I am trying to write a Java applet that will read from a user's serial port. For this I am using the Java Comm API in conjuction with the RXTX library. I've successfully managed to read data through a local Java application but I can't seem to do the same from within an applet. The problem is that the RXTX library is a native library and I haven't found a way to load this library inside the Java applet. I've found two interesting articles (Using JNI in Applets which references to this article), but both are over 10 years old and I am wondering if there is a newer solution. Or if you can suggest an alternative, I would love to hear it!
A:
Firstly I'd suggest doing that in an Applet is probably a bad idea.
If you do go ahead anyway, JNLPAppletLauncher may help.
Tom Hawtin - tackline
2009-03-13 15:39:01
A:
I don't know about applets, other than they're locked down heavily wrt. security/accessing the machine's resources etc.
If you need a web-deployable solution, have you looked at Java Web Start ? See in particular this FAQ entry
Brian Agnew
2009-03-13 15:40:08
+1
A:
Frankly, trying to access devices from a Java applet is a bad idea even if you could make it work, and loading a dynamic library into the conventional applet is an even worse idea; in fact, I'd be astounded if you could find a way to trick a modern browser into doing it. (Consider the possible security implications.)
You're better off, as suggested on other questions, building an app that can be launched with Web Start.
Charlie Martin
2009-03-13 15:55:37
The current Java PlugIn runs the applet outside of the browser process. These neatly circumvents Vista' "Low Integrity" security restrictions.
Tom Hawtin - tackline
2009-03-13 17:35:23
So are you saying that Vista un-sandboxes the applet? That's possibly even more of a security horror than loading a dll -- it would violate the Java security policy as well as being a Real Bad Idea.
Charlie Martin
2009-03-13 20:00:20
A:
I'd be real interested in the answer here also. My suggestion would be to install the .jar and .dll for RXTX into the \program files\java\ tree. You could install them on the target system before trying to use the applet. I like the idea of using Java Web Start. If you sign the applet, can't you read/write any file on the machine? So you could install the .jar and .dll and then use them afterward?
For windows, I suggest using "Windows Java Serial Com Port Driver" rather than rxtx. You can download it from http://www.engidea.com/blog/informatica/winjcom/winjcom.html I've found it much easier to install and use and much more bug-free. I was unable to use RXTX with USB serial devices because RXTX would crash when the USB port was unplugged. winjcom solved these problems for me, and more.
I'm still trying to decide how to deploy the DLL, but I'm not sweating it because I don't expect the DLL for "Windows Java Serial Com Port Driver" to change. -Stosh
johnstosh
2009-04-21 01:19:31
A:
Use Java Web Start. You can include the native library as a signed jar and everything should work.
1) put the native librarys in a jar in the ROOT directory 2) sign ALL the jars 3) write a JNLP referencing all the jars (go do a search on how to write jnlp's)
after that it should work