The HotJava Browser 1.0 is no longer our most current release.
This page
remains in order to support our existing 1.0 customers. Although we may
update this page from time to time, it is no longer actively being updated
on a regular basis.
We encourage you to upgrade to our latest release, which can be found at
our HotJava Browser home page.
This collection of frequently asked questions (FAQ) provides brief
answers to common questions about Sun's HotJava World Wide Web Browser.
The Troubleshooting section is located toward the bottom of this page.
- What is the current version of the HotJava Browser?
This FAQ applies to HotJava Browser 1.0, which is still the current
release for certain international versions of HotJava Browser.
The latest release, however, which fixes many bugs and
adds some new features, is
HotJava 1.1.
- What platforms can I run the HotJava Browser on?
The 1.0 release of the HotJava Browser is available for:
- Solaris (version 2.5 and later) on SPARC
- Windows NT for the Intel processor
- Windows 95 systems
The HotJava Browser 1.0 may work on Solaris 2.3 and 2.4 systems, but
has not been tested on these platforms.
On Solaris systems, HotJava 1.0 should run with both CDE and OpenWindows,
but only CDE is supported.
Running HotJava on remote X-servers has only had minimal testing. It
appears to work, but it is not supported.
The HotJava Browser is not currently supported on Solaris x86-based
machines.
HotJava will not run on Solaris 1.x (SunOs 4.x), Windows 3.1, or
Windows 3.11.
- I've installed HotJava on my Windows NT system but now it won't run.
What might be the problem?
HotJava 1.0 might not run on Windows systems using 16 color mode.
(Please note that the problem is with 16 color mode,
not 16 bit mode.)
If this is true for your system, use 256 color mode, or higher.
- What version of HTML are you supporting?
The HotJava Browser 1.0 supports HTML 3.2 plus Frames and the OBJECT tag.
- Can I run HotJava Browser 1.0 with JDK 1.1?
No. You need to use the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from
JDK 1.1.1 that is shipped with the HotJava Browser.
- Does the 1.0 version of the HotJava Browser support tables?
YES. For a complete list of features see the HotJava Web site.
- What is the difference between the HotJava Browser and
HotJava Views?
HotJava is a software base
that can be used to build Internet- and intranet-aware applications.
The HotJava Browser is such an application--a scalable, customizable,
extensible, standards-based, Web browser for enterprise users.
HotJava Views is an integrated collection of intranet-aware applications
that serves as a user environment for network computers. HotJava Views
provides email, calendar, employee directory, and the HotJava Browser
applications.
- Does the 1.0 version of the HotJava Browser do caching?
The HotJava Browser caches in memory images, audio clips, applet classes,
and documents (HTML pages). The "Clear Cached Images" item on the View menu
clears or flushes these caches by reinitializing the tables representing
the caches to be empty, then doing garbage collection until the maximum
amount of memory is recovered. The image and document caches use a form
of "soft-referencing," where if nothing is using an image, for example,
the garbage collector is free to remove it. The next time it is needed,
the image will be reloaded automatically. This enables in-memory caching
without consuming all the memory.
The HotJava Browser remembers HTTP cookies associated with particular
URLs, and also recently visited URLs to highlight URL links on a page
that have already been visited (even between HotJava sessions).
- Does the 1.0 version of the HotJava Browser
handle password-protected HTML server pages (HTTP authentication)?
YES. For a complete list of features see the HotJava Web site.
- Can I use the keyboard (instead of the mouse) to navigate the
HotJava Browser menus?
Yes, certain keyboard accelerators are implemented.
Whenever you see a keyboard equivalent in a menu, you can use that
sequence as an accelerator. For example, on Solaris,
Control+o in the main HotJava window displays the Open dialog box and
Control+l (lower case L) in the
Remembered Places window displays the Add New List dialog box.
You can change a keyboard accelerator by editing your properties file (see
Customizing the HotJava User Interface in the HotJava Browser User's Guide
for information on modifying the properties files).
- Can the HotJava Browser run any Java application?
The HotJava Browser runs Java applets by downloading them and
displaying them within the browser. Java applets are Java programs that
require another
application (such as a browser) to run. Java applications are
complete programs and don't require another application to run.
- How can I adjust my fonts so HotJava Browser looks more like other browsers?
Choose Edit->Preferences->Display and change the typeface to Times Roman
and the typeface size to Small.
- When debugging an applet in the HotJava Browser, where does
System.out.println get sent? Is there something like a "Java Console" as
in Netscape?
On Solaris systems,
the print output from Java applets gets sent to /dev/null by default.
