Note: This Java plug-in guide describes features released prior to the Java SE 6 update 10 release. See Java Rich Internet Applications Development and Deployment for the latest information.
OBJECT/EMBED Tag
This section includes the following topics:
The intranet is a more controlled environment than the internet,
and you can decide whether you want to deploy your applets via the
APPLET, OBJECT, or EMBED
tags. This chapter deals with deployment using the
OBJECT or EMBED tags.
Java Plug-in can be deployed in an intranet environment so that users can download and install it without leaving the firewall. Deployment details for Internet Explorer and supported Mozilla browsers are described below.
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Note You need to understand the Java Plug-in tagging structure to understand the discussion below. The tagging structure is explained in Using OBJECT, EMBED and APPLET Tags in Java Plug-in.) |
To deploy Java Plug-in in intranet environments with IE, you
need to download and store the Java Plug-in binary file on a web
server. Then you need to modify the codebase attribute
inside the <OBJECT> tag in the HTML file to point to
the binary. For example, if you want to use the Java Plug-in binary
file in http://my_company.example.com/plugin/, then you should
specify the codebase attribute as
"http://my_company.example.com/plugin/jre-6-rc-windows-i586.exe#Version=6,0,0,99"
(For Internet deployment the above might use a .cab
file rather than .exe. The .cab file
points to an .exe and provides a download progress
bar.)
Note the version number in the above URL. For Java Plug-in 6,
the version number is 6,0,0,99. This version number
changes for each release, and you must change the version number
inside the <OBJECT> tag if you want to specify the
newest release of Java Plug-in.
The filejre-6-rc-windows-i586.exe#Version=6,0,0,99
is the same binary that can be download directly from the Java
Software web site. It is digitally signed with a VeriSign digital
signature signed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. If you are using the
Java Plug-in HTML Converter, you can simply change the conversion
template file to specify the latest Plug-in version (the
CabFileLocation variable) before the conversion. For
information about modifying the conversion template, consult the
README file in the Java Plug-in HTML Converter. Note that
CabFileLocation can be the location of the
.cab file or the .exe.
Once you have implemented these changes, when a machine that does not have Java Plug-in installed browses an HTML page with IE, IE will look into your predefined location (http://my_company.example.com/plugin in the example) and download Java Plug-in. Notice that there is no need to download Java Plug-in over the firewall if the web server is inside the intranet.
Note: RecommendationsThe following is recommeded for long-term reliability:
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For supported Mozilla browsers you must use the APPLET tag.
To deploy Java Plug-in in intranet environments with Mozilla, you need to download and store the Java Plug-in binary file on one of your web servers. Then you need to set up a Java Plug-in Download page and modify the pluginspage attribute in the EMBED tag to refer to this page. For example, if you have set up the Java Plug-in Download page at "http://my_company.example.com/plugin/" and the page is called plugin-install.html, you can specify the pluginspage as "http://my_company.example.com/plugin/plugin-install.html". The Download page should have options to download different versions of Java Plug-in, such as for Windows and Solaris.
When a machine that does not have Java Plug-in installed acceses
a web page, a missing-plugin icon is displayed on the HTML page.
When the user clicks on this icon, Mozilla browser directs the user
to your predefined Java Plug-in Download Page
(http://my_company.example.com/plugin/plugin-install.html in
this example). Notice that there is no need to download Java
Plug-in over the firewall if the web server is inside the
intranet.
There are two ways that Java Plug-in might be installed in the Intranet environment with Unix or Linux:
In either case, for supported Mozilla browsers the environmental variable NPX_PLUGIN_PATH must be set to point to the Java Plug-in. When Java Plug-in is installed on the local machine, then the user needs to set this variable to point to the Java Plug-in in the JRE on the local machine. For a shared installation, the system administrator needs to determine the shared location of the Java Plug-in in the shared JRE on the NSF drive and set the user profile for every machine to point to this via NPX_PLUGIN_PATH.
