I''m wondering what are the limitations (if any) of programming games in applets as opposed to applications. Are there any basic rules of thumb about what cant be done/isn''t allowed in an applet? Another question, can swing components be used in applets? Thanks in advance

Swing can be used in an applet.

Applets generally have stricter security controls on them. Most applet viewers don''t allow things like file access. On the whole restrictions vary from viewer to viewer. It''s really hard however, to write a good game without data files, so applications are a good way to go.

There are no rules of thumb, every web browser has its own security model. For example the Internet Explorer (some versions of it) doesn''t allow querying of the IP address wherefrom the applet was loaded and this causes more problems as you can''t make network connections to other IP addresses... Of course signing the applet would solve these security problems, but it introduces new problems as there is no real standard on signing. So you would have to sign the applet for each browser (and even browser version) there is out there and that might be quite problematic.

This is the reason I''ve kept applet support from GameFrame library for now (allthough that might change in the future). At the moment I think applications are the best way to go when you are making games with Java allthough there are a few examples of successfully made applet games.

Swing indeed can be used if the client has it installed. Best way to make sure of that is to use Java 2 and Java Plugin thing (use different applet tag in the HTML code).

Well

Lets look this in this way

Applet must be run in a broswer, wich make it a bit hard to have save game (security)Broswer alos use memory, so if you make an application you saethis memory, you can also add a save game feature.

Applet are run in a broswer so you player don''tt need o download your game before they play. But on the hother hand it mean than they need to waith the applet to load before they play, and they must be on the internet. Application can save a lot of time to your player if they play often.

Application can be zipped, so they take less space on you webpage, good if youmake a big game. it also mean smaller download.

But apllet can be run from anywere....so this is another advantage.

PS-It is possible to onvert an applet into an application...so you got them both (but make sure you have space on you webpage.

you guys have been great.. a lot of great info there.. one last question.. can i launch an application from a web page then? What is the default action of browsers when you click on a .jar file? Will it open it and run the application? or save the file locally?

Thanks again!
-Mark
Phx, AZ

Edited by - violenza on 1/23/00 1:23:15 PM

Applets can be zipped as well as application. Jar archives are zip files...

There is no problems reading data from an applet, you just have to get it from the same host your applet came from (getCodeBase() or getDocumentBase())...

Same goes for saving - you have to save it on the server...

Applets can be installed (to reduce download time) just like applications, the real difference is in the container (or lack there of).

I''m not even going to mention hexadome.net again (eh, guess I just did ) Nuff'' said...

/Niels

I''d like to make a small amendment to Delisk''s post.
__Applets CAN be run without a browser. Just use the JVM that Sun provides in the JDK. The command line goes something like "jview /a program.jar" (Forgive me if I''m wrong, please. I''ve having headaches building systems right now.)
__Also, the JVM is freely distributable so you could sign for just one machine and provide it with your code.
__BTW, what the heck is Swing?

Umm... jveiw is Microsoft''s "java" virtual machine executable. appletviewer is sun''s applet viewer. jview does not work with jars either (afaik). Swing is the name for an advanced windowing toolkit. It is part of the Java Foundation Classes. It provides more features for making windows and widgets than the AWT.