Java Applet Tutorial, Java 1.3

This tutorial is a Java 1.3 version of material originally developed by Gregory C. Walsh, Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1999-2000.

In Greg's tutorial, all of the graphics were implemented using the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT). Here we clean up some of the source code and update the graphics to Java Swing.

Lessons
Examples
Index
Data Structures
Prior student projects

Introduction

The purpose of this set of lessons is to get you started on your Java project. All code is included. Each lesson is intended to illustrate some of the features supported in the Java language as well as classes available in the free toolkits. People have been asking aout the file jpath.bat that I use to initialize the console Window on my windows 95 box. The file contents (for Java 1.2) are as follows:

    set PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\jdk1.2\bin
    doskey

Lessons

There are a total of 6 lessons. Writing to and from a console window is covered in Austin and Chacogne, we will discuss only creating applets which can be integrated into your web page. These lessons are primarily inspired by The Java Tutorial, written by Mary Campione and Kathy Walrath. I recommend the book if you will be programming in Java. Screen shots of the applets in each lesson (no Java required) can be found at the screen shot page.

Lesson	Lesson Contents	Applet
Lesson 1: Hello world	Creating a first applet	Applet
Lesson 2: Zap-bang-pow	Creating and using buttons	Applet
Lesson 3: Mug Shot Project	Layout of components, images	Applet
Lesson 4: Scribling	Mouse listeners and Colors	Applet
Lesson 5: Total Bomb	Double buffers, Threads, Animation	Applet
Lesson 6: Course Review	Client server application	Applet

At the end of each lesson, you can access the byte code I generated to see how the applet is supposed to run. Of course, you are supposed to generate the applet yourself, and run it locally in your own account!

More Examples

The following examples I have written possess features which may be similar to the projects many students are considering. There is also a large number of really neat examples with source code in the documentation which comes with the Java Development Kit. I have not had a chance to produce lessons for them.

Of course it is hard to compete with the great examples which were produced for the JDK. Check them out! They are under the demo directory. My favorite is GraphLayout.

Index

The index is intended tell you where to go if you have a specific need. This is a preliminary list; we will add more as the semester developes and I have a better idea what people need to know.

If you wish to:	Goto	If you wish to:	Goto
Compile a java applet	Lesson 1	Integrate applet into web page	Lesson 1
Create Buttons	Lesson 2	Enable and disable Buttons	Lesson 2
Intercept Button events	Lesson 2	Pass parameters to applet	Lesson 2
Load and display images	Lesson 3	Use layout managers	Lesson 3
Use a Scrollbar or Choice	Lesson 4	Intercept mouse events	Lesson 4
Use the GridBagLayout	Lesson 4	Use the BorderLayout	Lesson 3
Create a thread	Lesson 5	Animate	Lesson 5

Data Structures

The JDK comes with several standard data structures (Vector, Stack, Hashtable, etc) and some associated algorithms, found in the util section. Understanding data structures and algorithms is very important if you plan to program seriously. We unfortunately do not have time to introduce data structures and algorithms in a serious way. The main inspiration for the following examples is Data Structures and Algorithms in Java by Michael Goodrich and Roberto Tamassia.