Hello Everybody,

I originally mailed a query asking for support on running JDBC Applets on
Internet Explorer. I have managed to complete my task last weekend. Given below are my observations, if they are of any use to you.

1. Initially I was trying to use jar files. Using the following HTML statement

ARCHIVE = "se.jar, mysql.jar"

. se.jar was my jar file and mysql.jar is the jdbc driver

2. The above html works well on Netscape, but does not work on Explorer. Explorer crashes claiming that it can't find the driver. However, note that explorer was downloading the "mysql.jar" file. Which means that even though it
is possible to download jar files and run applets, for some reason, explorer is unable to open the driver from a "mysql.jar" file. I come to this conclusion because, my own jar file works on explorer indicating that an observation made earlier that you have to use "cab" files instead of "jar" file is not completely true in my case.

3. I solved my problem by changing my html file as follows

ARCHIVE = "se.jar" <! se.jar is my applet >

I also loaded the driver in "ORG" folder with its complete hierarchy on the server.

This solution works in the following manner a) my applet in "se.jar" is downloaded by browsers both (IE and Netscape) b) When the applet demands the driver, the driver is brought down from the server and is openened by the browsers.

4. If you are looking for downloading an applet quickly, this is fine. You can keep your client interested in your GUI. The client waits after the first query due to down loading of several class files. This is hopefully more acceptable
to the client.

5. I also observe the if you unjar and re-jar mysql.jar file, you can actually compress it to 40% of the total space, making it faster to down load. However, you can not use this solution on IE.

Hope the above information helps.

sagar