To see system state messages including applet diagnostics as they're
generated, run HotJava with the "-log /dev/tty" command line option.
Or, if you prefer, you can set the HOTJAVA_LOG environment
variable to /dev/tty. If you wish to send HotJava diagnostic output
to a file, you can substitute a file name for /dev/tty with either
the -log command line option or the HOTJAVA_LOG environment variable.
On Windows systems, sending output to the "Command Prompt window" when you
run hotjava_g.exe is automatically enabled, but can be redirected to a file by
using the -log or the HOTJAVA_HOME environment variables, just like on
Solaris.
If an applet fails to run, the HotJava Browser displays a broken applet icon.
Click on the broken applet icon to view a list of the applet exceptions
to help you debug your applet.
- I see that you provide different binary versions of
the HotJava Browser for Solaris/SPARC and Windows 95/NT architectures.
Why do you need two versions? If HotJava is written in
Java, which is supposed to be platform-independent,
shouldn't one version run on all different platforms?
You are correct that Java applications such as the HotJava
Browser are platform-independent. However, different platforms have
different startup procedures. We provide different startup
executables--a shell script for Solaris, and a small .exe program for Windows.
Using these executables, you do not need to know the details of invoking
the Java virtual machine* on your platform. The underlying HotJava
Browser application is the same on all platforms.
In addition, we have packaged the Windows version in a standard Windows
installation program. This program extracts all the files correctly and
makes the required addition to your PATH environment variable.
- When I type a URL that starts with "c:" I get an error message.
Why doesn't HotJava recognize this as drive C?
When a URL starts with a simple text string before a colon, the string is
considered to be an internet transfer protocol. This is the
standard syntax for URLs. Because HotJava supports locally extensible
protocol handlers, it must interpret a URL that starts with "c:" as if
the "c" is a protocol. If "c" is not the name of a defined protocol on
your system, the HotJava Browser won't be able to recognize the URL.
To access a file on your C drive, start your URL with the
string /c:/yourfile or file:/c:/yourfile.
If you want to list the contents of the C drive, use the
/c:/. or file:/c:/. URL (note the final dot).
Starting a URL with "/" or "file:/" indicates that
you want to use the file protocol to access your C drive.
- What is the difference between a JavaScript script and a Java applet?
Java is an object-oriented programming language with classes and
inheritance. To create a Java applet, you write a Java program and
compile it into a file of Java bytecodes. In an HTML file, you include
a reference to the applet, and when a Java-enabled browser encounters
the applet, the browser downloads the applet and runs it. The HotJava Browser
recognizes and runs Java applets.
JavaScript is an object-based scripting language with built-in
extensible objects, but no classes or inheritance. JavaScript
commands are embedded directly in an HTML file and you can use JavaScript
scripts to connect HTML content to Java applets. HotJava 1.0 does
not support JavaScript, but it may be supported in the future.
- When will the HotJava Browser be available for the Macintosh?
The JDK engineering team is working with a team at Apple to develop
this technology. When it is developed, we expect our products to run on
this JDK--write once, run anywhere.
- Does HotJava use a "color cube" for reserving colors? And can I get
a color map so I can ensure colors I use will display properly?
Java uses a sophisticated adaptive algorithm to map images to
whatever colors happen to be on the screen. It uses a rather large
and dense "virtual color cube." In general, Java does a very good job
of mapping colors to the screen. You should use whatever colors you want.
- Can I send email using the HotJava Browser?
Yes. You can send email by setting Mail preferences then
choosing Send Mail from the File menu.
- What is the difference between external content viewers and content handlers?
An external viewer is an executable (external to the browser)
that the browser can launch. Like a plugin, it could
be written in some language other than Java, as long as the platform
the browser is executing on supports that executable. A content handler
is a set of Java classes that extends the browser itself, and runs in
the same address space as the browser. A content handler displays within
the browser itself, while the external viewer displays outside the browser.
- How can I keep up with news about HotJava?
You can read the newsgroups:
- alt.www.hotjava: about the HotJava World Wide Web browser
or
- comp.lang.java.*: Newsgroups about the Java language and programming,
including:
- comp.lang.java.advocacy
- comp.lang.java.announce
- comp.lang.java.api
- comp.lang.java.misc
- comp.lang.java.programmer
- comp.lang.java.security
- comp.lang.java.setup
- comp.lang.java.tech
Note that not all news servers carry alt.* newsgroups, so alt.www.hotjava may
not be available at your site.
Or, you can connect to our Web site:
- I've read the HotJava documentation about permissions for the default levels of
applet security, but I'm still confused about which level of security to choose.
