Java Banner Rotator??

[webmasterlane.com]

Greetings:

I am taking a Java course right now and I thought what better way to learn than to build a Java banner rotator. I was wondering what are the disadvantages and/or advantages of using java to build a banner rotator.

Currently I only know how to build java applets...I will be learning applications next semester.

Can anybody tell me if it is worth me spending my time building one...if it is good I can even use it for my site.

Thanks!

[westmich]

Not sure what advantages, if any, there are in using Java to rotate banners.

You could use JavaScript to rotate banner images on a page or to load a particular banner on a schedule or even to randomly load a banner from a group of banners.

Or you could go one step further and use a server-side language like ASP, Cold Fusion, or PHP for banners. The advantage to this is that you could tie it into a database and keep track of how many times each banner is displayed and clicked on.

[webmasterlane.com]

Well the reason I was wishing to use Java was because I know java and am learning it. I don't know asp, php, cold fusion etc. although they do look interesting.

It would just be a basic Java rotator, but it would work perfect with my site as my site is cgi generated and cannot use ssi and not everybody has javascript enabled.

[BC]

A caveat here : not everyone has Java enabled either. Some poorly-coded Java applets are known to consistently crash browsers.

[webmasterlane.com]

Does someone know the percentage that are able to utilize Java? I know about 90 - 95% have javascript enabled. Does anyone know the percentage that have java.

I did a quick search and there are a fair amount of Java rotators some faily expensive..Many of the free ones provide their source code...I will take a look at them.

[westmich]

Originally posted by webmasterlane.com
Well the reason I was wishing to use Java was because I know java and am learning it. I don't know asp, php, cold fusion etc. although they do look interesting.

If you search through some of the other Webmaster resource sites, you will find a number of free scripts written in various languages.

[webmasterlane.com]

No I am sorry I don't think you guys understand. I WANT to create a banner rotator in Java. I need to create a final project in my class and I have chosen to create a banner rotator program.

I know there are many good scripts in various languages, but my language of choice is Java.

I just wanted to know some Advantages/Disadvantages of a Java banner rotator. Such as: speed, security, usage of resources, etc. etc.

Thanks

[lfabbric]

I just wanted to ask a question.

There is client side java script,

And then there is Java code (within HTML) Java code and Java script are totally two different things. #1, I dont think you have to worry about wether or not people have Java code enabled.

If I am not mistaken it is like an applet but a little different, it uses the JDK1.2 version (Microsoft only has 1.2 enabled) netscape 6 has 1.3. And it doesn't matter if Java script is turned on or off, it will still work I will take a quick look for a sample coding of it.

I can't find it but I will look. it is simular to php or jsp

<%
.. code goes in here ..
%>

If I am completly wrong I am sure someone will tell me.

[Son Nguyen]

Well, JSP is the best solution if you have server-side equipment (like host with JSP-enabled) it calls scriptlet
If you want to implement using applet, it doesn't look very potential or useful to me as it's slow and heavy (all client-side). Also, as someone stated before, if you use Swing, I believe JDK 1.3 support those, but not 1.2 so there will be some (or many) browsers left unsupported.

[Wilmot]

Okay, thought I would go back to the original question of the advantages and disadvantages of creating a banner rotator in JAVA.

Advantages:

• Java is a great language to learn. I have studied Java for two semesters at University, and have found it to be quite good. The main advantage of Java is the huge library of useful stuff in the API. If you havn't looked at the API, I suggest you check it out. It makes developing programs a whole lot easier and quicker.
• Even if you don't use the banner rotator, create it anyway! just for practice. I created a heap of programs when I was learning. Most of which I will never use again. Try and utilise and grasp the concepts of Object Oriented programming (such as inheritence, encapsulation, polymorphism etc.) when making your programs

Disadvantages:

• Applets can be slow to load and run, and as mentioned before, can cause errors if coded incorrectly.
• Not everyone has a browser which supports Java

These are just a couple of advantages and disadvantages, my advice would be to do it anyway. Who cares if you don't use the program again? You will definitely use the skills you aquired and bits of code you wrote in the future!