Solving Jython Applet Problems

If you are having problems getting a Jython applet to run on your browser, you should follow the following steps.

1. Make sure that you have a jdk 1.1 compliant browser. At the moment these include:

1. SUN's HotJava
   • Unsurprisingly, this browser works extremely well with Java applets
2. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0
   • Somewhat surprisingly, IE 4.0 is far superior to Netscape 4.0 for JDK 1.1 compliance and performance. This might have finally been fixed with Navigator 4.06, but I haven't had the time to do a detailed comparision recently.
3. Netscape's Navigator 4.06 or later
   • The latest release of Netscape's browser finally comes with acceptable JDK 1.1 support without needing any patches. All I can say is, it's about time!
   • Note: It has been reported that the JVM in the Linux release of Navigator 4.06 has serious problems that render it unusable. Similar problems might occur on other Unix platforms.
4. SUN's Java Activator - not currently enabled
   • Jython applets should almost certainly work with the Java Activator, but I haven't yet invested the time to get the demo of this up and running.

2. Make sure you don't have any old releases of Jython in your class path.

1. If you are running a SUN (or SUN-like) VM you need to make sure your CLASSPATH environment variable is not pointing to any directories with Jython .class files
2. If you are running a MS VM, you should probably check out the registry entry under LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Java VM/Classpath

3. Send mail to jython-users explaining your problem.  Include the following information:

1. What OS (name and version) and Browser (name and version) you are running
2. A copy of your Java console window after failing to run an applet
   • Under IE, you need to explicitly enable the Java console, or Java logging
3. The URL of the applet that didn't work for you