1

20
Introduction to
Java Applets

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 2

Observe due measure, for right timing is in all

things the most important factor.
— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Painting is only a bridge linking the painter’s mind

with that of the viewer.
— Eugene Delacroix

The direction in which education starts a man will

determine his future in life.
— Plato

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 3

OBJECTIVES
In this chapter you will learn:
ƒ To differentiate between applets and
applications.
ƒ To observe some of Java's exciting capabilities
through the JDK's demonstration applets.
ƒ To write simple applets.
ƒ To write a simple HyperText Markup Language
(HTML) document to load an applet into an
applet container and execute the applet.
ƒ Five methods that are called automatically by an
applet container during an applet's life cycle.
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 4

20.1 Introduction
20.2 Sample Applets Provided with the JDK
20.3 Simple Java Applet: Drawing a String
20.3.1 Executing an Applet in the appletviewer
20.3.2 Executing an Applet in a Web Browser
20.4 Applet Life-Cycle Methods
20.5 Initializing an Instance Variable with Method init
20.6 Sandbox Security Model
20.7 Internet and Web Resources
20.8 Wrap-Up

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 5

20.1 Introduction

• Applets
– Java programs that can be embedded in HyperText
Markup Language (HTML) documents
– The browser that executes an applet is generically known
as the applet container

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20.2 Sample Applets Provided with the

JDK
• Demonstration applets provided with the JDK
– Demonstration programs are located in directory demo
• Default location in Windows:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0\demo
• Default location in UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X:
the directory in which you install the JDK followed by
jdk1.5.0/demo
– JDK and the demos can be downloaded from the
Sun Microsystems Java Web site
• java.sun.com/j2se/5.0/

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 7

20.3 Simple Java Applet: Drawing a

String
• Creating the applet class
– An applet container can create only objects of classes that
are public and extend JApplet
– An applet container expects every Java applet class to have
methods named init, start, paint, stop and
destroy
• These methods are inherited from class JApplet and can be
overridden
• When an applet container loads an applet class, the container
creates an object of the class then calls methods init,
start and paint

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1 // Fig. 20.6: WelcomeApplet.java 8
2
3
// A first applet in Java.
import java.awt.Graphics; // program uses class Graphics
Outline
4 import javax.swing.JApplet; // program uses class JApplet Import Graphics and JApplet
5
6 public class WelcomeApplet extends JApplet
WelcomeApplet
7 {
.java
8 // draw text on applet’s background
9 public void paint( Graphics g ) Class WelcomeApplet
10 { extends class JApplet
11 // call superclass version of method paint
12 super.paint( g );
Call the superclass version of
13
14 // draw a String at x-coordinate 25 and y-coordinate 25
method paint
15 g.drawString( "Welcome to Java Programming!", 25, 25 );
16 } // end method paint
17 } // end class WelcomeApplet
Use Graphics method drawString to draw
Welcome to Java Programming!

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 WelcomeApplet executing in the appletviewer 9
x-axis
y-axis

Upper-left corner of drawing Applet menu

area is location (0, 0).
Drawing area extends from
below the Applet menu to Status bar mimics what would
above the status bar. x- be displayed in the browser’s
coordinates increase from left status bar as the applet loads
to right. y-coordinates and begins executing.
increase from top to bottom. Pixel coordinates (25, 25) at which
the string is displayed

WelcomeApplet executing in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Upper-left corner of
drawing area

Pixel coordinate
(25, 25)

Status bar

Fig. 20.7 | Sample outputs of the WelcomeApplet in Fig. 20.6.

