Thread: Embedding an executable .JAR file in a webpage

Hi everyone,

I am desperate for some expert advise about embedding an executable .jar file on a webpage. I am not a programmer and we use Blackboard Publish to package our Blackboard sessions into a standalone executable .JAR file which gives the user the full Blackboard experience. We want to embed this file on our webpage, so I did some research and I understand I have to use a Japplet (?). I have tried putting the basic (J)applet code I found on the web (modified of course) onto the webpage (see code below) but I get a 'ClassNotFoundException' error. I'm not really surprised, but I don't have the ability to define the files that are in the .JAR created by Blackboard Publish. Can someone tell me how I would go about embedding this file? I can look at the files within the .jar with Winzip but there seem to be loads of .class files and I am unclear which one my webpage is trying to find!


<APPLET CODEBASE="/Blackboard/" ARCHIVE="test.jar" CODE=test.class WIDTH=140 HEIGHT=45>
<(J)APPLET>

If it can't be done, then can someone put me out of my misery by letting me know why? All help truly appreciated!!

Since my last post I have tried a different .JAR file and what I think is the same code (see below). I no longer get an error but when I look at the page I just see a little java loading picture and a progress bar (see attached). This progresses to the end and then disappears! very frustrating because I feel I must be almost there! Any help?

<APPLET CODEBASE="../Blackboard/" ARCHIVE="Test.jar" CODE=Test.class WIDTH=140 HEIGHT=45>
<(J)APPLET>
webpagejar.jpg

Originally Posted by Norm

Simplify the test by putting the jar file in the same folder with the html file and remove the codebase attribute.

Copy the contents of the browser's java console and paste it here.

Our site is hosted so should I just put the .jar in the root? In the meantime here is the java console data:

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Test.class
at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.findClass(Un known Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadClass0(U nknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadClass(Un known Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadClass(Un known Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadCode(Unk nown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager.initAppletAdapte r(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionR unnable.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Hi. The exception states that the Java plugin installed in your machine is unable to find a Java class file called Test. This file, Test.class, should be located in your Test.jar file. Open up the jar file with Winzip again and see if you can locate this file. If you can, you also need to take note of the directories in which this file is located. E.g., if it is located in the jar file like this: \com\blackboard\Test.class, then you'll need to modify your HTML code so that it contains

... code="com.blackboard.Test.class" ...

You may be right, Norm, but the web is littered with examples (including HTML applet tag) where .class is included. I haven't had the chance to try it out, but perhaps it works either way... Definitely worth trying without .class though.

Thanks both for your efforts to help me! I have tried simply removing the .class from the html but it didn't work. I have looked inside the .JAR and have not found a test.class. There must be well over 40 .class files in there with various paths!! How do I know which one to specify? I'm sure if I can name the correct one it will work (both with the .class in the html and without). Any ideas? I have included a screen shot of the first few .class files listed for your information so you can get an idea of what I mean. img2.jpg

Thanks for you patience...

I agree with Norm. A few fundamental questions, if i may:
1. Where did you get the jar file?
2. Does the jar file actually contain code for a Java applet? (I.e., you can't embed just any Java application into a web page. It has to be a Java applet.)

There is a relatively simple way to find out which one of the Java class files extends the JApplet (or Applet for old-school applets) class. The JDK (assuming you have this installed, otherwise install it) comes with a Java Class File Disassembler. See javap - The Java Class File Disassembler. This tool is located in the JDK's bin folder. To run it via command line, you do something like javap C:\<path_to_class_files>\*.class. (Note: I use a Linux desktop, so I can't directly test the command with a Windows path, but it certainly does work on Linux.) This assumes you have already unzipped the jar file.

Originally Posted by jashburn

I agree with Norm. A few fundamental questions, if i may:
1. Where did you get the jar file?
2. Does the jar file actually contain code for a Java applet? (I.e., you can't embed just any Java application into a web page. It has to be a Java applet.)

There is a relatively simple way to find out which one of the Java class files extends the JApplet (or Applet for old-school applets) class. The JDK (assuming you have this installed, otherwise install it) comes with a Java Class File Disassembler. See javap - The Java Class File Disassembler. This tool is located in the JDK's bin folder. To run it via command line, you do something like javap C:\<path_to_class_files>\*.class. (Note: I use a Linux desktop, so I can't directly test the command with a Windows path, but it certainly does work on Linux.) This assumes you have already unzipped the jar file.

We create the .JAR using Blackboard Publish (our .jar file contains is a recording of an online training session which includes the blackboard control window and not just sound and slides in order to give the viewer the entire experience of the live session). Blackboard have proven rubbish in answering our questions and just say they are unable to help us. THEREFORE I have no idea if the jar file contains code for an applet! We are simply trying to embed this jar file on our webpage and have it stream. Not as easy as it sounds...

Going slightly off-topic but... is this what you're referring to by "Blackboard Publish": Blackboard Collaborate | Download Blackboard Collaborate Publish ? If so, it appears that you can convert the recorded session into a movie file format. But since you mentioned having a jar file, did you generate an "unplugged recording"?

Originally Posted by jashburn

Going slightly off-topic but... is this what you're referring to by "Blackboard Publish": Blackboard Collaborate | Download Blackboard Collaborate Publish ? If so, it appears that you can convert the recorded session into a movie file format. But since you mentioned having a jar file, did you generate an "unplugged recording"?

Yes, thats the one and it is an 'unplugged recording'. The reason we didn't want to convert to a movie is that this only gives the audio and presentations slides and any interaction within Blackboard is not shown.

Thanks all for attempting to help me!

The installation and user's guide is available via the link at the bottom of the page. Content that can be included in video files is described on page 7 in the guide. On top of that, based on the instructions to launch unplugged recordings using Ubuntu described on page 41, it would appear that the generated jar file is not a Java applet. Instead, the instructions suggest that it's meant to be downloaded into the user's desk/laptop, and executed from there (for Windows, double-clicking on it after downloading should work if Java has already been installed in the machine.)

In short, it seems that Blackboard Publish does not provide anything to embed and stream videos into a web page as you would with YouTube. It allows the generation of video files, or a standalone executable jar to be downloaded. This is probably why Blackboard said they can't help you with this...