i am currently writing a game on javaFX and i have plans to post it in the website i run in the future (end exploit the Ads while at it). The problem is that after searching around a little it seems there is no way to run a java application on a browser.
Allowing people to run it through the browser would really help sharing the program.
My question is: is there today(2018) any way to run a java application through the web? Though i like java, no browser support seems like a really, really bad idea.
Oh, i also heard of Java Web Start. Although it looks like it is just avoiding the problem (not running in the browser) it seems like a good way to share an application. The problem is that it seems it is (Will be?) deprecated? I am helpless, it is like java isn't even trying anymore...
PS: If it makes any difference my game would be a 2D game with 3rd person view. It will also require some server stuff since players will create "arenas" that others can challenge. I would say my game wouldn't be "simple".
Java Web Start does the job very well—if you are willing to pay for a code signing certificate. (They’re a lot more expensive than regular SSL certificates.) The idea is that a user clicks on a hyperlink on your page, which causes the user’s Java installation to launch your application (possibly after installing it). This requires users to have Java installed beforehand.
If you don’t have the resources or desire to go with a code signing certificate, you can look at https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/deploy/self-contained-application-packaging.htm. It allows you to create native installation packages for JavaFX applications. The disadvantage: You need each platform to create an installer for it. Meaning, you need Windows to create a Windows installer, OS X to create an OS X installation image, and Linux to create a Linux package. Some may also require signing using native tools.
Java 9 includes the jmod and jlink tools, which are capable of creating a file tree with an executable shell script or .bat file. A major advantage is that you can build such a tree for any platform, regardless of your own platform, if you unpackage the foreign platform’s JDK on your machine. Another advantage is that the user doesn’t need to have Java installed at all. A disadvantage is that the script requires a terminal, unless running on Linux.
Of course, you can just go the manual route and distribute a zip file which contains your .jar file(s), a shell script you’ve written, and a .bat file you’ve written. It’s not elegant, but it’s better than nothing. But it may trip up some non-technical users.
There exist a number of tools which create a native executable from .jar files, but I am not familiar with them (and I prefer to avoid third party tools unless they are truly necessary).
Whatever approach you choose, the answer is the same: You distribute something on your web page which the user downloads and runs. Aside from the download process, the browser is not involved.
What you can’t do is have users run your application inside the browser. That is deprecated, with good reason: It’s a disaster for the browser performance, for the Java runtime, for security, and for the user experience. And Firefox has all but banned plugins, so you’d be locking out a substantial percentage of users.
I am writing a web based version control system and when a user checks out a code file it is automatically copied to a shared network folder that they have access to. I would then like to automatically open that file on their computer with whatever their default program is for that file type. I do not want the user to have to download and then open the file as it needs to all be automated.
I tried writing a java applet but am hitting some road blocks and before I go further would like to know what people think would be the easiest or best way of implementing this functionality. I would prefer the user to not have to install a piece of software prior to using the system. That was my purpose in initially trying an applet.
I appreciate any advice or recommendations.
I decided to go with writing a client-side protocol handler that I could invoke by redirecting the browser to "myprotocol:data". Unfortunately it involves some client-side setup as they need the protocol handler but it is very simple, basic, and lightweight as well as event driven so no listener is necessary.
I would like to know if it's possible to edit a file from within the browser. I know where the file is and I know its format. I would like to some HTML5 and JavaScript but have little luck so don't mind using Flash or Java.
The file I would like to edit is the hosts file. C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows XP.
This is mostly for test run of a new breed of AdBlocking so would like to give my browser and the best chance of working. I have Google Chrome Dev opened as ROOT, running on Windows XP.
Java applet with the correct permissions can access the file probably but how easy is it for the user to setup those permissions is a question I can not answer.
Flash is not going to work 100% as it can not be loaded from the internet and access the hard drive at the same time, without going into details you can trust me on that one as the security model simply does not allow it and there is no actual API inside flash to read the file, one can only forward it through to a server(only upload, no download), nothing more (if running from the internet sandbox).
Javascript - not sure, i kind of feel like it can't for similar reasons as Flash but somebody should probably confirm.
The add-blockers usually work as addons to the browser so you should probably do the same as you should have access but then again, you probably won't need it in that case...
In any case, Flash definitely is not going to work.
Java applets can as long as they are signed ..