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 10

20.3 Simple Java Applet: Drawing a

String (Cont.)
• Overriding method paint for drawing
– The applet container calls method paint with a
Graphics object as an argument to tell the applet when
to draw

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20.3.1 Executing an Applet in the

appletviewer
• Applets are embedded in Web pages for
execution in an applet container
– Before executing the applet, you must create an HTML
document that specifies which applet to execute
• HTML documents typically end with an “.html” or “.htm”
file-name extension
• Most HTML elements are delimited by pairs of tags
– All HTML tags begin with a left angle bracket, <, and
end with a right angle bracket, >
– Execute WelcomeApplet in the appletviewer
• In the directory containing your applet and HTML
document, type appletviewer WelcomeApplet.html
• The appletviewer understands only the <applet> and
</applet> HTML tags and ignores all other tags

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1 <html> 12
2 <applet code = "WelcomeApplet.class" width = "300" height = "45"> Outline
3 </applet>
4 </html>
Applet element attributes
Specify an applet element

Fig. 20.8 | WelcomeApplet.html loads WelcomeApplet (Fig. 20.6)

into an applet container.

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Inc. All rights reserved.
 13

Error-Prevention Tip 20.1

If you receive a MissingResourceException

error message when loading an applet into the
appletviewer or a browser, check the <applet>
tag in the HTML document carefully for syntax
errors, such as commas (,) between the
attributes.

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 14

Error-Prevention Tip 20.2

Test your applets in the appletviewer applet
container before executing them in a Web
browser. Browsers often save a copy of an applet
in memory until all the browser’s windows are
closed. If you change an applet, recompile it, then
reload it in your browser, the browser may still
execute the original version of the applet. Close
all your browser windows to remove the old
applet from memory. Open a new browser
window and load the applet to see your changes.

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 15

Error-Prevention Tip 20.3

Test your applets in every Web browser in which

they will execute to ensure that they operate
correctly.

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20.3.2 Executing an Applet in a Web

Browser (Cont.)
• If your applet executes in the appletviewer
but not in your Web browser
– Java may not be installed and configured for your browser
• Visit the Web site java.com and click the Get It Now
button to install Java for your browser
• You may need to manually configure Internet Explorer to
use J2SE 5.0
– Click the Tools menu
– Select Internet Options…
– Click the Advanced tab
– Check the “Use JRE v1.5.0 for <applet> (requires
restart)” option
– Click OK
– Close all browser windows before attempting to execute
another applet in the browser
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Method When the method is called and its purpose

public void init()
Called once by the applet container when an applet is loaded for
execution. This method initializes an applet. Typical actions
performed here are initializing fields, creating GUI components,
loading sounds to play, loading images to display (see Chapter 20,
Multimedia: Applets and Applications) and creating threads (see
Chapter 23, Multithreading).
public void start()
Called by the applet container after method init completes
execution. In addition, if the user browses to another Web site
and later returns to the applet’s HTML page, method start is
called again. The method performs any tasks that must be
completed when the applet is loaded for the first time and that
must be performed every time the applet’s HTML page is
revisited. Actions performed here might include starting an
animation (see Chapter 21) or starting other threads of execution
(see Chapter 23).

Fig. 20.9 | JApplet life cycle methods that are called by an applet container
during an applet’s execution. (Part 1 of 3.)

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 18

Method When the method is called and its purpose

public void paint( Graphics g )
Called by the applet container after methods init and start.
Method paint is also called when the applet needs to be
repainted. For example, if the user covers the applet with another
open window on the screen and later uncovers the applet, the
paint method is called. Typical actions performed here involve
drawing with the Graphics object g that is passed to the paint
method by the applet container.
public void stop()
This method is called by the applet container when the user leaves
the applet’s Web page by browsing to another Web page. Since it is
possible that the user might return to the Web page containing the
applet, method stop performs tasks that might be required to
suspend the applet’s execution, so that the applet does not use
computer processing time when it is not displayed on the screen.
Typical actions performed here would stop the execution of
animations and threads.

Fig. 20.9 | JApplet life cycle methods that are called by an applet container
during an applet’s execution. (Part 2 of 3.)

