| Java menu knowledge base
Escape pages
What is an escape page?
Escape pages are a special IMINT.COM feature.
Our applets contain
a safety system to ensure that your website continues to function
properly whatever happens to the java interpreter in your site visitor's
browser. The applets have an error detection system that detects
if anything serious goes wrong.
Implementing an escape page has a number of effects:
- It switches the applet from "development" to "release" mode. In
development mode, the applet is very sensitive to errors and reports
these to you using an error code system. In release mode, the applet
is very robust, and tries to compensate for errors, or redirect the
browser if it can't compensate.
- Error compensation: if the applet detects a non-fatal error (such as
a temporary failure by the network to deliver an expected image) it
will try to compensate for this (e.g. by creating a replacement image
internally). In such situations, the applet responds robustly to
errors that would cripple competitor products. Your website navigation
keeps functioning.
- Fatal errors: if the applet detects a fatal error, such as a browser
with a defective java interpreter or a network failure to deliver
the index content, it will redirect to the non-java menu page you
specify as the value of the escapepage parameter.
Is an escape page really necessary?
Yes.
Mainly because during development you need fine-grained
error reporting to save you time. But you don't want this
after you release the website to the public.
The escape page is also there
for the unexpected and theoretically impossible (e.g. browsers which
think they can do java but can't really). Remember that as the applet
always runs on your site visitor's computer, not on your server, you should
expect the unexpected and offer an emergency exit for worst case scenarios.
So does the escape page activate if the user has deactivated java?
No.
The escape page is activated by java itself, so if there is no java
available on a specific computer, no escape page. For detecting deactivated
java, you will need the javascript given elsewhere in this online
advice centre.
How do I put in an escape page?
This is what the escape page parameter looks like:
<param name=escapepage value="lifeboat.htm">
You put it with the other parameters. And don't forget to
write the HTML file you redirect to. Some people have mistakenly
thought that the applet writes it.
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