Java "server-side" (servlet/J2EE) alternatives to applets

[Miles Davenport]

I would like some advice on what Java server-side alternatives their are to
an applet which is a shopping cart application which allows the user to
drag-and-drop individual items into "an order" panel within the applet
environment on the browser client.

I am eager to port this application, as the rest of the site uses JSP,
servlets, XML, struts..... I do not have much experience of Swing, but
would like to know if there is a way of "equivuilent dragging and dropping"
applet functionality but using server-side components. I realise that HTTP
is not a stateful protocol.

"OR".....

Am I limited to using tick-boxes and using browser "submit" to act as a
trigger for moving the items to the order. I would rather not use
Javascript, or framesets because of browser inconsistencies.

I realise this is a rather general topic, but any suggestions, or online
examples would really be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Miles Davenport.

[Silvio Bierman]

"Miles Davenport" <milesd@ chocksaway. com> wrote in message
news:c3*******************@news.demon.co.uk...

I would like some advice on what Java server-side alternatives their are to an applet which is a shopping cart application which allows the user to
drag-and-drop individual items into "an order" panel within the applet
environment on the browser client.

I am eager to port this application, as the rest of the site uses JSP,
servlets, XML, struts..... I do not have much experience of Swing, but
would like to know if there is a way of "equivuilent dragging and dropping" applet functionality but using server-side components. I realise that HTTP is not a stateful protocol.

"OR".....

Am I limited to using tick-boxes and using browser "submit" to act as a
trigger for moving the items to the order. I would rather not use
Javascript, or framesets because of browser inconsistencies.

I realise this is a rather general topic, but any suggestions, or online
examples would really be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Miles Davenport.

HTTP and its being statefull has little to do with this. HTML userinterfaces
usually are statefull which is implemented through HTTP sessions. The
problem here is the d&d thing. IMHO d&d is in most cases not needed and
often impractical. If you want to be able to add product to a shopping cart
a button, popup-menu or even a double-click is probably a lot easier to use
and these would be easy to implement in a HTML ui.
Doing d&d is possible but it very tedious, especially if you need multiple
browser support.

Regards,

Silvio Bierman