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 19

Method When the method is called and its purpose

public void destroy()
This method is called by the applet container when the applet is
being removed from memory. This occurs when the user exits the
browsing session by closing all the browser windows and may also
occur at the browser’s discretion when the user has browsed to
other Web pages. The method performs any tasks that are required
to clean up resources allocated to the applet.

Fig. 20.9 | JApplet life cycle methods that are called by an applet container
during an applet’s execution. (Part 3 of 3.)

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 20

Common Programming Error 20.2

Declaring methods init, start, paint, stop or

destroy with method headers that differ from
those shown in Figure 20.9 results in methods that
will not be called by the applet container. The
code specified in your versions of the methods will
not execute.

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 21

20.5 Initializing an Instance Variable with

Method init
• Applet AdditionApplet
– computes the sum of two values input by the user and
displays the result by drawing a String inside a rectangle
on the applet
• The sum is stored in an instance variable of class
AdditionApplet
– So it can be used in both method init and method
paint

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1 // Fig. 20.10: AdditionApplet.java 22
2
3
// Adding two floating-point numbers.
import java.awt.Graphics; // program uses class Graphics
Outline
4 import javax.swing.JApplet; // program uses class JApplet
5 import javax.swing.JOptionPane; // program uses class JOptionPane
6
7 public class AdditionApplet extends JApplet
Declare instance variable AdditionApplet
sum of type double .java
8 {
9 private double sum; // sum of values entered by user
10
(1 of 3)
11 // initialize applet by obtaining values from user
12 public void init() init method called once when the
13 { container loads this applet
14 String firstNumber; // first string entered by user
15 String secondNumber; // second string entered by user
16
17 double number1; // first number to add
18 double number2; // second number to add
19
20 // obtain first number from user
21 firstNumber = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(
22 "Enter first floating-point value" );
23
24 // obtain second number from user
25 secondNumber = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(
26 "Enter second floating-point value" );
27

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28 // convert numbers from type String to type double 23
29
30
number1 = Double.parseDouble( firstNumber );
number2 = Double.parseDouble( secondNumber );
Outline
31 Sum the values and assign the
32 sum = number1 + number2; // add numbers result to instance variable sum
33 } // end method init
AdditionApplet
34
.java
35 // draw results in a rectangle on applet’s background
36 public void paint( Graphics g )
37 {
(2 of 3)
38 super.paint( g ); // call superclass version of method paint
39
40 // draw rectangle starting from (15, 10) that is 270
41 // pixels wide and 20 pixels tall
42 g.drawRect( 15, 10, 270, 20 );
43
44 // draw results as a String at (25, 25)
45 g.drawString( "The sum is " + sum, 25, 25 );
46 } // end method paint
47 } // end class AdditionApplet Call drawString to
display sum

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 24
Outline

AdditionApplet
.java

(3 of 3)

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1 <html> 25
2 <applet code = "AdditionApplet.class" width = "300" height = "65"> Outline
3 </applet>
4 </html>

Load AdditionApplet

Fig. 20.11 | AdditionApplet.html loads class AdditionApplet of Fig. 20.10

into an applet container.

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 26

Software Engineering Observation 20.1

The only statements that should be placed in an

applet’s init method are those that should execute
only once when the applet is initialized.

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20.6 Sandbox Security Model

• Sandbox security model
– Code executing in the “sandbox” is not allowed to “play
outside the sandbox”
– Used by the Java platform to prevent code that is
downloaded to your local computer from accessing local
system resources, such as files
– For information on security and applets
• developer.java.sun.com/developer/technicalA
rticles/Security/Signed
– For information on the Java 2 Platform security model
• java.sun.com/j2se/5.0/docs/guide/security/s
pec/security-spec.doc1.html

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20.7 Internet and Web Resources

• Sun Microsystems Java Web site

– java.sun.com
– Java applet resources
• java.sun.com/applets
– Free online tutorials
• java.sun.com/learning
• To install and configure Java for your browser
– Visit java.com
– Click the Get It Now button

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