Chapter 2. Installing War Room Applet
War Room Applet is a complete Java application rather than just a series of web pages. This allows it to do things you just can't do on web pages (like draw) and in general to be much more responsive then an exclusively web-based application, which has to go back to the server anytime it presents different data. The downside of this is that there is sometimes more to getting War Room Applet running on your computer than just pointing your browser to the right page.
Is it safe? Although you may be (rightly) cautious about running progams downloaded from the internet, you can rest assured that War Room Applet will not harm your system. Both Sun (supplier of Java technology) and AHC are reputable, accountable organizations. Furthermore, the War Room Applet runs in a protected environment created by the Java run-time in which it is prevented from doing anything, even as the result of bugs, that could alter the information on your computer or leak information to any third party. |
There are two ways to get War Room Applet running on your machine. Since it's release, War Room Applet has been deployed as a Java applet that runs within your browser when you go to a page on the AHC web-site. Recently, it's also been available as a Java Web Start application. This has made it compatible with Macintoshes (with Mac OS/X 10.1 or higher) and may be a more convenient solution for people running on other platforms as well.
Running War Room Applet as a Browser Applet
If you have Internet Explorer on Windows or Netscape on Windows or Linux, War Room Applet will run as an applet within your browser. It will start automatically whenever you visit the War Room Applet web page. For maximum compatibility with the latest Java features, the applet uses the Java plug-in from Sun instead of the outdated version of Java that ships with Internet Explorer and earlier versions of Netscape. Later versions of Netscape include the Java plug-in already, but most other users will need to install the plug-in when they run War Room Applet for the first time.
Sun has tried to make this installation as painless as possible. If you do not yet have the plug-in installed, you will automatically be directed to download the plug-in from Sun when you go to the applet page. This is about a 9 MB download, and will be followed by an installation process that may take a few minutes. Once the plug-in is installed, you will not need to download it again.
After the plug-in is installed, the War Room Applet itself will be downloaded; this download consists of four files totalling about 4.5 MB. As long as the applet stays in your web cache, you will not need to download it again. If you use War Room Applet often, it will stay in your browser's web cache. If you don't, it will disappear and you will have to download it again next time you use it; for this reason dial-up users especially might want to consider the Java Web Start deployment instead.
From time to time War Room Applet will be updated with new maps and new features. After it is updated, the next time you visit the War Room Applet page, any components in your web-cache that are missing or out-of-date will be downloaded automatically.
Running War Room Applet as a Java Web Start Application
Java Web Start is a newer way to run Java applications. With Java Web Start, Java applications run outside the browser. You can start them by going to a specific web page, or from the Java Web Start application launcher, or from a start menu item or desktop icon that launches the application directly. With Java Web Start the application is downloaded and stored on your PC separately from your browser's cache, so it will never be removed without you removing it explicitly. You also won't have War Room Applet shut down unintentionally when you browse to another web page. Java Web Start is also the only way to run War Room Applet on Macintoshes. For these reasons, Java Web Start may be the best way to run War Room Applet for many users.
First, you need to have Java Web Start installed on your machine. If you have a Mac with OS X 10.1+, you should have Java Web Start already (and in fact this is the only way you can run War Room Applet on the Mac). If you have a Windows, Linux or Solaris box, you can get Java Web Start by downloading it from Sun. If you already have the Java run-time installed (and you do if you have been running War Room Applet as a browser applet previously) you only need to download the 1.0.1 version, without the whole JRE. This is a pretty small download (I think about 1 MB). If you have not previously run War Room Applet (and you do not have any J2SE version 1.3+ installed) you should download the JRE 1.4.1 release candidate, which is about 10 MB and contains everything you need. This demo page will confirm that Java Web Start is installed and operating as expected.
Once you have a working Java Web Start on your machine, direct your browser to this Web Start page and War Room Applet should download and run. You shouldn't have to download the application again. You can run it again by going back to that page in your browser, or through the Java Web Start application on your desk top.
Since War Room Applet launched from Java Web Start does not go through the browser, it needs its own login. Just put in your AHC forum login and password. Or you can log in anonymously, with reduced functionality.
Figure 2-1. War Room Applet Web Start Login Window
What about dial-up users?
Dial-up as well as broad-band users should have no problem running the War Room Applet. The initial download might take a little while for dial-up users, but after that it should be smooth sailing--there might be a short-pause at start-up when it is querying the host for the most data. Other than that, the bandwidth needs of War Room Applet are modest.