Getting Started with Lotus BeanMachine

Publishing your applet


Let's talk publishing. When you are done developing your applets, you'll need to publish them to make them available for use on a web server. In other words, you need to collect in one place all the media files and Java code used by your applet. For example, the 3 Lost Souls applet you just created makes use of a number of media files. Both image files, the animation frames, and the audio file need to be placed on the server along with the Java (.class) file that BeanMachine created for you. Fortunately, BeanMachine makes this a lot easier on you than it sounds.

Simply click the Publish button on the main toolbar to start the Publish Wizard. With the Publish Wizard, you can place your applet anywhere on your local file system or at any remote location. For now, let's publish to your local file system. The Location field is filled in already for you with the folder name Publish. This is where all the files that are needed for the applet to run will be placed. Of course, you can change this folder to be any folder you want.

When you click the Publish button on the Publish Wizard, BeanMachine identifies and locates all the media files used in your applet and copies them to the specified location. When you are ready to set up your web server, simply copy all these files as is from the Publish folder to a folder on the server. Keep in mind that in order for your applet to run properly, all the media files must be in the same folder as the Java (.class) file on the server. Don't worry, your applet will download only the files it needs to run.

The Publish Wizard can do much more for you than what is mentioned here. To learn more about it, check out The Ins and Outs of Publishing in the BeanMachine Reference Guide.

The Reference Guide is also your source for more detailed information about BeanMachine, including a technical overview of all available parts, instructions on how to import your own parts, and even a section on writing Java code.

So now that you've got the know-how, get out there and add life to your site. Experiment. Have fun. BeanMachine gives you the flexibility and the means to take full advantage of Java without writing code. Just imagine what you'll do!