Module 5 The Applet Class, Swings OOC 4 th Sem, B Div 2017-18 Prof. Mouna M. Naravani
The Applet Class
Types of Applets (Abstract Window Toolkit) Offers richer and easy to use interface than AWT.
An Applet is a Java program that runs in a web browser. An Applet is a Java class that extends Applet class. Applet class is present in java.applet.*; java.applet.*; and java.awt.*; packages must be imported to write applet programs. No main() method. Applets are designed to be embedded within an HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language) page. JVM is required to view an applet. Applet have strict security rules that are enforced by web browser. Java enabled web browser is required to run an Applet. (or appletviewer is required)
Applet Architecture An applet is a window-based program. As such, its architecture is different from the console-based programs. First, applets are event driven. An applet waits until an event occurs. The run-time system notifies the applet about an event by calling an event handler that has been provided by the applet. Once this happens, the applet must take appropriate action and then quickly return.
Second, the user initiates interaction with an applet not the other way around. In a nonwindowed program, when the program needs input, it will prompt the user and then call some input method, such as readline( ). This is not the way it works in an applet. Instead, the user interacts with the applet as he or she wants, when he or she wants. These interactions are sent to the applet as events to which the applet must respond. For example, when the user clicks the mouse inside the applet s window, a mouse-clicked event is generated. If the user presses a key while the applet s window has input focus, a keypress event is generated.
An Applet Skeleton Consists of 4 methods: init( ) start( ) stop( ) destroy( ) These are defined in Applet. Applets do not need to override those methods they do not use. AWT-based applets will also override the paint( ) method, which is defined by the AWT Component class. This method is called when the applet s output must be redisplayed.
Applet Initialization and Termination (Life cycle of an applet) It is important to understand the order in which the various methods shown in the skeleton are called. When an applet begins, the following methods are called, in this sequence: 1. init( ) 2. start( ) 3. paint( ) When an applet is terminated, the following sequence of method calls takes place: 1. stop( ) 2. destroy( ) When minimized: 1. stop() When Maximized: 1. start() 2. paint()
init() The init( ) method is the first method to be called. This is where you should initialize variables. This method is called only once during the run time of your applet. start() The start( ) method is called after init( ). It is also called to restart an applet after it has been stopped. start( ) is called each time an applet s HTML document is displayed onscreen. So, if a user leaves a web page and comes back, the applet resumes execution at start( ).
paint(graphics g) The paint( ) method is called each time your applet s output must be redrawn. For example, the window in which the applet is running may be overwritten by another window and then uncovered. Or the applet window may be minimized and then restored. paint( ) is also called when the applet begins execution. Whatever the cause, whenever the applet must redraw its output, paint( ) is called. The paint( ) method has one parameter of type Graphics.
stop() The stop( ) method is called when a web browser leaves the HTML document containing the applet. For example : when it goes to another page. You should use stop( ) to suspend threads that don t need to run when the applet is not visible. You can restart them when start( ) is called if the user returns to the page.
destroy() The destroy( ) method is called when the environment determines that your applet needs to be removed completely from memory. At this point, you should free up any resources the applet may be using. The stop( ) method is always called before destroy( ).
The Applet Class Applet provides all necessary support for applet execution. It also provides methods that load and display images, and methods that load and play audio clips. Applet extends the AWT class Panel. In turn, Panel extends Container, which extends Component. These classes provide support for Java s window-based, graphical interface. Thus, Applet provides all of the necessary support for window-based activities. The Applet class defines the methods shown in Table:
Simple Applet Program AppletEx.java demo.html
Simple Applet Display Methods To output a string to an applet, use drawstring( ), which is a member of the Graphics class. Typically, it is called from within paint() method. It has the following general form: void drawstring(string message, int x, int y) Here, message is the string to be output beginning at x, y. In a Java window, the upper-left corner is location 0,0. The drawstring( ) method will not recognize newline characters. If you want to start a line of text on another line, you must do so manually, specifying the precise X,Y location where you want the line to begin.
To set the background color of an applet s window, use setbackground( ). To set the foreground color, use setforeground( ). These methods are defined by Component, and they have the following general forms: void setbackground(color newcolor) void setforeground(color newcolor) Here, newcolor specifies the new color. The class Color defines the constants shown here that can be used to specify colors:
The following example sets the background color to green and the text color to red: setbackground(color.green); setforeground(color.red); A good place to set the foreground and background colors is in the init( ) method.
You can obtain the current settings for the background and foreground colors by calling getbackground( ) and getforeground( ), respectively. They are also defined by Component and are shown here: Color getbackground( ) Color getforeground( )
Using the Status Window In addition to displaying information in its window, an applet can also output a message to the status window of the browser or applet viewer on which it is running. To do so, call showstatus( ) with the string that you want displayed. The status window is a good place to give the user feedback about what is occurring in the applet, suggest options, or possibly report some types of errors. The status window also makes an excellent debugging aid, because it gives you an easy way to output information about your applet. Ex: StatusWindow.java
Requesting Repainting The repaint( ) method is defined by the AWT. repaint() calls paint(). Thus, for another part of your applet to output to its window, simply store the output and then call repaint( ). The AWT will then execute a call to paint( ), which can display the stored information. For example, if part of your applet needs to output a string, it can store this string in String variable and then call repaint( ). Inside paint( ), you will output the string using drawstring( ).
The repaint( ) method has four forms. 1. void repaint( ) This version causes the entire window to be repainted. The following version specifies a region that will be repainted: 2. void repaint(int left, int top, int width, int height) Here, the coordinates of the upper-left corner of the region are specified by left and top, and the width and height of the region are passed in width and height. These dimensions are specified in pixels. You save time by specifying a region to repaint. If you need to update only a small portion of the window, it is more efficient to repaint only that region.
The other 2 forms are as follows: void repaint(long maxdelay) void repaint(long maxdelay, int x, int y, int width, int height) Ex: SimpleBanner.java
References Herbert Schildt, The Complete Reference, JAVA, 7 th ed