Can you provide any additional security level information?
The following table provides information about allowed applet behavior at each security level.
Note that in addition to the tangible protections described below,
Java and HotJava work together to enforce other constraints on applets
to make them run in a safe fashion. For example, applets are not
permitted to send messages to windows that cause them to be closed
(except windows the applet has created on its own).
|
|
Applet Security Restriction Level
|
|
| Untrusted
| High
| Medium
| Low
|
| Read Files
| No
| No1
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Write Files
| No
| No
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Delete Files
| No
| No
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Access Properties
| No
| No2
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Manipulate Threads
| No
| No3
| No3
| Yes
|
| Exit HotJava
| No
| No
| No
| No
|
| Start Local Applications
| No
| No
| Warn
| Warn
|
| Link to Local Libraries or DLLs
| No
| No
| No
| Yes
|
| Listen on Network Port
| No
| No4
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Accept Network Connection
| No
| No5
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Connect to Another Computer
| No
| No6
| Warn
| Yes
|
| Create Windows
| No
| Yes7
| Yes7
| Yes
|
| Access Clipboard
| No
| No
| No
| Yes
|
Permissions listed as "Warn" have the following behavior:
Each time one of the applets that fits a particular permission set
(that is, from a single signer or from a particular site) attempts to
access the controlled resource (for example, read a file) HotJava
checks its list of granted permissions. If the specific permission
has been granted, it is allowed. If it has not been granted, the user
is queried through a dialog box to choose from either allowing this
specific action (read the specified file), allowing all similar actions
(read any file), or block the action (deny reading this file this
time).
Footnotes
- Applets loaded using the file: protocol have read access to files in
the directory where they were loaded from.
-
Individual properties can be exposed to applets by creating another
property with a name in the form of <propertyname>.applet=true. For
example, to allow applets access to the os.name property, add an additional
property os.name.applet=true.
-
Applets at Medium or High may manipulate their own thread priorities.
-
Applets may listen on ports 1024 and higher.
-
Applets may accept connections from their originating site.
-
Applets may connect to their originating site.
-
Windows created will show a warning banner.
- What are the pricing plans for HotJava?
The binary Hotjava Browser product is available for evaluation and
non-commercial use free of charge, downloadable from the net.
For those wishing to redistribute the HotJava Browser, or interested
in licensing source code, please see
our licensing page or call 1-888-843-5282, Press 3. Outside
the U.S. and Canada, dial your country's AT&T
Direct Access Number first.
- Error: net.SocketException: errno = 10047 (Windows NT/95)
If you see the following error message:
net.socketException: errno = 10047
or
Unsupported version of Windows Socket API
check which TCP/IP drivers you have installed. HotJava supports only
the Microsoft TCP/IP drivers included with Windows 95 or Windows NT.
If you are using third-party drivers (such as Trumpet Winsock), you'll
need to change over to the native Microsoft TCP/IP drivers if you
want to load applets over the network.
- Is my firewall preventing HotJava from making connections?
It could be, especially if you haven't configured your proxy servers.
Choose Proxies from the Preferences submenu of the Edit menu. Contact
your system administrator for the proxy information specific to your site.
For more information, see the HotJava User's Guide (choose User's Guide from
the HotJava Browser Help menu).
- Why doesn't netnews from HotJava work?
HotJava 1.0 does not support network news (NNTP). Look for this in
a future release of HotJava.
- Why do http requests to java.sun.com sometimes fail?
Due to heavy demand at java.sun.com and other popular Web sites, a server
may become overloaded and can turn away requests. If you run into this
problem, try accessing the site again later.
- Why are some menu entries in HotJava grayed out (and unusable)?
Grayed out menu items indicate that the menu item is not available because
of the current state of the browser. For example, the Stop Loading menu item
is not available when nothing is currently being loaded.
- When I download a file of a certain type, HotJava displays
a page that says "Unable to Launch Viewer", but nothing happens.
What do I do?
A frequent cause of this problem is not setting the exec.path
property in your properties file. The exec.path property is a vertical
bar-separated-list of full directory names on your machine where HotJava
should look for executable external content viewer applications.
For example, a typical setting of this property for Solaris would be:
exec.path=/usr/openwin/bin|/usr/local/bin|/bin
while on Windows NT, something like:
exec.path=c:\\winnt35\\system32|c:\\winnt35
might be more appropriate.
See the section on setting the exec.path property in the HotJava Browser
User's Guide (available from the Help menu) for more information.
*As used on this web site, the terms "Java virtual machine" or "JVM" mean a
virtual machine for the Java platform.
|
