Help with AppletContext.showDocument() method

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middlec - 20 Feb 2006 09:42 GMT

Hi all,

My company is having trouble with the AppletContext.showDocument()
method.

Our web site (http://www.cengraving.com) allows you to design layouts
for engraved items like plaques and name plates. The design feature
displays a real-time proof of the layout using applet technology.

However, some of our users have reported problems with a button that
invokes the showDocument() method. Usually clicking the butto is
supposed to result in the browser displaying a new page, but with a few
users, clicking the button does absolutely nothing. From what we can
infer, it appears like the browser is ignoring the showDocument() call.
In case anyone is curious enough to play with the feature, the button
in question is the "Add to cart" button.

>From my research, some people ascribe the problem to pop-up blocker

functionality with the Google toolbar or with IE. Yet this doesn't
seem to be the problem with our users. No one who's reported the
problem has had his/her pop-up blocker enbled, yet the showDocument()
method still isn't working properly.

Does anyone have any suggestions????

Your help and advice would be deeply appreciated, as we are completely
stumped.

Thanks,

Clarence

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hiwa - 20 Feb 2006 11:00 GMT

The method is inherently unreliable.
<quote>
Given the recent spate of tools that knobble
a browser's ability to use the showDocument
method, I threw together a simple page to allow
users to test their browsers.
<http://www.physci.org/test/showdoc/>

While this problem has become most obvious
with new 'Pop-Up' windows, there are other
forms of showDocument that are also unreliable.
My Mozilla 1.3, for example, fails to act on
*any* of the different forms of showDocument().

[ Note, of course, that the JavaDocs mark the
showDocument method as 'optional'..,
while AppletContext.showDocument(URL) says..

"This method may be ignored by applet
contexts that are not browsers.",

..the form AppletContext.showDocument(URL, String)
goes further, stating..

"An applet viewer *or* browser is free to
ignore showDocument."

..so if a browser fails to act on it, the
browser is still not technically 'broken'. ]

HTH

--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology
</quote>

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middlec - 20 Feb 2006 21:32 GMT

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the response ... I attempted to reach your simple page
(http://www.physci.org/test/showdoc/) but received a 404.

Should I try again later?

Thanks,

Clarence

Reply to this Message

Roedy Green - 24 Feb 2006 20:34 GMT

><http://www.physci.org/test/showdoc/>

have you posted it yet? I get a 404? I see no sign of it scanning
the directories which you expose.

Signature

Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching.

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Help with AppletContext.showDocument() method

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