[Jmol-developers] [ jmol-Feature Requests-1640990 ] preloader applet

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Feature Requests item #1640990, was opened at 2007-01-21 14:32
Message generated for change (Comment added) made by hansonr
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Category: None
Group: None
>Status: Closed
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: Angel Herraez (aherraez)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: preloader applet

Initial Comment:
While visiting 
http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/jablonski/solventeffects/
I have found that they use what seems like an initial applet advising the user that the main applet is being loaded. I've seen this in several sites using Flash animations.

This could be a nice idea for Jmol. Since the applet takes quite a time to download from distant servers, a warning for the user would be adequate. Right now, we have three steps:

1) a sizeable delay before Jmol's black square comes --the user may think the browser has stuck--;
2) the black square in Jmol shows a count-up of time, until the applet finishes loading --the user knows things are going on--;
3) time needed for the model to load. This can be anticipated by the web author, programming an initial "echo" script to warn the user.

Step (1) would benefit from some warning.

Would it be feasible? Could the modular, 6-piece JAR files design be used for this, or a separate applet jar that does the preloading role?


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>Comment By: Bob Hanson (hansonr)
Date: 2008-08-15 00:28

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This is mostly a Java operation. Not something we have any control over. 

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Comment By: Nicolas (nicove)
Date: 2007-05-02 13:22

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> Apparently somebody put the applet at 1000px
> left of the left margin and then moved it back into the page,
> but that was unpredictable in browsers.
> So I have abandoned the idea.

Ah, z-index doesn't work with applet ? Yes, really possible ;)

I already used that technique to deal with bugs that are still in Firefox
for other things than applets, but I was putting things above the beginning
of the page (with a div using absolute positionning), and not on the left.
It was working fine on IE (Win) and FF (Win and Linux), I haven't really
tested other browsers.

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Comment By: Angel Herraez (aherraez)
Date: 2007-05-02 13:07

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> I think the web page designer could do it without modifying Jmol.
> Would it be possible to display a text (in the HTML page) over the 
> applet? and remove it when Jmol has finished loading ?

I think I've tried that before and it does not work; you cannot put
anything on top of the applet. Apparently somebody put the applet at 1000px
left of the left margin and then moved it back into the page, but that was
unpredictable in browsers. So I have abandoned the idea.

> I think all Angel was going to do was change the discussion of Jmol.js 
> ---what files are involved and where to put them. 

Right. Just documentation (currently 0-6 are mentioned, I think)
BTW, this split applet starts at.. 11.1.30?

> Angel, mention that future versions of Jmol may have additional files. 
> But from now on they will not be 1-6. JmolApplet.jar and 
> JmolApplet0.jar are the only ones that are still there 

Yes. It's on my to-do list. I am already doing some edition in Jmol.js
doc, so it'll go with that.


> By the way, that also means that web page developers do not have to 
> provide files that they won't be using. 

I think better no advice to this respect. Leave people to include all
files, to be safe.



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Comment By: Bob Hanson (hansonr)
Date: 2007-05-02 12:51

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I think all Angel was going to do was change the discussion of Jmol.js ---
what files are involved and where to put them. 

Angel, mention that future versions of Jmol may have additional files. But
from now on they will not be 1-6. JmolApplet.jar and JmolApplet0.jar are
the only ones that are still there from the former set, but they are
totally changed. Once JmolApplet0.jar loads, then the browser can start
building the applet and only downloading files as necessary. By the way,
that also means that web page developers do not have to provide files that
they won't be using. The mission-critical files are these (650K):

JmolApplet0.jar
JmolAppletCore.jar
JmolAppletJars.jar
JmolAppletJvxl.jar
JmolAppletMain.jar
JmolAppletPopup.jar
JmolAppletViewer.jar

And the optional set includes:

JmolAppletQuantum.jar
JmolAppletReadersCifPdb.jar
JmolAppletReadersMolXyz.jar
JmolAppletReadersMore.jar
JmolAppletReadersXml.jar
JmolAppletShapeBio.jar
JmolAppletShapeSpecial.jar
JmolAppletSmiles.jar
JmolApplet_i18n.jar

But mostly we want people to have them all and not pick and choose.
Originally I was thinking we might need some sort of modification to
Jmol.js, but Nico set me straight on that, and that's no longer necessary.


Bob


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Comment By: Nicolas (nicove)
Date: 2007-05-02 11:50

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> Step (1) would benefit from some warning.

I think the web page designer could do it without modifying Jmol.
Would it be possible to display a text (in the HTML page) over the applet
? and remove it when Jmol has finished loading ?
If it's possible, then it could probably be added in Jmol.js.

> I will change whatever needed in the website (Jmol.js library, mainly).

Is there a need to change anything ?
I think Jmol.js has been modified to only reference JmolApplet0.jar and
not the others.

> JmolAppletViewer.jar

Would it be possible to split this one again ?
It probably contains many classes that are used only when some options are
activated.


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Comment By: Angel Herraez (aherraez)
Date: 2007-05-02 10:47

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> Isn't that what the white Java image with the rotating ticks is for?

I think that's Java loading, but there is a delay between that finishing
and the Jmol "loading" message coming. In any case, don't worry; let's see
how things work with the new on-demand loading.


> Angel, you will want to note that we no longer have 
> JmolApplet0-6.jar Instead, we have the following:


Right. I will change whatever needed in the website (Jmol.js library,
mainly).



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Comment By: Bob Hanson (hansonr)
Date: 2007-05-02 10:12

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Isn't that what the white Java image with the rotating ticks is for?

I don't think time needed to load can be anticipated by anyone -- it
depends upon how many networks and what kind are being traversed, and
whether the applet is cached, and whether Java is already loaded.

We'll go with the much better preloading that is being introduced in Jmol
11.1.30. 

Angel, you will want to note that we no longer have JmolApplet0-6.jar
Instead, we have the following:

JmolApplet0.jar
JmolAppletCore.jar
JmolAppletJars.jar
JmolAppletJvxl.jar
JmolAppletMain.jar
JmolAppletPopup.jar
JmolAppletQuantum.jar
JmolAppletReadersCifPdb.jar
JmolAppletReadersMolXyz.jar
JmolAppletReadersMore.jar
JmolAppletReadersXml.jar
JmolAppletShapeBio.jar
JmolAppletShapeSpecial.jar
JmolAppletSmiles.jar
JmolAppletViewer.jar
JmolApplet_i18n.jar

Now there will be a possibly significant difference between using or not
using a jmolInitialize() command, because without it Jmol will use
JmolApplet.jar, with no incremental loading, but with it there will be
incremental loading with possible startup enhancements (but associated
delays later on, as critical files are downloaded when required).



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