Wassup is both an applet and an application. If you download it, you
can run it locally.
Yes, I mention that in the features table. Maybe the page should
make it clear that both yours and mine can be run as applications,
since the *desktop* Java properties can be different from the ones
in the browser (particularly java.vendor and java.version).
To my knowledge - Sun has no 'quick and easy' application
that will test the Java properties.
The code will run under very old JVMs, but you would need to recompile
it yourself. I will have to find an old compiler or play with targets
to see if I can get an older version up there.
Odd. I thought I'd checked your applet using a 1.1 VM
and seen it work!
I could give you some tips on compiling for 1.1 by email
if your interested, it would be nice for your applet/application
to be runnable in 1.1 VM's 'as delivered'.
I am not sure about signing code for the 1.1 VM though,
especially the MSVM. Mickey Segal is the expert on that.
I am presuming you are just teasing when as a feature you list a "red
bar".
Only a little. The thing is, it occured to me to
ask "what happens if the user's java is completely
busted?". What do they see at either the Mindprod
page or Sun? It might be difficult for users to
identify what "the applet says", simply because they
cannot identify a non existent applet.
With my 'red box' I can ask..
"What do you see in the *red* box."
The user should, at the very *least*, see the red box
and some text inside it.
Of course, if your page were to give some really *obvious*
visual indication of where the applet is *supposed* to be -
I am quite happy to change that feature name to 'Obvious Applet'
...or something - and give your page 'the tick' on that one.
If Sun fixes their horribly broken page, the rest of the text
may also make the applet (and it's possible complete absence)
more obvious. I will be looking forward to seeing all three
with some obvious indication of the applet location,
then I will probably not mention that 'feature' at all.
I don't know what you mean by "links all three".
I link to yours and Sun's.
Mindprod used to link to mine, but I could no
longer find the link. :-(
Grouping properties is a mixed blessing. If you know what the
categories mean, it can speed finding what you want.
I am referring to arbitrary groups, like..
"What's your Java make and version?"
<
http://www.physci.org/pc/property.jsp?prop=java.version+java.vendor>
"What sorts of properties are ..withheld from.. an untrusted applet"
<
http://www.physci.org/pc/property.j...th+sun.boot.classpath+file.encoding+user.home>
"...allowed for..."
Otherwise they
slow you down. A simple alphabetical list is easier.
I'll consider adding 'Alphabetical' to the 'features table',
...maybe.
I like the way you did your layout with a table.
It is a ..gridlayout of panels, AFAIR.
..When I wrote Wassup I
was trying to make it compatible with as old JVMs as possible so I did
not use any Swing features, and probably no ArrayLists either.
On my todo list is a way of reducing the visual clutter for signed
applets. I display so much crap to deal with what to do if signing
goes wrong, and all that stuff about having java installed and the
recommended browser. It needs to be displayed only when relevant.
Yes.. your signed applet gains a lot of advantages over both
mine and the one at Sun. But having to accept signed code to
gain those advantages is a (ever so slight) bother.
[ Though I have been meaning to also provide a *signed*
version of mine that is perhaps more along the lines of
yours in that it calls for an enumeration of the properties.
I would still retain my unsigned, 'light' version though,
it has proved quite handy. ]
