Modern Programming Tools And TechniquesI

Lecture 18: Applets

Lovely Professional University, Punjab

Introduction
A Java applet is a special kind of Java program that a javaenabled browser can download from the internet and run.
An applet is typically embedded inside a web page and runs in
the context of a browser.
An applet must be a subclass of the java.applet.Applet class.
The Applet class provides the standard interface between the
applet and the browser environment.

 Applets are not stand-alone programs.

Instead, they run within either a web browser or an applet viewer.
Execution of an applet does not begin at main( ).
Output to applets window is not performed by System.out.println( ).

Types of Applets
There are two types of applets.
The first are based directly on the Applet class and use the AWT
to provide the graphic user interface.
These applets has been available since Java was first created.

The second type of applets are based on the Swing class

JApplet.
Swing applets use the Swing classes to provide the GUI.

 Swing offers a richer and often easier-to-use user interface than

does the AWT.
Swing-based applets are now the most popular. However,
traditional AWT-based applets are still used, especially when
only a very simple user interface is required.
Thus, both AWT and Swing-based applets are valid.
Because JApplet inherits Applet, all the features of Applet are
also available in JApplet

Applet Class
Applet provides all necessary support for applet execution, such
as starting and stopping.
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.

Applet Class Hierarchy

Simple Applet program

Steps to follow

Points to remember

Applet Methods called by the system

public void init()
To initialize the Applet When the applet is first loaded.

public void start()

Starts applet when the applet is displayed.
Automatically called after init( ) when an applet first begins.

public void stop()

When the browser leaves the page containing the applet.

public void destroy()

Called by the browser just before an applet is terminated.

public void paint(Graphics g)

Applet Initialization and Termination

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( )

An Applet Skeleton

An Applet Skeleton

init( )
The init( ) method is the first method to be called.
This is where we 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.
init( )is called oncethe first time an applet is loaded whereas
start( ) is called each time an applets HTML document is
displayed on screen.
So, if a user leaves a web page and comes back, the applet
resumes execution at start( ).

paint( )
The paint( ) method is called each time the applets output must be
redrawn.
This situation can occur for several reasons. 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.
The paint( ) method has one parameter of type Graphics, which
describes the graphics environment in which the applet is running.

stop( )
The stop( ) method is called when a web browser leaves the HTML
document containing the applet(e.g. when it goes to another page).
When stop( )is called, the applet may be running. We 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 the applet needs to be removed completely from
memory.
It frees up any resources the applet may be using.
The stop( ) method is always called before destroy( ).

Simple Applet Display Methods

drawString( )
used to output a string to an applet.
is a member of the Graphics class.
called from within either update( ) or paint( ).
void drawString (String message, int x, int y)
The drawString( ) method will not recognize new line characters.
If we want to start a line of text on another line, we must do so manually,
specifying the precise X, Y location where we want the line to begin.

setBackground() & setForeground()

To set the background color of an applets window, we use
setBackground( ).
void setBackground(Color newColor)
To set the foreground color (the color in which text is shown, for
example), we use setForeground( ).
void setForeground(Color newColor)
These methods are defined by Component.
A good place to set the foreground and background colors is in
the init( ) method.

repaint()
Whenever an applet needs to update the information displayed in its
window, it simply calls repaint( ).
The repaint( ) method is defined by the AWT.
It causes the AWT run-time system to execute a call to applets
update( ) method, which, in its default implementation, calls paint( ).
void repaint( )
void repaint(int left, int top, int width, int height)
void repaint(long maxDelay)
void repaint(long maxDelay, int x, int y, int width, int height)

Example
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
/* <applet code="Banner" width=300 height=50> </applet> */
public class Banner extends Applet implements Runnable
{
String msg = " This is a message ";
Thread t = null;
int state;
boolean stopFlag;
// Set colors and initialize thread.
public void init()
{
setBackground(Color.cyan);
setForeground(Color.red);
}

// Start thread
public void start()
{ t = new Thread(this);
stopFlag = false;
t.start(); }
public void run()
{
char ch;
// Display banner
for( ; ; ) {
try {
repaint();
Thread.sleep(450);
ch = msg.charAt(0);
msg = msg.substring(1, msg.length());
msg += ch;
if(stopFlag) break;
}
catch(InterruptedException e) {}
}
}

// Pause the banner.

public void stop()
{
stopFlag = true;
t = null;
}
// Display the banner.
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
g.drawString(msg, 50, 30);
}
}

Status Window in Applets

An applet can output a message to the status window of the browser
or applet viewer on which it is running.
showStatus( ) method is used to display the status message.
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.

