5.4.1.5 Other coding considerations

When coding for the plug-in, also consider the following points:

• If you plan to have your application run inside the user's browser window, it cannot display the main window menu bar to which you may be accustomed. (This is a Microsoft child window restriction.) In this case, you will need to program your application's menu functions to be accessed from a toolbar or a pop-up menu that is activated with the right mouse button. You can avoid this restriction by having your application run in its own separate window. See section 5.5.1 Using the EMBED Tag for details on creating a separate window for your application.

• When running in QUIT-MODE, your program may not accept or display anything after an ACCEPT terminates with the QUIT-MODE exception. If your program attempts to accept or display anything, the runtime terminates immediately as if the program has executed a stop run.

• If you use "ACCEPT dest-item FROM COMMAND-LINE", dest-item must contain the full list of parameters from the HTML EMBED tag.

• When you make changes or enhancements to your code, we recommend that you save your object file under a new name (e.g., "myprog.acu", "myprog1.acu", and "myprog2.acu".) This way, even if your users have previously downloaded your plug-in application, they will automatically download the newer version the next time they access your Web site.

• When required, consider how your application will access local resources without affecting end user security. Refer to section 5.9 Security and the Plug-in for security issues that affect coding.

• Applications designed for the plug-in should accommodate situations where a runtime license file cannot be found or the maximum number of allowable connections has been exceeded. In some cases, they should provide messages that explain why program functions may be restricted. In other cases, they should prompt users to try to access the server again later. See section 5.8 Licensing Considerations for more information.

• To prevent file I/O restrictions, you may want to design your program in such a way that one of the first activities it performs is to open a file with AcuServer. This enables the program to "check out" or secure a runtime license for the plug-in, thereby ensuring that end users have full access to runtime functions.