Discoverer 4i Plus Applet not initializing Win2k/IE6 - Solution

Question

Hi,
I finally got a solution to the problem of the Discoverer 4i Plus Applet not launching on IE 6.0 Windows2000 machines.
When you click on the image "Click to Start" the area goes grey and the applet never comes up. When you look at the java console you will notice a class not found exception. The reasons are as follows :
- IE 6.0 doesn't come with a built in JVM unlike the earlier versions. The JVM resides with the OS i.e. Windows2000 or WindowsXP.
- When launching the Discoverer applet you need to invoke the appropriate htm page
e.g. http://serverURL/discwb4/html/english/ms_ie/start_ie.htm
This htm page doesn't have any hint in the <applet> tag to use jinitiator or any other JVM to launch the applet, assuming that since the IE browser has an embedded JVM the applet will be launched. However this fails to happen since IE6.0 which ships with Window200 and Windows XP doesn't have a built in JVM. Why the JVM in the OS doen't take of that I don't know as yet. Therefore the applet fails to load and you get a class not found exception that can be verified thru the browser's java console.
- So instead of calling the IE configured page start_ie.htm call the corresponding netscape page like http://serverURL/discwb4/html/english/netscape/start_nn.htm. The start_nn.htm page has the appropriate <embed> tags to hint the initialization of the applet using jinitiator or other JVM. Therefore the applet gets launched.
Hope this helps all those who have had to face this issue.
Kiron

Answer 1

Hi Simon
(4) Can I take the user automatically to the list of database workbooks ("Open Workbook from Database" dialogue box) without the user having to choose "Open an existing workbook" and "Database"?
Yes user can automatically view the workbooks or the worksheet or even a particular page of the worksheet.
Give the URL to the user and ask the user to run the URL from his/her browser. The URL shloud however contain the username, password, database name, workbook name etc...
This way we can bypass all the login screens and go directly to the desired page.
URL is as follows
http://hostname.domain/program_name/?us=APPS&db=devl&wb=Wb3&pw=apps
where
hostname.domain/program_name is where ur discoverer viewer is residing
us is the username
pw is the password
db is the database u wnat to connect to
wb is the workbook u want to open
Try this , this works.
Ankit