Using Java applets in HTML
I have an applet that has 2 methods that I want to use. In the first method, I get a list of client printers.
I want to use this printer list in my HTML page in combo. The user has to choose a printer from this combo. After that, the user will click a button to perform some operations. After clicking this button and completing these operations, I want to call the second method of my applet, which receives two parameters: one is a file object, the other is a printer object that is already selected by the user.
My questions:
How can I get a list of printers and use it in my HTML page after the page has loaded? How do I send parameters to the second method of my applet after the button is clicked?
To have my applet work;
1- I exported the applet as jar file(named as printApplet.jar) and copied it under the same folder as my xhtml page.
2- I put the applet in xhtml as below;
<applet id="myApplet"
code="com.xxx.yyy.console.action.PrintApplet"
archive="printApplet.jar" width="1" height="1">
</applet>
3- I created a method `enter code here`in the applet which gets printer names as string and has comma(,) between the names.
4- I called the applet methods using javascript as below;
<script type="text/javascript" >
//<![CDATA[
function getPrinters() {
var aplt = document.getElementById("myApplet");
var printers = aplt.getPrinterNames();
var p = printers.split(',');
var c = document.getElementById("combo");
for ( var i = 0; i < p.length; i++) {
var o = document.createElement("option");
o.text = p[i];
o.value = i;
try {
c.add(o, null); //Standard
} catch (error) {
c.add(o); // IE only
}
}
}
//]]>
</script>
Use object id tag in html / jsp
<object id="appletId" type="application/x-java-applet"
and to get the list of printers you have to call the applet method
<script type="text/javascript">
function getPrinters(){
return appletId.getPrinters();
}
</script>
assumed the applet has a public method getPrinters
that returns an array of strings.
Don't use the browsers combo box. Use JComboBox or Choice directly in your applet so you can do everything from the comfort of your home. This is possible, as @Roman C described, but seems too complicated for the task you are describing.