Follow these intructions to sign an applet.
P.S these instructions are for a linux setup. You might need to set up environment variables in windows.
Jar signing link
so al long as the users allow the applet to run the applet the applet can modify anything on the file sysem and even open connections to other computers.. and most importantly the applet can be hidden in a corner if that is what you wish
Editing local files from a browser, especially a system file, is something that all browser vendors actively try to PREVENT. This is because all the virus makers are actively trying to edit these too!
If you want an ad blocker editing the hosts file to do it is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. First of all it is only going to work on Windows and your ad blocking won't help for Mac and Linux users. Second it will require permissions escalation on Vista and Windows 7. Third it would have to be reliant on something like ActiveX or Java. Fourth the hosts file would eventually get large. Large hosts file slow down internet browsing because you have to do a full lookup every time.
If you want to block ads, block them at the browser level. I hope I have convinced you that modifying the hosts file for this is a bad idea.
I'm looking for a technology that can be used to upload large (~2GB) files from both Windows and Mac OSX machines. It should be possible to pause and resume uploads on request/error. The final artefact should be easily installed by a user with basic computer skills.
I'm thinking of using Adobe AIR as it's quite ubiquitous, so installing should be easy although I'm not sure that AIR would provide the power that we're after. Another option would be a Java app, which I believe would provide more choice in terms which upload protocols (HTTP/WebDAV/etc).
Does AIR have the power to handle such large file sizes and could it pause and resume? Would Java be better, as I could chunk the files more easily? Is there another solution that I've not thought of? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Please don't suggest using a service like YouSendIt, DropBox, etc. I need a custom, branded solution that can be integrated with a CMS for the uploaded files.
Thanks!
Darren.
You can use the Apache FileUpload library which I've tested uploading about 4gigs to, and it didn't have any problems.
If you want more control I would advise an applet - more control and you still have the advantage of not having to install on the clients computer.
Internet Explorer has a file download limit of 4GB (2 GB on IE6). Firefox does not have this problem (haven't tested safari yet)
(More info here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298618)
I am working on a site that will allow the user to download very large files (up to and exceeding 100GB)
What is the best way to do this without using FTP. The end user must be able to download the file from there browser using HTTP. I don't think Flash or Silverlight can save files to the client so as far as I know they won't cut it.
I'm guessing we will need an ActiveX or Java applet to pull this off. Something like the download manager that MSDN uses.
Does anyone know of a commercial (or free) component that will do that? We do not want the user to have to install a "browser wide" download manager (like GetRight), we want it to only work with downloading on our site.
Update: Here is some additional info to help clarify what I'm trying to do. Most of the files above the 4GB limit would be large HD video files (its for a video editing company). These will be downloaded by users across the internet, this isn't going to be people on a local network. We want the files to be available via HTTP (some users are going to be behind firewalls that aren't going to allow FTP, Bittorrent, etc.). The will be a library of files the end user could download, so we aren't talking about a one time large download. The will be download different large files on a semi-regular basis.
So far Vault that #Edmund-Tay suggested is the closest solution. The only problem is that it doesn't work for files larger than 4GB (it instantly fails before starting the download, they are probably using a 32bit integer somewhere which is exceeded/overflown by the content length of the file).
The best solution would be a java applet or ActiveX component, since the problem only exist in IE, that would work like the article #spoulson linked to. However, so far I haven't had any luck finding a solution that does anything like that (multipart downloads, resume, etc.).
It looks like we might have to write our own. Another option would be to write a .Net application (maybe ClickOnce) that is associated with an extension or mime type. Then the user would actually be downloading a small file from the web server that opens in the exe/ClickOnce app that tells the application what file to download. That is how the MSDN downloader works. The end user would then only have to download/install an EXE once. That would be better than downloading an exe every time they wanted to download a large file.
#levand:
My actual preference, as a user, in these situations is to download a lightweight .exe file that downloads the file for you.
That's a dealbreaker for many, many sites. Users either are or should be extremely reluctant to download .exe files from websites and run them willy-nilly. Even if they're not always that cautious, incautious behaviour is not something we should encourage as responsible developers.
If you're working on something along the lines of a company intranet, a .exe is potentially an okay solution, but for the public web? No way.
#TonyB:
What is the best way to do this without using FTP.
