Java Embedding Plugin 0.9.6 review

The Java Embedding Plugin is a utility (currently in beta release) that allows other web browsers than Apple's Safari to use the most recent versions of Java (1.

License: Freeware OS: Mac OS X File size: 0K Developer: Javaplugin Project Price: $0.00 Updated: 18 Dec 2006

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The Java Embedding Plugin is a utility (currently in beta release) that allows other web browsers than Apple's Safari to use the most recent versions of Java (1.4.X) on Mac OS X. Currently it supports recent versions of the Mozilla "family" of browsers, when used together with an updated version of Mozilla's MRJ Plugin Carbon (included in this distribution). But in principle any web browser could use one of the Java Embedding Plugin's two APIs to add support for Java 1.4.X.

The current versions of the Java Embedding Plugin and the updated MRJ Plugin Carbon have been tested with Mozilla 1.6 and 1.7.X, Firefox 0.8 and 0.9.X, and Camino 0.7 and 0.8.X on OS X 10.2.8 with Java 1.4.1 and OS X 10.3.5 with Java 1.4.2 Update 1 and Java 1.4.2 Update 2.

The current version (0.8.6) of the Java Embedding Plugin has not been tested with Java 1.4.2 "plain" or on Mac OS X 10.3.3 or 10.3.4. But previous versions of the JEP (e.g. 0.8.2) worked in these environments, and so (I believe) should version 0.8.6.

Apple's Java 1.4.2 and above have one additional requirement, unrelated to the Java Embedding Plugin -- an appropriate version of the JavaPluginCocoa.bundle must be present in the /Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder.

What's New:
Fixed a (very old) JEP bug that disabled IME input (e.g. Chinese and Japanese language input) or Unicode-based keyboard layouts (e.g. US Extended, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew) in Mozilla.org Carbon-based browsers (i.e. Firefox and SeaMonkey), if none of the windows into which you'd loaded at least one Java applet was still open. In recent trunk and 1.8 branch builds (those that obtain keystrokes from the TSM kUnicodeNotFromInputMethod event and have a fix for bug 344701), this bug can disable all keyboard input.
Fixed a bug (introduced in JEP 0.9.5+e) that caused keyboard shortcuts to sometimes be acted on twice in Mozilla.org Carbon-based browsers. For example, pressing Command+T would sometimes cause two tabs to be opened in the current browser window, and pressing Command+W would sometimes cause two tabs to be closed.
Fixed problems with several workarounds for bugs in Apple's Cocoa-Carbon interface. All of these workarounds tried to ensure that a browser window becomes active when it's supposed to. But some of them didn't always work correctly -- for example sometimes causing a browser window not to activate when you clicked on its content area (only when you clicked on its title bar).
Fixed a bug (introduced in JEP 0.9.5+e) that prevented raw keyboard events from getting to the browser in recent trunk and 1.8 branch builds of Carbon-based Mozilla.org browsers (i.e. Firefox and SeaMonkey).
Fixed a number of JEP bugs that sometimes resulted in keyboard input being temporarily disabled in Java applets when switching between windows in Carbon-based browsers.
Added special handing for the minimize button (aka the "collapse box") in Carbon-based browsers, to reduce or eliminate the following odd problem with Apple's Cocoa-Carbon interface: Sometimes when you minimize a window to the Dock, it bounces right back again.