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There are several factors to consider when choosing whether to implement either
the applet or servlet version of the graph. The table below highlights some of the most important points to be taken into account.
| Implementation Type |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
| Servlet |
- Graph can be inserted in dynamic HTML with the IMG tag.
- Offers better performance for clients with slower CPUs.
- Usually less load time on the browser than applets.
- Provides ability for direct database access
|
- Requires a Servlet Engine to be running on the web server.
|
| Applet |
- Easy to install and modify.
- Processing occurs at the client which offloads the processing
of images from the server.
- Interactive Graph functionality (eg. display pop-up values
on mouse over, execute url & JavaScript on mouse click.)
- Does not require any custom modifications to the server.
- The small size of the JAR files provide quick applet load times
(only 15kb).
|
- Some browsers do not print applets.
|
|
As you can see from the table above the big advantage of the Applet is the
interactive features it offers and the big advantage of the Servlet is the ability to print the graph image consistently across
all browser versions. If both these factors are important to your implementation then a combination of the two may be the answer.
For an outline of this solution please see the section "Graph Printing" or click
here.
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