3.4 Client Browser Support

Users can view Oracle Forms applications on the Web using Oracle JInitiator plug-in (using Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer). In future patch releases other virtual machines will be supported.

For more information about client browser support, including the latest supported platforms, go to the Forms Developer menu and choose Help | Forms on OTN...

3.4.1 Oracle JInitiator

Oracle JInitiator runs within a Web browser and is based on Sun's JDK/JRE 1.3. It provides the ability to specify a specific Java Virtual Machine (JVM) on the client rather than using the browser's (native) default JVM. Oracle JInitiator does not replace or modify the default JVM provided by the browser. Rather, it provides an alternative JVM in the form of a plug-in for Netscape Navigator and as an ActiveX component for Internet Explorer.

Oracle provides two JAR files (frmall.jar and frmall_jinit.jar) that group and zip classes together for efficient delivery across the network to the client. frmall_jinit.jar is an extra-compressed JAR file that can be used only with Oracle JInitiator to provide increased performance at download time. Once on the client, the files are cached for future use.

For more information about Oracle JInitiator, see Appendix B, "JInitiator".

3.4.2 How Configuration Parameters and BaseHTML Files are Tied to Client Browsers

When an user starts a Web-enabled application (by clicking a link to the application's URL), the Forms Servlet:

Detects which browser is being used;
Reads the formsweb.cfg file to determine the Internet Explorer parameter setting if the user is using Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher;

Selects the appropriate baseHTML file using Table 3-5:

Table 3-5 Web Browsers and the Appropriate baseHTML Files for Each

Browser detected	IE parameter setting	Base HTML file used
Internet Explorer 5.x or 6*	jinitiator	basejini.htm
Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer version preceding version 5	not applicable	basejini.htm
All other browsers	not applicable	base.htm

* Internet Explorer 6 that has been upgraded from 5.5 only (IE 6 is not certified in the base release)

Replaces variables (%variablename%) in the baseHTML file with the appropriate parameter values specified in the Forms Servlet.initArgs file, formsweb.cfg file, and from query parameters in the URL request (if any).
Sends the HTML file to the user's browser.