detecting java

Anon

hi, i need to do a database with the visitor's information.. if cookies, javascript, flash and java are abilited.. get browser information, screen resolution..... thousands of stuff.
someone knows how to see if java is enabled or disabled, or if the remote browser has suport for java?
i knows nothing about java.. but server side is php3, apache, linux, and postgresql/mysql.

thanks all.

Anon

I was looking for this also. Here is what I found so far -- go to the following link:
http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/java-enabled-redirect.html

This routine uses JavaScript's 'Navigator.javaEnabled()' which I read in JavaScript by the publisher 'O'Reilly' to work for both Netscape and Internet Explorer. The availability requirement only mentioned client-side JavaScript 1.1. It did not mention browser version required. Just by reading the info in that reference, it seems like Navigator.javaEnabled() was available in browser version 3.0! It also said that the it returns 'true' if Java is supported AND enabled on the current browser and 'false' otherwise.

Did you find another way to determine this? Can it be done using a server-side scripting language like Perl or PHP?

Thanks.

Anon

Navigator.javaEnabled() is not sufficient. It is possible for the person to have Java enabled, but it to be nonfunctional. Examples of that are Mozilla before it downloads the plugin, and I believe IE will do the same before the user downloads the Virtual Machine. If the user hits cancel, s/he gets nothing. If Java is installed but screwed up, it\'s likely the user won\'t get prompted, but nothing will show up.

Also remember that Java is kinda fat and takes a while to load compared to html .. and there often is no progress indicator.

Hence it would be wise to at least provide the user with a link back...