Structure of an applet

Here is a skeleton for an applet. You could look at the sample application that is provided for this chapter for a better idea of what a real program looks like.

• package packageName;
• import java.applet.*;
• import java.awt.*;
• public class AppletClass
• extends Applet
• {
  • public void init()
  • {
  • // initialization code goes here
  • }
  • public void start()
  • {
  • // start code goes here
  • }
  • public void stop()
  • {
  • // stop code goes here
  • }
  • public void destroy()
  • {
  • // destroy code goes here
  • }
• }

As you can see, the code looks very similar to an application. Essentially we start with a package, which is the same as an application's package. Import statements are used to import java classes (more on this later). You will then notice that the class uses an extends clause to extend the applet class. Finally, the bulk of the class consists of four key methods.