Applets

An applet is a special kind of Java program that a browser enabled with Java technology can download from the internet and run. An applet is typically embedded inside a web-page and runs in the context of the browser. An applet must be a subclass of the java.applet.Applet class, which provides the standard interface between the applet and the browser environment.

Swing provides a special subclass of Applet, called javax.swing.JApplet, which should be used for all applets that use Swing components to construct their GUIs.

By calling certain methods, a browser manages an applet life cycle, if an applet is loaded in a web page.

Life Cycle of an Applet: Basically, there are four methods in the Applet class on which any applet is built.

init(): This method is called to initialized an applet

start(): This method is called after the initialization of the applet.

stop(): This method can be called multiple times in the life cycle of an Applet.

destroy(): This method is called only once in the life cycle of the applet when applet is destroyed.


init () method: The life cycle of an applet is begin on that time when the applet is first loaded into the browser and called the init() method. The init() method is called only one time in the life cycle on an applet. The init() method is basically called to read the PARAM tag in the html file. The init () method retrieve the passed parameter through the PARAM tag of html file using get Parameter() method All the initialization such as initialization of variables and the objects like image, sound file are loaded in the init () method .After the initialization of the init() method user can interact with the Applet and mostly applet contains the init() method.

Start () method: The start method of an applet is called after the initialization method init(). This method may be called multiples time when the Applet needs to be started or restarted. For Example if the user wants to return to the Applet, in this situation the start Method() of an Applet will be called by the web browser and the user will be back on the applet. In the start method user can interact within the applet.

Stop () method: The stop() method can be called multiple times in the life cycle of applet like the start () method. Or should be called at least one time. There is only miner difference between the start() method and stop () method. For example the stop() method is called by the web browser on that time When the user leaves one applet to go another applet and the start() method is called on that time when the user wants to go back into the first program or Applet.

destroy() method: The destroy() method is called only one time in the life cycle of Applet like init() method. This method is called only on that time when the browser needs to Shut down.


When to write Applets vs. Applications

In the early days of Java, one of the critical advantages that Java applets had over Java applications was that applets could be easily deployed over the web while Java applications required a more cumbersome installation process. Additionally, since applets are downloaded from the internet, by default they have to run in a restricted security environment, called the "sandbox", to ensure they don't perform any destructive operations on the user's computer, such as reading/writing to the filesystem.

However, the introduction of Java Web Starthas made it possible for Java applications to also be easily deployed over the web, as well as run in a secure environment. This means that the predominant difference between a Java applet and a Java application is that an applet runs in the context of a web browser, being typically embedded within an html page, while a Java application runs standalone, outside the browser. Thus, applets are particularly well suited for providing functions in a web page which require more interactivity or animation than HTML can provide, such as a graphical game, complex editing, or interactive data visualization. The end user is able to access the functionality without leaving the browser.

Loading Applets in a Web Page

In order to load an applet in a web page, you must specify the applet class with appropriate applet tags. A simple example is below:
<applet code=AppletWorld.class width="200" height="200">
</applet>

For development and testing purposes, you can run your applet using the lightweight appletviewer application that comes with the JDK. For example, if AppletWorld.html is the html file name, then you run the command as

appletviewer AppletWorld.html

Once you know your applet runs within the appletviewer, it is important to test your applet running in a web browser by loading the applet's web page into the browser window. The browser can retrieve the class files either from the internet or from the local working directory used during development. If you make changes to your applet's code while it is loaded in the browser, then you must recompile the applet and press the "Shift + Reload" button in the browser to load the new version