Example
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
/* <applet code="StatusWindow" width=300 height=50> </applet> */
public class StatusWindow extends Applet
{
public void init()
{
setBackground(Color.cyan);
}
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
g.drawString(This is applet message", 10, 20);
showStatus("This applet is running on Appletviewer.");
}
}

The HTML APPLET Tag

< APPLET
[CODEBASE = codebaseURL]
CODE = appletFile
[ALT = alternateText]
[NAME = appletInstanceName]
WIDTH = pixels HEIGHT = pixels
[ALIGN = alignment]
[VSPACE = pixels] [HSPACE = pixels]
>
[< PARAM NAME = AttributeName VALUE = AttributeValue>]
[< PARAM NAME = AttributeName2 VALUE = AttributeValue>]
...
</APPLET>

The HTML APPLET Tag

CODEBASE: CODEBASE is an optional attribute that specifies the base

URL of the applet code, which is the directory that will be searched for the
applets executable class file (specified by the CODE tag). The HTML
documents URL directory is used as the CODEBASE if this attribute is
not specified. The CODEBASE does not have to be on the host from which
the HTML document was read.

CODE: CODE is a required attribute that gives the name of the file
containing your applets compiled.class file. This file is relative to the code
base URL of the applet, which is the directory that the HTML file was in or
the directory indicated by CODEBASE if set.

The HTML APPLET Tag

ALT : The ALT tag is an optional attribute used to specify a short text
message that should be displayed if the browser recognizes the APPLET
tag but cant currently run Java applets. This is distinct from the alternate
HTML you provide for browsers that dont support applets.

NAME: NAME is an optional attribute used to specify a name for the

applet instance. Applets must be named in order for other applets on the
same page to find them by name and communicate with them.
To obtain an applet by name, use getApplet( ), which is defined by the
AppletContext interface.

WIDTH and HEIGHT: WIDTH and HEIGHT are required attributes that
give the size (in pixels) of the applet display area.

The HTML APPLET Tag

ALIGN: ALIGN is an optional attribute that specifies the alignment of the applet.
This attribute is treated the same as the HTML IMG tag with these possible values:
LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM, MIDDLE etc.

VSPACE and HSPACE: These attributes are optional. VSPACE specifies the
space, in pixels, above and below the applet. HSPACE specifies the space, in
pixels, on each side of the applet.

Theyre treated the same as the IMG tags VSPACE and HSPACE attributes.
PARAM NAME and VALUE The PARAM tag allows you to specify appletspecific arguments in an HTML page. Applets access their attributes with the
getParameter( ) method.

Passing Parameters to Applets

The APPLET tag in HTML allows to pass parameters to your applet.

To retrieve a parameter, use the getParameter( ) method. It returns the
value of the specified parameter in the form of a String object.

Thus, for numeric and boolean values, you will need to convert their string
representations into their internal formats.

Graphics

TheGraphicsclass is the abstract base class for all graphics

contexts that allow an application to draw onto components.
All graphics are drawn relative to a window. This can be the
main window of an applet, a child window of an applet, or a
stand-alone application window.
The Graphics class defines a number of drawing functions.

Drawing Text
To Draw texts on the graphics screen we use drawString()
method, shown here:
drawString(String str, int xBaselineLeft, int yBaselineLeft);
Drawing Lines
Lines are drawn by means of the drawLine( )method, shown
here:
void drawLine(int startX, int startY, int endX, int endY)
drawLine( )displays a line in the current drawing color that
begins atstartX,startYand ends at endX,endY.

