[Plastic-devs] Announce: Plasticized web page applet

[John T. <jon...@gm...>]

Dear All,
This is to announce a more robust version of the plasticized web page  
I first demoed back in September.
The page uses an invisible signed applet to handle the Plastic  
communication - I'd be interested in discussions with anyone who has  
a better way of doing it (and if mods are needed to the Plastic spec,  
now is definitely the time to raise them).

First things first, here's a demo  page using the applet:

http://plastic.sourceforge.net/tupperware/PlasticApplet/ShowApplet.html

Things to know:
* The applet must be signed - I've provided a version that's signed  
by me, and one you can sign yourself is available on request
* The demo page uses Javascript to interact with the applet - you'll  
need to tailor this to your own web page
* To keep it small, and relatively simple, the applet only supports  
sending and receiving messages to load VOTables and FITS images -  
I'll add spectra if there's demand.  Also, it doesn't have the "save  
To Myspace" functionality.  Again, let me know if you need that.
* I'll also produce a fuller version that allows arbitrary Plastic  
messages if there's demand
* The applet weighs in at about 150k, but by placing the applet at  
the bottom of your web page it doesn't cause too much of a lag on  
loading, and with your server set up to send the correct headers it  
should get cached client side.
* I haven't included code in the JavaScript to fall back gracefully  
if Java isn't installed - you'd need to do this in a production  
environment


The applet is available for download from:

http://plastic.sourceforge.net/tupperware/PlasticApplet/ 
plasticapplet.jar

Get in touch if you want the unsigned version or the source code.

I've tested it on:
OSX, Firefox  2.003, Java 5
OSX, Safari, Java 5
Win XP, IE7, Java 6
Win XP, Firefox, Java 6
Win XP, Firefox , Java 1.4.2
Win XP, IE7, Java 1.4.2
Win XP, Opera, Java 1.4.2
Win XP, Mozilla 5, Java 1.4.2
Win 98, IE6, Java 1.4.2


I'd appreciate any feedback - especially if you have a combo where it  
doesn't work.

John
PS - Thanks to Igor for some tips I borrowed from his applet on  
http://alcor.sao.ru/php/search/