Applet.getImage() but so sloooooowly...

Question

I've seen a couple of questions posted about this issue, but no resolution. Essentially, performance of Applet().getImage() is unacceptably slow. It happens on my machine, and others.
I'm using PlugIn 1.3.1 in WinIE 5.5, and have the following simple JApplet:
public class GoofyApplet extends JApplet
public void init()
Image img = getImage(getDocumentBase(), "goofy/mickey/rtb_down.jpg"); // a 4K .jpg
JLabel lab = new JLabel("test", new ImageIcon(img), JLabel.CENTER);
Container content = getContentPane();
content.add(lab);
validate();
repaint();
I run that, and have ample time to curse and fume. About 20-50 seconds.
Note the docs for getImage:
"This method always returns immediately, whether or not the image exists. When this applet attempts to draw the image on the screen, the data will be loaded. The graphics primitives that draw the image will incrementally paint on the screen."
First of all, timing tests have shown that this definition of "immediately" is pretty flexible. In my last test, getImage took 38230 ms.
I've been cruising around the Forums, looking for an answer to this question and have yet to find it. This is disturbing--I can't believe SUN would ship the plug-in with this kind of behavior--but does this mean there is no solution?
Cheers,
Jon

Answer 1

You need to wait for the image to load in an applet. If you use the Swing version of ImageIcon it will do this automatically for you. Else, use the following methods:
* Loads an image as a resource.
* Note:  With Swing, could use ImageIcon instead of createImage()/MediaTracker.
public Image loadImage(String imageName) {
   Image image = null;
   URL url = getClass().getResource(imageName);
   try {
      image = createImage((ImageProducer) url.getContent());
      if (image==null) throw new Exception();
      waitForImageToLoad(this,image);
   } catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println("unable to load image: "+imageName);
   }//end try
   return image;
}//end loadImage
* wait for an image to completely load. Use in an applet.
public static void waitForImageToLoad(Component component, Image image) {
   MediaTracker tracker = new MediaTracker(component);
   try {
      tracker.addImage(image, 0);
      tracker.waitForID(0);
   } catch (InterruptedException e) {
      //this should not occur
      e.printStackTrace();
   }//end try
}//end waitForImageToLoad