Source Code:
.java source files
VAJava Interchange file

This is a test page for my Anagram Search applet. This applet (when run in a local applet viewer) accepts a string of letters and sends them to the anagram server CGI at wordsmith.org. It provides the same functionality that the WordSmith page provides, but adds the ability to filter the results on a given number of words. As an example, try the word "Enthusiasm," which returns over a thousand results, but only one result that is a single word.

I have lots of questions about this applet, and I've posted many of them below, with an invitation message in ibmpub.java.vajava. If you can answer or guess at the answer to any of these questions, please write me at jdashton@AshtonFam.org, or, to share the wealth, post answers in the newsgroup. Thanks!

Questions:

  1. What could/should I do differently with the UI? (layout or functionality)
  2. What layouts and panels would you have used to implement this UI?
  3. Why are the colors goofy in NC4?
  4. Why, in VAJava p2, can I not set a component back to <Default> color?
  5. Why do the radio buttons in IE4 look like check boxes?
  6. Why are the stoplight and golight GIFs visible in IE4, but not in NC4?
  7. Why do the GIFs look so bad in IE4 when they look great in VAJava?
  8. I'm considering the switch to Activator. If I do so, and a person uses Activator to view this applet, does that force them to use Activator for all applets? or just those that are Activated? and what does it do on platforms that have not been activated, like OS/2 or Mac?
  9. Why is the VAJava implementation of GridBag so different from the "real" implementation?
  10. What is the proper way to "weight" a GridBag layout? (The only solution I found to work was to give all components a weight of 0.0, except for the instruction label at the bottom, which spans all columns and has a weight of 1.0)
  11. How do I solve the security problem for NC4 (UniversalConnect privilege)?
  12. How do I solve the security problem for IE4?
  13. What security problems would arise with Activator?
  14. Is the rollover help useful? would you change the wording?
  15. In my custom code, is my coding style OK? readable? "industry standard?"

Thank you!!