OS X Applet Launcher Chokes on Applet Parameters

(Apple Bug reports #2670868, 2670873, 2670874, 2670878)

     The applet above should display "Hello, OS X".  The applet does not appear at all in the OS X Applet Launcher when the applet is launched with the following HTML code:

<APPLET code="OSXParam.class" WIDTH=600 HEIGHT=200>

<PARAM NAME="query" VALUE="">

</APPLET>

Instead, error messages are generated in the Console.  When the PARAM line is removed, everything is fine using the same class file, as illustrated by clicking this link to the page without the parameter line.  
    In contrast, both pages display the applet when run from Internet Explorer 5.1 Preview for OS X.  However in IE 5.1 there are three other issues:

  1. When the user scrolls the page up and down a large blank box obliterates part of the page.  It seems this box represents  the initial un-scrolled location of the applet.
  2. When the user clicks back and forth between this page and the link to the page without the parameter line, the browser hangs with a rotating rainbow cursor.
  3. The applet disappears when the user clicks anywhere other than the browser.

    Everything works fine in Internet Explorer 5.0 for Macintosh OS 9 and Applet Runner for OS 9.  All problems are fixed in OS 10.1 with MRJ 3.1.

    If you have any insights, workarounds or comments about this test page please contact Mickey Segal.  A listing of  many Macintosh Java bugs with demonstration applets is at this link, including information on how to add any necessary Java plugins.

    The source code is shown below and can be downloaded from this link:

import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class OSXParam extends Applet {

public void init() 
{
    setBackground(Color.white);
}

public void paint(Graphics g)
{
    g.drawString("Hello, OS X", 100 , 25);
}
} // END OF Class OSXParam