I'm sorry, but I have to ask why the requirement. Your question reads to me along the lines of "what's the best way to cook a steak without any meat or heat source?" FTP was designed for this sort of thing.
bittorrent?
There have been a few web-based versions already (bitlet, w3btorrent), and Azureus was built using java, so it's definitely possible.
Edit: #TonyB is it limited to port 80?
Please don't use ActiveX... I am so sick of sites that are only viewable in IE.
My actual preference, as a user, in these situations is to download a lightweight .exe file that downloads the file for you.
Can you split the files into pieces and then rejoin them after the download?
If you don't want to write java code in-house, there are commercial applet solutions available:
Vault
MyDownloder
Both of them have eval versions that you can download and test.
A few ideas:
Blizzard use a light-weight .exe BitTorrent wrapper for their patches. I'm not entirely sure how it is done, but it looks like a branded version of the official BitTorrent client.
Upload to Amazon S3, provide the torrent link of the file (all S3 files are automatically BitTorrent-enabled), plus the full HTTP download link as alternative. See S3 documentation
What about saying "We recommend that you install Free Download Manager to download this file. You will have the added benefit of being able to resume the file and accelerate the download."
Personally I never download anything using the built in browser download tool unless I have to (e.g. Gmail attachments)
#travis
Unfortunately It has to be over HTTP inside the users browser.
I'll update the question to be more clear about that.
#levand
The problem only exist in IE (it works in Firefox) so while ActiveX would only work on IE, IE is the only one we need the work around for.
#travis - interesting idea. Not sure if it will work for what I need but I'll keep it in mind. I'm hoping to find something to integrate with the existing site instead of having to go out to a third party. It would also require me to setup a bittorrent tracker which wouldn't be as easy as it sounds for this application because different users will have different access to different files.
#jjnguy
I'm looking for a java applet or ActiveX component that will do that for me. These are non-technical users so we really just want to have them click download and the full file ends up in the specified location
#ceejayoz
I totally agree but its part of the requirement for our client. There will be FTP access but each user will have the option of downloading via HTTP or FTP. There are some users that will be behind corporate firewalls that don't permit FTP
I have seen other sites do this in the past (MSDN, Adobe) so I was hoping there is something out there already instead of having to make one in house (and learning java and/or ActiveX)
I say click-once installed download manager, similar to msdn.
But becoming a CDN without a more optimized protocol for the job is no easy task. I can't imagine a business model that can be worthwhile enough to have such large file downloads as a core competency unless you are doing something like msdn. If you create a thick client, you at least get the chance to get some more face time with the users, for advertising or some other revenue model, since you will probably be paying in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to host such a service.
The problem with the applet approach mentioned is that unless you have the end user modify their java security properties your applet will not have permission to save to the hard drive.
It may be possible using Java Web Start (aka JNLP). I think that if it is a signed app it can get the extra permission to write to the hard drive. This is not too different from the download an exe approach. The problem with this is that the user has to have the correct version of Java installed and has to have the Java Web Start capability setup correctly.
I would recommend the exe approach as it will be the easiest for the non-technical users to use.
There are some users that will be behind corporate firewalls that don't permit FTP...
Are users with restrictive firewalls like that likely to be permitted to install and run a .exe file from your website?
Take a look at cURL. This article describes how to do a multi-part simultaneous download via HTTP. I've used cURL in the past to manage FTP downloads of files over 300GB.
Another tip: You can boost download times even more if you increase the size of the TCP Window on the client's NIC configuration. Set it as high as the OS allows and you should see up to 2x improvement depending on your physical network. This worked for me on Windows 2000 and 2003 when FTPing over a WAN. The down side is it may increase overhead for all other network traffic that wants only a few KB for a network packet, but is now forced to send/recv in 64KB packets. Your mileage may vary.
Edit: What exactly is this you're trying to accomplish? Who is the audience? I'm assumed for a bit that you're looking to do this over your own network; but you seem to imply the client side is someone on the internet. I think we need clearer requirements.
Create a folder of files to be downloaded on the server where the document service is running (either using Linux commands or using java to execute shell commands)
Write the file to be downloaded to this folder (using Linux command or Java shell command is OK). Considering the efficiency of program execution, WGet command is used here
Package the downloaded folder as a zip file (using shell command), configure nginx agent, return the access file path of nginx to the front end, and then download from the front end.