Virtual Apparatus Framework

Freqently Asked Questions

Questions Date Raised by Answer
Component Developer's concerns
Do I need two versions of the applet: a standalone and one that conforms to "virtual apparatus" framework? 29th August, 1997 Ralf Moros No, any virtual apparatus extending from our VirtualApparatus.class is just another applet which also works independently. Without the script support on the HTML page, it will not be able to communicate. But it can still run as usual.
One thing, though, if the <applet> tag does not have a name part, it will send a message to the user's status bar and the Java console complaining about the missing name. But it still runs.
Content Author's concerns
I put my virtual apparatus component in a form. It works on IE but gives an Javascript error on Netscape and vice versa. For example, this demo works for Netscape 3, and this works for Internet Explorer 3 2nd September, 1997 Kin Leung This is due to the inconsistency of the object model of the two browsers. For Internet Explorer, applet within a form is referenced by
document.formname.appletname
For Netscape, the same apple should be referenced by
document.appletname
The workaround to this problem is to avoid putting an applet within a form.