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The '''Internet Foundation Classes''' (IFC) is a [[GUI]] [[widget toolkit]] and [[graphics library]] for Java originally developed by [[Netcode Corporation]] and first released by [[Netscape Corporation]] on December 16, 1996.

The Java IFC was fairly close to the early versions of the [[Objective-C]] [[NeXTStep]] classes for NeXT. A builder tool was also included under the IFC umbrella that was close in spirit (but significantly limited in functionality) to NeXT's [[Interface Builder]]. This ecosystem was attractive to NeXT application developers interested in looking at the Java language.

==History==
On April 2, 1997, [[Sun Microsystems]] and [[Netscape Communications Corporation|Netscape]] announced their intention to combine IFC with other technologies to form the [[Java Foundation Classes]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/84048&EDATE=
|title=Sun and Netscape to jointly develop Java Foundation Classes
|publisher=[[Netscape Communications Corporation]]
|date=1997-04-02
|accessdate=2007-07-14
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509230952/http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F84048&EDATE=
|archivedate=2012-05-09
}}</ref>

Ultimately, Sun merged the IFC with other technologies under the name "Swing", adding the capability for a pluggable [[look and feel]] of the widgets.

Because its technology has been merged to constitute [[Swing (Java)|Swing]] and [[Java 2D]], IFC is now no longer maintained.

==Differences from Swing==
[[Swing (Java)|Swing]] drew a lot of features from IFC:
* contrary to [[Abstract Window Toolkit|AWT]], IFC were written in pure [[Java (programming language)|Java]], thus being (at the time) browser-independent.
* IFC already provided two [[Layout manager]]s, that would be later included in the standard [[JDK]]
* some IFC components were able to read [[HTML]] content from [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]]s, but the implementation was still far from reliable.

However, Swing also improved IFC in a lot of ways:
* IFC did not have a [[Model-view-controller|Model-View]] architecture
* contrary to Swing, the [[Look and feel]] of IFC components was written in the components themselves, making it impossible to change it easily.
* IFC components were not [[JavaBean]]s. IFC had a specific persistence mechanism,<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/persist.mak.html#1004819
| title=IFC 1.1 guide - Persistence
| date=2000-06-15
| accessdate=2007-07-15
| archive-date=2006-11-25
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125135539/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/persist.mak.html#1004819
| url-status=dead
}}</ref> but it was a bit complex, and not compatible with the Java [[Serialization]] API.
* event mechanism was still raw,<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/targets.mak.html#100582
| title=IFC 1.1 guide - Targets and commands
| date=2000-06-15
| accessdate=2007-07-15
| archive-date=2006-11-25
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125140237/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/targets.mak.html#100582
| url-status=dead
}}</ref> and the [[Event loop]] sometimes needed to be accessed directly.

==Examples==

===Hello World===
This is the classic ''[[Hello world program]]'' in IFC:
<syntaxhighlight lang="java">
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();
}
}
</syntaxhighlight>

To be compared with the equivalent [[Swing (Java)|Java Swing]] code:
<syntaxhighlight lang="java">
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);
}
}
</syntaxhighlight>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.phdcc.com/javaart2.html IFC presentation]
*[http://wp.netscape.com/eng/ifc/download.html IFC runtime download] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519194800/http://wp.netscape.com/eng/ifc/download.html |date=2006-05-19 }}
*[http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/ IFC programming guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125115942/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/guide.IFC1.1/ |date=2006-11-25 }}
*[http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/Reference.IFC1.1/tree.html IFC class hierarchy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125150802/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/Reference.IFC1.1/tree.html |date=2006-11-25 }}
*[http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/cookbook/ IFC tutorial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125134457/http://infodoc.unicaen.fr/docs/Java/cookbook/ |date=2006-11-25 }}

The last places, where to download the IFC:
*[ftp://ftp.uni-potsdam.de/pub/WWW/Netscape/navigator/plugins/ifc/1.0/ ftp-Server 1 Uni-Potsdam]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
*[ftp://ftp.uni-potsdam.de/pub/WWW/clients/netscape/plugins/ifc/1.0/ ftp-Server 2 Uni-Potsdam]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
*[ftp://ftp.uni-potsdam.de/pub/WWW/netscape/navigator/plugins/ifc/1.0/ ftp-Server 3 Uni-Potsdam]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
*[ftp://ftp.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/.subdisc1/local/jk.collection/ ftp-Server Uni-Bochum]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
*[ftp://ftp.anu.edu.au/sunsite/mnt/disk3/WWW/netscape/navigator/plugins/ifc/1.0/ ftp-Server SunSite]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
All find from
*[https://archive.today/20121209025852/http://www.filesearching.com/cgi-bin/s?q=nsifc10 FileSearching.com]

The web-archive where is the last place to find really '''all''' files:
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20001021124345/http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/ifc/downloads/downloads.html WebArchive of the IFC-side]

Additional you can still find IFC here:
*[http://web.mit.edu/javadev/packages/ifc/ Server of the MIT - Nathans account]
*[http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/java/packages/ifc/ Server of the MIT - stuff side]

[[Category:Java (programming language)]]
[[Category:Java (programming language) libraries]]
[[Category:Java APIs]]
[[Category:Widget toolkits]]

Internet Foundation Classes - Revision history

imported>GreenC bot: Reformat 5 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#citeftp