Thread: JApplet Local File Permission

So I'm building an applet that will run exclusively on my machine, instead of the internet (I have my reasons for using an applet instead of an application), and I am running into those pain-in-the-ass permission issues with writing to text files from an applet.

I've been googling for the past hour and based on what I've found, I need to create a policy file to allow permission for the applet to write to the local txt files. The problem with this is that I'm not entirely sure how to correctly make a policy file and I'm not sure how to get the applet to use the policy file. I've been reading tutorials and other forums, but nothing I've tried has made any difference. Can anyone give me some guidance here?

Here are some lines from my .java.policy file. Located at:
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\.java.policy


grant codeBase "file:/D:/JavaDevelopment/Testing/WriteFile/-" {
permission java.io.FilePermission "D:/Testing/*", "read, write";
};

here is the code that writes to a file. I copied it from a textbook ten years ago but can't remember which one

 
/**
  * By default, this applet raises a security exception, unless
  *  you configure your policy to allow applets from its location
  *  to write to the file "writetest".
 
  <applet code=WriteFile.class width=700 height=150>
  </applet>  
*/
 
import java.awt.*;
import java.io.*;
//import java.lang.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.util.Date;
import java.security.*;
 
public class WriteFile extends Applet {
    String myFile = "D:\\Testing\\writetest.txt";    // The file to write
    File f = new File(myFile);
    DataOutputStream dos;
 
    String message = "";
 
  public void init() {
    String osname = System.getProperty("os.name");
    System.out.println("os.name is " + osname);
    System.out.println("Java version is " + System.getProperty("java.version"));
    // Following added for tests with IE7 - Still does not allow wildcards in .java.policy file
/*
grant codeBase "file:/D:/JavaDevelopment/Testing/WriteFile/-" {
/*  permission java.io.FilePermission "D:/Testing/writetest.txt", "read, write";  IE7 works*/ /*
  permission java.io.FilePermission "D:/Testing/*", "read, write";   // IE7 fails
};
*/
    AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction() {
        public Object run() {
            System.out.println("Starting PrivilegedAction");
         	try {
           	  dos = new DataOutputStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(myFile),128));
         	  dos.writeBytes("Cats can hypnotize you when you least expect it\n" + new Date() + "\n");
         	  dos.flush();
              dos.close();
         	  message = "Successfully wrote to the file named " + myFile 
                                  + " -- go take a look at it!";
         	}
         	catch (SecurityException e) {
         	  message = "writeFile: ex: " + e;
              e.printStackTrace();
            }
         	catch (IOException ioe) {
         		message = "writeFile: caught i/o exception " + ioe;
              ioe.printStackTrace();
            }
            repaint();              // go show message
            return null;
        }
    });
  } // end init()
 
 public void paint(Graphics g) {
   g.drawString(message, 10, 10); // show the message
/*
	try {
  	  dos = new DataOutputStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(myFile),128));
	  dos.writeBytes("Cats can hypnotize you when you least expect it\n" + new Date() + "\n");
	  dos.flush();
	  g.drawString("Successfully wrote to the file named " + myFile + " -- go take a look at it!", 10, 10);
	}
	catch (SecurityException e) {
	  g.drawString("writeFile: ex: " + e, 10, 10);
   }
	catch (IOException ioe) {
		g.drawString("writeFile: caught i/o exception", 10, 10);
   }
*/
 }
}

It's executed from an HTML file located at:
D:\JavaDevelopment\Testing\WriteFile\WriteFileFmCl ass.html

Alternative you could sign the applet
OTN Discussion Forums : How to sign an applet (and get it to ...

The process might seem intensive, but once the certificate is created you can reuse it (I use an ant build script to automate the build process and sign the resulting jar)