Not-Applet Technologies Some of these not-applet technologies include Flash rich user interfaces, Java WebStart, and of course Active X. Rich user interfaces and client applications can be built now using Flash. The most recent version of Flash brings Action Scripting to the forefront, and features improved database access and XML processing over previous versions. Although Flash requires a browser plug-in too, and is arguably not easier to write than an applet is, Flash applications on the client are becoming more popular and useful, especially when integrated with the server-side Flash Gateway for Macromedia JRun or CFMX. You can also execute ActiveX controls if you are in a Microsoft environment. These are commonly used to support such business as the display of Crystal Reports that are dynamically generated and printed to the browser. A very interesting technology for executing full-blown programs on the client is called Java WebStart. It comes with Java 1.5 and is similar to applet technology, except that it doesn't require a browser to run in. You can write complete, full-blown Swing applications that can gain access to the local file system and do more than what is allowed in applets, and the apps will execute as if they are local. This technology bridges both worlds : the ease of maintenance and distribution that the Web affords, and the sophistication that desktop apps afford. Applets did start the excitement surrounding Java, then moved out of the limelight as Java moved to the server. Although servlets had been available for a couple of years , they are tedious to write, and are poor choices for pages that need to write out to the browser for reasons we will see later. JavaServer Pages were introduced in 1999 and quickly garnered a lot of the interest previously reserved for applets. In an interesting twist, there is a significant trend by now for moving complex application functionality back onto the client. Java WebStart is one answer to that cry for client-side power. We'll have to wait for the More Java Garage book to get more of the low down on WebStart though. | 