Java Applications or Applets
Use the following guidelines when considering whether to deploy your
custom Java™ Step or Launch Processor as an application or an applet:
- If a Java Step Processor is to be opened from an email notification message,
you must implement an applet class. If you deploy the Step Processor as an application,
the Step Processor must implement an applet class in order to open the step
assignment from an email notification message. On the other hand, if a Step
Processor is to be opened from an email notification message and you deploy
it as an applet, there is no requirement to implement an application class.
Since Launch Processors cannot be opened from an email notification message,
there is no need to implement an applet class if you are deploying a Launch
Processor as an application.
- Deploying a Step Processor as an application provides a better connection
between the Step Processor and the User Inbox. When you complete or close a step, the application notifies the User Inbox that an event has occurred, causing the User Inbox to automatically refresh its display. When you complete or close a step when the Step Processor is deployed as an applet, the user must manually refresh the User Inbox to refresh its display.
- Deploying a Step Processor as an application enables a session to be shared:
the user is not required to log in again. This is true if your application
class implements the IVWLaunchableApp interface, either directly or by extending
the VWBaseLaunchableApplication class (as in the Java Step and Launch Processor
samples).
- Deploying a Step Processor as an application forces popup dialogs to be
modal. This prevents users from doing something else outside the dialog box
while the dialog entry is unresolved. Deploying the Step Processor as an applet
does not provide dialog modality.
- Deploying a Step Processor as an application allows the application to
use the same instance of the Java plugin. Deploying a Step Processor as
an applet requires the applet to create a new instance of the Java plugin,
thereby slowing performance.