Internet Foundation Classes

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>On April 2, 1997, <a href="/facts/Sun_Microsystems/VJ9EzEFd">Sun Microsystems</a> and <a href="/facts/Netscape_Communications_Corporation/JGWlEUI7">Netscape</a> announced their intention to combine IFC with other technologies to form the <a href="/facts/Java_Foundation_Classes/9goA7QcR">Java Foundation Classes</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
</p><p>Ultimately, Sun merged the IFC with other technologies under the name "Swing", adding the capability for a pluggable <a href="/facts/Look_and_feel/Uo3RcETT">look and feel</a> of the widgets.
</p><p>Because its technology has been merged to constitute <a href="/facts/Swing_(Java)/xFbyDcjS">Swing</a> and <a href="/facts/Java_2D/1s75U1Fe">Java 2D</a>, IFC is now no longer maintained.
</p>
<h2 id="differences-from-swing">Differences from Swing</h2>
<p><a href="/facts/Swing_(Java)/xFbyDcjS">Swing</a> drew a lot of features from IFC:
</p>
<ul><li>contrary to <a href="/facts/Abstract_Window_Toolkit/QWTMvGHk">AWT</a>, IFC were written in pure <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a>, thus being (at the time) browser-independent.</li>
<li>IFC already provided two <a href="/facts/Layout_manager/QhYTMtcU">Layout managers</a>, that would be later included in the standard <a href="/facts/JDK/qL5cDos6">JDK</a></li>
<li>some IFC components were able to read <a href="/facts/HTML/sSc3fT78">HTML</a> content from <a href="/facts/Uniform_Resource_Locator/pPD5g7Wq">URLs</a>, but the implementation was still far from reliable.</li></ul>
<p>However, Swing also improved IFC in a lot of ways:
</p>
<ul><li>IFC did not have a <a href="/facts/Model-view-controller/vRbMXjMm">Model-View</a> architecture</li>
<li>contrary to Swing, the <a href="/facts/Look_and_feel/Uo3RcETT">Look and feel</a> of IFC components was written in the components themselves, making it impossible to change it easily.</li>
<li>IFC components were not <a href="/facts/JavaBean/C0HvUnQ5">JavaBeans</a>. IFC had a specific persistence mechanism,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> but it was a bit complex, and not compatible with the Java <a href="/facts/Serialization/T00auFvv">Serialization</a> API.</li>
<li>event mechanism was still raw,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> and the <a href="/facts/Event_loop/NNcN8Auy">Event loop</a> sometimes needed to be accessed directly.</li></ul>
<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>
<h3>Hello World</h3>
<p>This is the classic <i><a href="/facts/Hello_world_program/vLn0jLlL">Hello world program</a></i> in IFC:
</p>
import netscape.application.*;
import netscape.util.*;

public class HelloWorld extends Application {

public void init() {
       super.init();
       // Create a text field
       TextField textField = new TextField(100, 24, 128, 24);
       // Set the string to be displayed in the text field.
       textField.setStringValue("Hello World");
       // Add the text field to the view hierarchy.
       mainRootView().addSubview(textField);
   }

// This method allows HelloWorld to run as a stand alone application.
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        HelloWorld app = new HelloWorld ();
        ExternalWindow mainWindow = new ExternalWindow();

app.setMainRootView(mainWindow.rootView());
        Size size = mainWindow.windowSizeForContentSize(320, 200);
        mainWindow.sizeTo(size.width, size.height);
        mainWindow.show();

app.run();
    }
}

<p>To be compared with the equivalent <a href="/facts/Swing_(Java)/xFbyDcjS">Java Swing</a> code:
</p>
import javax.swing.*;

public class HelloWorld extends JFrame {
    public HelloWorld() {
       setDefaultCloseOperation(DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
       add(new JLabel("Hello, World!"));
    }

public static void main(String[] args) {
        HelloWorld app = new HelloWorld();
        app.pack();
        app.setVisible(true);
    }
}

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.phdcc.com/javaart2.html">IFC presentation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wp.netscape.com/eng/ifc/download.html">IFC runtime download</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060519194800/http://wp.netscape.com/eng/ifc/download.html">Archived</a> 2006-05-19 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/">IFC programming guide</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061125115942/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/">Archived</a> 2006-11-25 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/Reference.IFC1.1/tree.html">IFC class hierarchy</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061125150802/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/Reference.IFC1.1/tree.html">Archived</a> 2006-11-25 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/cookbook/">IFC tutorial</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061125134457/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/cookbook/">Archived</a> 2006-11-25 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul>
<p>The last places, where to download the IFC:
</p>
<ul><li><a href="ftp://ftp.uni-potsdam.de/pub/WWW/Netscape/navigator/plugins/ifc/1.0/">ftp-Server 1 Uni-Potsdam</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li>
<li><a href="ftp://ftp.uni-potsdam.de/pub/WWW/clients/netscape/plugins/ifc/1.0/">ftp-Server 2 Uni-Potsdam</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li>
<li><a href="ftp://ftp.uni-potsdam.de/pub/WWW/netscape/navigator/plugins/ifc/1.0/">ftp-Server 3 Uni-Potsdam</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li>
<li><a href="ftp://ftp.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/.subdisc1/local/jk.collection/">ftp-Server Uni-Bochum</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li>
<li><a href="ftp://ftp.anu.edu.au/sunsite/mnt/disk3/WWW/netscape/navigator/plugins/ifc/1.0/">ftp-Server SunSite</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li></ul>
<p>All find from
</p>
<ul><li><a href="https://archive.today/20121209025852/http://www.filesearching.com/cgi-bin/s?q=nsifc10">FileSearching.com</a></li></ul>
<p>The web-archive where is the last place to find really all files:
</p>
<ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20001021124345/http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/ifc/downloads/downloads.html">WebArchive of the IFC-side</a></li></ul>
<p>Additional you can still find IFC here:
</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://web.mit.edu/javadev/packages/ifc/">Server of the MIT - Nathans account</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/java/packages/ifc/">Server of the MIT - stuff side</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Sun and Netscape to jointly develop Java Foundation Classes". Netscape Communications Corporation. 1997-04-02. Archived from the original on 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2007-07-14. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120509230952/http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F84048&EDATE=" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120509230952/http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F84048&EDATE=</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"IFC 1.1 guide - Persistence". 2000-06-15. Archived from the original on 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2007-07-15. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061125135539/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/persist.mak.html#1004819" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20061125135539/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/persist.mak.html#1004819</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"IFC 1.1 guide - Targets and commands". 2000-06-15. Archived from the original on 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2007-07-15. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061125140237/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/targets.mak.html#100582" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20061125140237/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/targets.mak.html#100582</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Internet Foundation Classes open-in-new

Internet Foundation Classes