 Drawing Rectangles

The drawRect( )and fillRect( )methods display an outlined

and filled rectangle, respectively.
They are shown here:
void drawRect(int top, int left, int width, int height)
void fillRect(int top, int left, int width, int height)
The upper-left corner of the rectangle is at top,left.The
dimensions of the rectangle are specified by width and
height.
To draw a rounded rectangle, use drawRoundRect( )or
fillRoundRect( ), both shown here:
void drawRoundRect(int top, int left, int width, int height,int
xDiam, int yDiam)
void fillRoundRect(int top, int left, int width, int height,int xDiam,
int yDiam)
A rounded rectangle has rounded corners.
The diameter of the rounding arc along the X axis is specified by
xDiam.The diameter of the rounding arc along the Y axis is
specified by yDiam.

Drawing Ellipses and Circles

To draw an ellipse, use drawOval( ). To fill an ellipse, use
fillOval( ). These methods are shown here.
void drawOval(int top, int left, int width, int height)
void fillOval(int top, int left, int width, int height)
The ellipse is drawn within a bounding rectangle whose
upper-left corner is specified by top,leftand whose width
and height are specified by width and height. To draw a
circle, specify a square as the bounding rectangle.
Drawing Arcs
Arcs can be drawn with drawArc( ) and fillArc( ), shown
here:
void drawArc(int top, int left, int width, int height, int startAngle,
int sweepAngle)
void fillArc(int top, int left, int width, int height, int startAngle, int
sweepAngle)

The arc is bounded by the rectangle whose upper-left

corner is specified by top,left and whose width and height
are specified by width and height. The arc is drawn from
startAnglethrough the angular distance specified by

 Drawing Polygons

It is possible to draw arbitrarily shaped figures using

drawPolygon( )and fillPolygon( ),shown here:
void drawPolygon(int x[ ], int y[ ], int numPoints)
void fillPolygon(int x[ ], int y[ ], int numPoints)
The polygons endpoints are specified by the coordinate
pairs contained within thexandy arrays. The number of
points defined by x and y is specified by numPoints.

Color
The java.awt package defines a class named
Color.
Color.BLACK
There are 13 predefined
colors:
Color.PINK
Color.GREEN
Color.DARK_GRAY Color.RED
Color.CYAN
Color.GRAY
Color.ORANGE
Color.BLUE
Color.LIGHT_GRAY Color.YELLOW
Color.WHITE
Color.MAGENTA

Java also allows color names in lowercase:

Color.black, Color.darkGray, etc.

You can also create your own colors, one of the color
constructors
forms is shown here:
Color(int red, int green, int blue)
The first constructor takes three integers that specify the color as a mix
of red, green, and blue. These values must be between 0 and 255, as in
this example:
37

Javas coordinate system

(0, 0)

(50, 0)

(0, 20)

(50, 20)

(w-1, h-1)

Java uses an (x, y) coordinate system

(0, 0) is the top left corner
(50, 0) is 50 pixels to the right of (0, 0)
(0, 20) is 20 pixels down from (0, 0)
(w - 1, h - 1) is just inside the bottom right
corner, where w is the width of the window
and h is its height
38

The complete applet

import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
public class Drawing extends Applet {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
g.fillRect(20, 20, 50, 30);
g.setColor(Color.RED);
g.fillRect(50, 30, 50, 30);
}
}

39

The simplest possible applet

TrivialApplet.java
import java.applet.Applet;
public class TrivialApplet extends Applet { }
TrivialApplet.html
<applet
code="TrivialApplet.class
width=200 height=100>
</applet>

The simplest reasonable

applet
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
public class HelloWorld extends Applet {
public void paint( Graphics g ) {
g.drawString( "Hello World!", 30, 30 );
}
}
<html>
<applet code ="HelloWorld.class" width =200" height = 100">
</applet>
</html>

Running the applet

Compile
javac HelloWorld.java
If no errors, bytecodes stored in
HelloWorld.class

Create an HTML file

ends in .htm or .html(HelloWorld.html)

To execute an applet
appletviewer HelloWorld.html

42

Displaying Numerical values

import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
public class ab extends Applet{
public void paint(Graphics g){
int a=10, b=20;
int d=a+b;
String s= sum:+String.valueOf(d);
g.drawString(s, 100, 100);
}
}

Topics to be covered in Applet

life cycle
paint
Graphics class (all the methods to draw shapes and strings on
the applet window)
Note: Go through the Graphics class methods to draw different shapes.
Sample Question: WAP to create an applet to display: