I2PUJ4 - Chapter 6 - Applets, HTML, and GUIs

The Basic Java Applet and JApplet

Rob Dempster
robd@cs.ukzn.ac.za

School of Computer Science University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Campus

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Abstract
This is not a paper. It is the lecture presentation slides I used to provide a framework for the lectures I presented dealing with the material covered in Section 1 of Chapter 6 of David J. Ecks book entitled Introduction to Programming Using Java [1]. The slides were prepared A using SuSE Linux, Emacs, LTEXand Prosper. c 2005, Robert Dempster. These are free slides. There are no restrictions on using or redistributing or posting on the web a complete, unmodied copy of this material. There are some restrictions on modied copies. To be precise: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no invariant sections, front cover text, or back cover text. The most recent version of these slides are always available, at no charge, for downloading and for on-line use at the Web address http://saturn.cs.ukzn.ac.za/ robd/javaslides/. There A you will nd the LTEXsource code together with the slides in formats suitable for slide presentations (.sp.) and hand-outs (.ho.).

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Interfaces Introduction

Java is a programming language designed for networked computers and the World Wide Web i.e., the design of distributed computing applications It contains many neat features to make this easy to do in a reliable and secure manner. Part of learning Java is learning to program applets and other Graphical User Interface (GUI) programs. GUI programs are event-driven. That is, user actions such as clicking on a button or pressing a key on the keyboard, generate events, and the program must respond to these events as they occur. Related to GUI programming is Human Computer Interaction (HCI).
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The Basic Java Applet and JApplet

Java applets are small programs that are meant to run on a page in a Web browser. However: An applet is not a complete program. It doesnt have to be small. There are other ways to use them. An applet is inherently part of a graphical user interface. It is a type of graphical component that can be displayed in a window which we will hereafter assume, belongs to a Web browser.

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The Basic Java Applet and JApplet (contd)

The Applet class, dened in the package java.applet, is really only useful as a basis for making subclasses. An object of type Applet has certain basic behaviours, but doesnt actually do anything useful. There are several methods in the Applet class that are dened to do nothing. The programmer must override at least some of these methods and give them something to do. An applet program does not contain a main() routine since it is not a stand-alone program. However, many of the methods in an applet are similar to main(), in that they are meant to be called by the system. It is the job of the programmer is to say what happens in response to these system calls.
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The Basic Java Applet and JApplet (contd)

One of the methods that is dened in the Applet class to do nothing is the paint() method. The paint() method is called by the system when the applet needs to be drawn. In a subclass of Applet, the paint() method can be redened to draw various graphical elements such as rectangles, lines, and text on the applet. As a rst example of an applet, lets go the traditional route and look at an applet that displays the string "Hello World!".
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The Hello World Applet

import java.awt.*; import java.applet.*; public class HelloWorldApplet extends Applet { // Applet displays the string Hello World! public void paint(Graphics g) { g.drawString("Hello World!", 10, 30); } } // end of class HelloWorldApplet
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The Hello World Applet - The Theory!

The drawString() method, dened in the Graphics class, actually does the drawing, using the Graphics (context) object referenced by g. Back to the applet: It is an object, but we have not created an object here. This of course begs the question: Then where does it come from? It is the web browsers responsibility to create the Applet object and add it to its browser window. Browsers execute html (a markup language) code that describes how a web page should be displayed. The instructions to the browser regarding the applet are contained in and by (surprise!!!) the <applet> markup tag.
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The Hello World Applet HTML code

<center> <applet code="HelloWorldApplet.class" width=200 height=50> <p> If you do not see this applet, speak to your sysadm asap!! </p> </applet> </center>

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The Hello World Applet - The Theory (contd)

The Applet class denes another method that is essential for programming applets, the init() method. This method is called just after the applet object has been created and before it appears on the screen. Its purpose is to give the applet a chance to do any necessary initialisation. Again, this method is called by the system, not by your program. You might be wondering why initialisation is done in the init() method rather than in a constructor. It is possible to dene a constructor for your applet class, as the system calls the constructor that has no parameters. Unfortunately when the constructor is called, the size of the applet is not available. It is when init() is called. It is customary to do applet initialisation in the init() method.

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The second Hello World Applet

import java.awt.*; import java.applet.*; public class HelloWorldApplet2 extends Applet { public void init() { setBackground(Color.blue); setForeground(Color.yellow); } public void paint(Graphics g) { g.drawString("Hello World!", 10, 30); } } // end of class HelloWorldApplet2
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JApplets and Swing

The AWT (Abstract Windowing Toolkit) has been part of Java from the beginning, but was not powerful or exible enough for writing complex, sophisticated applications. This does not prevent it from being useful especially for applets, which are generally not as complex as full-scale, independent applications. The Swing graphical user interface library was created to address the problems with the AWT. The classes that make up the Swing library can be found in the package javax.swing. Swing includes the class javax.swing.JApplet as a basis for writing applets.
JApplet is a subclass of Applet, so JApplets are in fact also Applets.

However, JApplets have a lot of extra structure that plain Applets dont have.
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A JApplet Example

import javax.swing.*; // Swing GUI classes are defined here. import java.awt.event.*; // Event handling class are defined here. public class HelloSwing extends JApplet implements ActionListener { public void init() { JButton bttn = new JButton("Click Me!"); bttn.addActionListener(this); getContentPane().add(bttn); } // end init() public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) { String title = "Greetings"; // Shown in title bar of dialog box. String message = "Hello from the Swing User Interface Library."; JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, message, title, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE); } // end actionPerformed() } // end class HelloSwing

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JApplets and Swing - Some Notes

First we instantiate a Button. Then we instruct the system to monitor the button for events by telling it to invoke this objects actionePerformed() method. Because our program is a JApplet it already has the content pane provided by the Browser. We then add the button to this content pane. The actionePerformed() method simply pops up a message dialog window containing an appropriate message.
That is it - heaps and heaps of work done by the GUI API. Great code reuse!!!!
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JApplets and Swing - Some More Notes

In the previous example the applet itself listened for action events from the button The preferred practice is to create a separate object to listen for, and respond to, events. This is more object-oriented in the sense that each object has its own clearly dened area of responsibility. The most convenient way to make a separate event-handling object is to use a nested anonymous class. The next version of HelloSwing uses an anonymous inner class for event handling.

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Another JApplet Example

import javax.swing.*; // Swing GUI classes are defined here. import java.awt.event.*; // Event handling class are defined here. public class HelloSwing2 extends JApplet { public void init() { JButton bttn = new JButton("Click Me!"); bttn.addActionListener( new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) { String title = "Greetings"; // Shown in boxs title bar. String message = "Another hello from Swing."; JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, message, title, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE); } // end actionPerformed() }); getContentPane().add(bttn); } // end init() } // end class HelloSwing2

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The Applet Tag and Modiers

The <APPLET> tag is used to add a Java applet to a Web page. This tag must have a matching </APPLET>. A required modier named CODE gives the name of the compiled class le that contains the applet. If the class le is not located in the same directory with the HTML document containing it, then the modier, CODEBASE must be used to specify the URL of the directory that contains the class le. If an applet uses a lot of .class les, pacckage all the .class les into a single .zip or .jar le. You have to specify the name of the archive le in an ARCHIVE modier in the <APPLET> tag.

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Applet Parameters

Applets can use applet parameters to customise their behaviour. Applet parameters are specied by using <PARAM> tags, which can only occur between an <APPLET> tag and the closing </APPLET>. The PARAM tag takes the form <PARAM NAME="param-name" VALUE="param-value"> An applet can use the predened method getParameter() to check for parameters specied in PARAM tags. If you put anything besides PARAM tags between <APPLET> and </APPLET>, it will be ignored by any browser that supports Java. This allows for the inclusion of a message such as "Your browser doesnt support Java". This message will only appear in browsers that dont support Java.
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A PARAM Example

<APPLET code="ShowMessage.class" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=50> <PARAM NAME="message" VALUE="Goodbye World!"> <p align=center>Sorry, but your browser doesnt support Java!</p> </APPLET> String display; // Instance variable: message to be displayed.

public void init() { String value; value = getParameter("message"); // Get message PARAM, if any. if (value == null) display = "Hello World!"; // default value else display = value; // Value from PARAM tag. ...

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References
References
[1] Introduction to Programming Using Java, Version 4, Eck, David J., URL: http://math.hws.edu/javanotes

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