Deploy applet client code

Applet clients are capable of communicating over the HTTP protocol and the RMI-IIOP protocol.

Applet clients have the following setup requirements:

• These clients are available on the Windows platforms. Check the prerequisites page for information on platform support and product prerequisites.

• The browser installation precedes the client code installation.

Prerequisites

Developing applet client code

Unlike typical applets that are on web servers or WebSphere Application Servers and can only communicate over the HTTP protocol, applet clients can communicate over the HTTP protocol and the RMI-IIOP protocol. This additional capability gives the applet direct access to enterprise beans.

The applet container is the web browser and the Java plug-in combination. We must first install the Application Client for WAS so that the browser recognizes the IBM product Java plug-in.

Tasks

1. Install the Application Client for WAS.

2. Configure required Java runtime parameters.

   1. Click Start > Control panel .

   2. Select the IBM Control Panel for Java

   3. On the Advanced tab, enter the following parameter values in the Java Runtime Parameters field.

   -Xmx512M 
   -Djava.security.policy=<app_client_root>\properties\client.policy
   -Dwas.install.root=<app_client_root>
   -Djava.ext.dirs=<app_client_root>\java\jre\lib\ext;
   <app_client_root>\lib;
   <app_client_root>\plugins;
   <app_client_root>\lib\ext;
   <app_client_root>\installedConnectors\
   -Djava.class.path=<app_client_root>\properties
   -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.ConfigURL=file:<app_client_root>\properties\sas.client.props
   -Dcom.ibm.SSL.ConfigURL=file:<app_client_root>\properties\ssl.client.props
   

   These parameter entries are automatically placed into the WAS control panel for the Java plug-in user who installed the WAS Application Client provided we are using a Java SE Development Kit (JDK) prior to JDK 1.5. If the applet is being run by a user other than the person who installed the client, then that user must enter the parameter entries.

   For JDK 1.5 and later, this automatic parameter feature is removed.

   • The Java Runtime Parameters field is similar to the command prompt when using command line options. Therefore, we can enter most options available from the command prompt (for example, -cp, classpath, and others) in this field as well.

3. Configure use of secure sockets layer (SSL) for secure access to resources. By default, the applet client is configured to have security enabled. If we have administrative security turned on at the server from which we are accessing resources, then we can use SSL when needed. If we decide that the security requirements for applet client applications differ from other types of client applications, then we can create special copies of client property files for applets to use.