JDK-6267809 : Java applet on page causes browser to hang until Java is loaded
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Component: deploy
  • Sub-Component: plugin
  • Affected Version: 6
  • Priority: P4
  • Status: Closed
  • Resolution: Not an Issue
  • OS: windows_xp
  • CPU: x86
  • Submitted: 2005-05-10
  • Updated: 2013-11-01
  • Resolved: 2005-06-09
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JDK 6
6Resolved
Description
FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
Mustang b33

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Windows XP SP2

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
This has happened in every browser, with every Java release that I can remember since probably 1.1 or 1.2 (it probably happened before that but I don't remember). It happens in Mustang b33 on IE and Firefox on Windows XP, I can confirm right now. However, I believe it occurs on Linux and with other browsers.

It's simple, and we've probably all encountered it. For me, it just happened when I opened a few tabs in Firefox, and all of a sudden the browser froze and I thought my computer was going to crash. It turned out one of the pages had a Java applet on it, and that freeze was so that Java could load.

This is not a startup time issue, this is an issue with locking up the entire browser while loading. It's also an image issue; many people hate Java applets, and this probably has a lot to do with it.

There may be a duplicate of this bug in the database, but I was surprised that I could not find one.


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.
###@###.### 2005-05-10 08:25:00 GMT

Comments
EVALUATION This is a chicken and egg problem. The browser loads the applets only when it has to, but when it happens, the browser must wait for the VM to start before proceeding to do something else. Because the JavaScript in the HTML page may access the applet based on various HTML events, the browser has no choice but block itself if an applet is loaded. Obviously, we could reduce the impact of the problem by reducing the VM startup time, but the startup time will never go down to zero, so the hang will always happen in certain degree. This is not a defect, although we should continue to improve VM startup time. ###@###.### 2005-06-09 09:21:36 GMT
09-06-2005