A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
When a java applet connects to a https site using HttpsURLConnection,
and that site requires a client authentication certificate, each time that a new
Https connection is needed, the java applet pops up the dialog:
"Client Authentication", "The web site you want to connect requests identification. Select the certificate to use when connecting."

Since there is no reliable way to reuse the Https connection, if a program needs
to connect to a https site multiple times, this dialog will be presented to a user multiple times. This is annoying to a user of the applet.

How offen the dialog pops up is dependent on the size of the downloaded files. Larger files trigger the dialog more often.

JUSTIFICATION :
Having to choose the client certificate to use for the same site multiple time in a single instance of running a program is annoying. This significantly detracts from the ease of use of the program.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
The applet should ask for the client certificate once per domain per instance of the program. I can think a a few ways that this could be done:

1. Give a method to java.net.URL or some such to cache the client certificate.

2. Add a preference the Java Control Panel that allows it to automatically select a certificate.

3. Automatically cache the certificate used for a given domain for the time that java is running.

Each of these would reduce the number of times that the client program brings up the certificate select dialog. I would expect that there should be some way to see the certificate dialog only once per instance per domain.


ACTUAL -
With the test program, the client certificate dialog is brought up 10 times.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------

import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLConnection;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.Graphics;

public class Main extends Applet {

    StringBuffer buffer;

    final int count = 10;

    int i = 0;

    public void init() {
buffer = new StringBuffer();
        addItem("initializing... ");
    }

    public void start() {
        addItem("starting... ");
for(int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
getUrl();
}
    }

    public void getUrl() {
URL url;
HttpURLConnection connection;
try {
url = new URL("https://domainname.com/as");
connection = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
connection.setDoInput(true);
//connection.setUseCaches(false);
InputStream inputStream = connection.getInputStream();
byte buffer[] = new byte[64];
int len = inputStream.read(buffer);
inputStream.close();
addItem("got "+i+":"+len+" ");
i++;

} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
    }


    void addItem(String newWord) {
        System.out.println(newWord);
        buffer.append(newWord);
        repaint();
    }

    public void paint(Graphics g) {
//Draw a Rectangle around the applet's display area.
        g.drawRect(0, 0, size().width - 1, size().height - 1);

//Draw the current string inside the rectangle.
        g.drawString(buffer.toString(), 5, 15);
    }
}

/* requirements to demonstrate the problem:
      Set up the applet.
      Set up a https webserver that requires client side certificates
      Put a 64K file on the webserver (smaller files will trigger the bug, but not consistently).
       Point the URL in the program to the 64K file that you put on the webserver.
*/

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Methods:
1. Use a java application instead of an applet.
2. Don't use client side certificates
###@###.### 10/28/04 21:07 GMT