local applet access

Phil Short (Phil@Kryten.force9.net)
Sun, 1 Feb 1981 17:02:22 -0000

Message-Id: <199802141700.SAA01497@relay2.force9.net>
From: "Phil Short" <Phil@Kryten.force9.net>
To: <java-security@web1.javasoft.com>
Subject: local applet access
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1981 17:02:22 -0000

Sirs

I am a 4th year Computer Science degree student due to graduate in June
1998. For my final year project I am writing a web application. I have
written my class and applet files using JDK1.1.2 and want to demonstrate my
project work using a variety of browsers and the appletviewer. Everything
was going fine while I was developing and using hardcoded values in the
applet parameters for the applet to display, but now find myself
experiencing problems with connecting to a MS-Access database and wondered
if you could help.

I appreciate that these types of questions get posted on newsgroups but I
have been looking at the newsgroups and the answers are just not there!
Due to the time constraints (I have to finish my project by April 1998), I
was really hoping you could offer some advice as this security issue has
halted my development and could lead to a totally incomplete project.

1. I was under the impression that files on a local machine were trusted
and no security issues would arise. Do I need to sign my applet if the
database it is trying to read/write is in the same directory as the applet
and class files?

2. The appletviewer throws a checkpackageaccess exception when trying the
line:
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");
Does this mean that it cannot load the driver and I won't be able to use
the appletviewer to demonstrate my work?

3. The HotJava browser (and Netscape Communicator 4) can both display my
applet when it is first loaded, but when I press the 'Reload' button, I get
a checkExit exception. Any suggestions?

4. The Netscape Communicator 4 browser does not seem to support
functionality such as pop-up menus and scrollpane. Is there any way I can
somehow add these classes so the browser can use them?

5. Internet Explorer 4 gives me a com.ms.security.SecurityException
(although it doesn't tell me the exact line of code causing the problem, I
think it is also having problems loading the driver).

I have e-mailed Netscape and Microsoft hoping they can answer the problems
for their respective browsers but would appreciate any solutions you can
suggest.

Thanks in advance.

Sarah Davies