Design and Implementation of a Java Desktop

摘要

The Java Platform has become focal point in network distributed computing. However, the Java Platform does not provide a complete desktop where network applications can be integrated into a common environment. A desktop environment is needed to present the user with a workspace similar to those found in most modern GUI shells. This paper describes the design and implementation of a Java Desktop environment based on the Java 2 Platform (JDK 1.2) that addresses this problem. The Desktop system uses an RMI-based client-server configuration. The server provides authentication and storage functions, and the client provides the user interfaces. Applets, applications, JavaBeans components and a special type of Desktop aware applications can be downloaded from anywhere in the Internet, an Intranet, or file system and started in different windows in this desktop. The state of the desktop can be stored to a repository and later retrieved.