Can a client easily use Webstart w/o Webstart installed?

Question

Hi,
This might look like a stupid question, but pls bear w/ me ;-):
Can a user click on a webstart link even w/o webstart installed, and the webpage would automatically detect:
1. if a jre is installed?, &
2. if webstart is installed?
and install whatever is required, including the application, w/o further input from the user?
That's what webstart should be all about, right?

Answer 1

Thanks for your reply!
Hmmm, that would serve my purpose ... except I think WebStart is said to be "able to determine" whether a JRE needs to be downloaded, given the instructions in the .jnlp file and already available JREs in the machine, whereas I think the PlugIn can only check for a particular JRE version (either that or the html becomes even much more complicated).
About WebCream, is it much easier to use than WebStart/PlugIn?
What you are describing is more like Java Plugin, not
Java Webstart. The user will be automatically prompted
to install the plugin if s/he doesn't have it yet, and
other then that the functionality of the plugin is
pretty much the same as that of Webstart.
You can also take a look at WebCream, a product that
turns Swing/AWT apps into websites so users don't even
need a JRE to view your app.