Re: Web Application : ActiveX vs Java

Xiangkui Chen <xkchen@pubms.pku.edu.cn> wrote: :I think you should use Java of course. Netscape doesn't support :ActiveX yet. : :Siripa Sapsirin wrote: :> :> Hi everyone, :> :> We are going to develop web application accessing Informix database. I :> have to decide between ActiveX and Java. Is there any suggestion about :> them? We concern about performance, maintenance and openness. :> :> Thank you so much, :> Siripa Appart from the lack of support of ActiveX in Netscape it can be dangerous to you and your users. If you are developing applications for use on the Internet (not only on some internal intranet) ActiveX is an absolute no no. ActiveX on the web generally works by downloading native executable code. There are too many problems with it that simply can't be solved. Here are some: a. Security - an ActiveX control on a web page can do anything on the PC. There is no way of limiting this under Windows 95 or 98. Even on Windows NT you could hardly use the PC if you set up security such that an ActiveX control couldn't do any damage. b. DLL overload - If many web sites starts using ActiveX like Microsoft is actively promoting every surfer would eventually get his PC filled up with ActiveX controls of all kinds. There is no practical way to get rid of them short of reinstalling the OS. c. No support on anything but MS Windows - Despite MS's efforts and cooperation with Software AG and others there is no practical way of supporting ActiveX on anything but MS Windows and Intel based machines. You may be able to compile your special ActiveX control for some other operating systems and/or hardware, but as a general rule most ActiveX controls will not be awailable on anything but Wintel. You will spesifically close yourself out of the new NCs wich may become an interesting option, particularly for database type applications. There are several other issues with ActiveX as well. The conclusion is that Microsoft shouldn't have promoted it at all for general use on the web. To do so is a significant disservice to all but possibly Microsoft themselves. It's of course an entirely different issue if your applications are for internal (intranet) use only! Although there are some problems with Java as well, non of them are of the type you have with ActiveX. The Java problems can and will be solved. In the meantime it is possible to create Java applets that run reasonably well on many platforms via carefull coding. This have been done by many organizations by now. If you need client side programs Java is the clear and only choice. Of course there are many other options if you can make do with (mostly) server side programming. Nils.Myklebust@idg.no NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org