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Microsoft's Application Foundation Classes (AFC) are a comprehensive set of Java class libraries that provide user interface controls, graphics and effects classes, and the ability to create and extract cabinet (CAB) files. The release of AFC's JDK 1.0.2-compatible redistributable component gives developers a means to create and distribute AFC applets for a variety of popular JDK 1.0.2-compatible platforms. AFC's UI controls give Java developers a rich set of UI elements from which they can quickly build flexible, modern, and powerful user interfaces for their applications, enhanced by the innovative graphics techniques exposed for the first time by the com.ms.fx graphics and effects classes. Developers can, through the com.ms.util.cab APIs, utilize Microsoft's CAB packaging and compression technology on any virtual machine. Written in Java, AFC ensures that applications built using these classes run on the most popular platforms that support Java, insofar as it has been possible to achieve full compatibility. The AFC UI controls are defaulted to the Microsoft Windows UI, and are also are fully customizable to reflect the needs of application and applet designers. AFC supports Microsoft's Active Accessibility for Java, so any application developed using AFC is automatically accessibility-enabled (where Active Accessibility for Java services exist). AFC comprises:
The redistributable version of AFC provided here is fully JDK 1.0.2-compatible, and has been tested on popular JDK 1.0.2-compatible browsers on Win32 and other platforms. This redistributable component should be used for applets requiring distribution on Internet Explorer 3.0.2 and other popular non-JDK 1.1-compliant platforms. A license agreement provided with JDK 1.0.2-compatible AFC gives full licensing and redistribution details, and differences between the JDK 1.0.2 and 1.1-compatible versions of AFC affecting developers are described in accompanying documentation. Watch http://www.microsoft.com/java/afc for the latest information.
JDK 1.0.2-compatible AFC will also function on Navigator 3.0.4 and 4.0.3 on Solaris platforms. Severe painting and performance problems are exhibited when running JDK 1.0.2-compatible AFC on both Internet Explorer 3.0.2 and Netscape Navigator 3.0.4 and 4.0.3 for the Apple Macintosh as a result of difficulties intrinsic to the Macintosh VM. Microsoft is therefore not licensing JDK 1.0.2-compatible AFC for use on the Apple Macintosh at this time. The JDK 1.1-compatible version of AFC will be available with Internet Explorer 4.0 when Internet Explorer 4.0 is released for Apple Macintosh and Solaris platforms. Please note: Developers may notice variations in the quality of the JDK 1.0.2-compatible AFC implementation when running across VMs and browsers, resulting from compatibility issues and differences in VM implementations
Please note: As AwtUI and UIAwt objects are intended only to provide a bridge between AWT and AFC, use of AwtUI and UIAwt should be confined to situations where a bridge is necessary and beyond this should be limited to prevent performance degradation and to permit the full benefits of AFC to be realized. AFC's API documentation and articles on
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