How to make jre 1.3 and 1.4 co-exist

Question

Hi,
I have an applet that I have tested and know runs fine under 1.3.1_01 to 1.3.1_04.
I have tested it with 1.4.0_01 and know that it doesn't work.
Right now, rather than look into why it doesnt work in 1.4 I'm interested in just making it work at all times, using 1.3.
So there are several problems here, one to make 1.3 and 1.4 co-exist.
I would like to tell IE ( I use 5.5 but it should also work with 6.0 ) that I dont want to use 1.4 but 1.3. The only way I have made this work is to install 1.3 after 1.4 or it won't. Regardless of how many times I turn off 1.4 from the contolpanel plugin console, and turn on 1.3 the same way, it still runs 1.4 if its installed after. (I restart IE it's not that.)
I guess this is not just a matter of choosing the default plugin, but it depends also on the applet tag. Furthermore I would like the applet tag to say run this only with 1.3. I also would like it to install 1.3 if and ONLY if 1.3 is not installed. I have many times got the install pop-up even though I know I have the right version installed.
My applet tag looks like this (its actually an object tag, becuase as I understand, that's the way to tell it run only the version I want) Whats wrong with it?
<object
     id="treeApplet"
     classid="clsid:8AD9C840-044E-11D1-B3E9-00805F499D93"
     width="100%"
     height="80%"
     border="0"
     codebase="http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/1.3/jinstall-13-win32.cab#Version=1,3,1,4"
>
<param name="code" value="applet/TreeApplet.class">
<param name="codebase" value="/tree/">
<PARAM NAME="type" VALUE="application/x-java-applet;version=1.3">
<param name=... >
</object>
the class id is the dynamic, where do I find the static ones?
Is the .cab file pointing to the right jre or is it giving me trouble? What is the url of right .exe files to use instead? will that work better?
ok, so to summarize, how do I make all I want to work? co-existence (shouldnt it work to go back and forth between the jre versions?), running the right version, and intalling when and only when needed.
thanks

Answer 1

First, CLSID's:
8AD9C840-044E-11D1-B3E9-00805F499D93 --> dynamic
CAFEEFAC-0013-0001-0001-ABCDEFFEDCBA --> static, 1.3.1_01
CAFEEFAC-0013-0001-0004-ABCDEFFEDCBA --> static, 1.3.1_04
CAFEEFAC-0014-0000-0000-ABCDEFFEDCBA --> static, 1.4.0
... (you get the picture)
Second, you are really going to have to get your applet working with 1.4 -- Microsoft was kind enough with IE 6 to drop support for Netscape-style plug-ins, which is what all the Sun JRE's except 1.4 use (making them unusable with IE 6). If you want Java on IE 6, your only options are the MS Runtime (1.1.4) or Sun's 1.4 JRE.
Now, under IE 5, all the runtimes will co-exist fine, but you need to install them IN ORDER -- Make sure 1.3 goes on before 1.4, etc. or you will be constantly plagued by the autodownloading messages.