet and the resulting slow download time.

This has lead me to think about the possibilities of somehow having the
framework classes locally installed once and then each subsequent applet
accessing them. I was thinking about some kind of browser plug-in or JRE
plug-in enhancement.

How feasible would it be to build a value-added JRE browser plug-in that
includes a set of standard framework classes so that they wouldn't need to
be downloaded with each applet invocation? Or just a separate plug-in? Or
some other way around this problem?

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
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[Lew]

With all the hype about RIA at the moment and just because they are
really useful, I think Java applets deserve a second look. I have been
developing a framework for applets and the only real problem that I have
encountered is the overall size of the applet and the resulting slow
download time.

This has lead me to think about the possibilities of somehow having the
framework classes locally installed once and then each subsequent applet
accessing them. I was thinking about some kind of browser plug-in or
JRE plug-in enhancement.

How feasible would it be to build a value-added JRE browser plug-in that
includes a set of standard framework classes so that they wouldn't need
to be downloaded with each applet invocation? Or just a separate
plug-in? Or some other way around this problem?

You mean something along the lines of
<http://java.sun.com/performance/reference/whitepapers/5.0_performance.html#2.7>
standard with Java since 5.0?

 

[Qu0ll]

You mean something along the lines of
<http://java.sun.com/performance/reference/whitepapers/5.0_performance.html#2.7>
standard with Java since 5.0?

Well, no, I don't think so. That only seems to apply to system classes and
I can't see how I could get my framework classes into it over the net when
running an applet. Have I missed something?

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

 

[Lew]

Well, no, I don't think so. That only seems to apply to system classes
and I can't see how I could get my framework classes into it over the
net when running an applet. Have I missed something?

I thought maybe you envisioned the acceleration happening through a similar
mechanism. If that isn't what you're trying to do, what are you trying to do?

What "framework" are you talking about?

 

[Qu0ll]

I thought maybe you envisioned the acceleration happening through a
similar mechanism. If that isn't what you're trying to do, what are you
trying to do?

What "framework" are you talking about?

As I said in my original post, I have developed a framework that is to be
shared between several different applets. What I want is to have those
framework classes locally installed on a client machine so that only the
applet-specific code needs to be loaded over the net each time an applet is
invoked. I am not concerned as to whether these framework classes are
installed with or without the actual JRE but ideally it would be possible to
include a link to a value-added JRE (that includes the framework) for
downloading if no Java is installed on the client machine and also have the
ability to simply update the locally-installed framework classes for each
new release of the framework.

Does this make sense?

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

 

[Roedy Green]

How feasible would it be to build a value-added JRE browser plug-in that
includes a set of standard framework classes so that they wouldn't need to
be downloaded with each applet invocation? Or just a separate plug-in? Or
some other way around this problem?

Just deploy your applet with Java Web start and build an aux common
Jar. JAWS will look into caching it for you automatically, and
downloading a fresh copy if it changes.

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/javawebstart.html

 

[Roedy Green]

How feasible would it be to build a value-added JRE browser plug-in that
includes a set of standard framework classes so that they wouldn't need to
be downloaded with each applet invocation?

If you used an installer, you could put your jar in the client ext
directory. It is up to you to figure out how to refresh it.

Applets that install things are problematic.
1. they need to be signed to do i/o.
2. there is no standard place to put files. You have to snoop around
and guess.

 

[Qu0ll]

Just deploy your applet with Java Web start and build an aux common
Jar. JAWS will look into caching it for you automatically, and
downloading a fresh copy if it changes.

Thanks Roedy but JAWS is not an option here. The applet needs to run
*inside* a web browser.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

 

[Qu0ll]

If you used an installer, you could put your jar in the client ext
directory. It is up to you to figure out how to refresh it.

The actual applet wouldn't be installing anything. The common framework
classes would be installed as part of the value-added JRE installation.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Thanks Roedy but JAWS is not an option here. ..

It would be handy if you could rule out JWS on each applet
related post. (My initial answer would always be 'JWS').

 

[Roedy Green]

The actual applet wouldn't be installing anything. The common framework
classes would be installed as part of the value-added JRE installation.

in that case, just pop your aux jar in the ext directory.