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Limitations of Java Applets

Our implementation of the Web++ applet revealed also several limitations of the java.applet API:

Our implementation of Web++ client applet circumvents the first limitation by writing the received resource into a local file and passing its URL to the browser. Such a mechanism allows us to implement a local browser cache that matches resources based on their logical URL as opposed to physical URL matching used in most browsers. The second limitation could be addressed (although inefficiently) by re-implementing the necessary graphical controls (i.e. bookmark button) directly within the browser area.

Both of the limitations are eliminated in the ActiveX ``Pluggable Protocol'' interface that is supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x browser. We plan to explore a Web++ client implementation based on this technology as well as to investigate implementation of a similar interface within the publicly available Netscape Navigator source code.