Retouchup Blog

16
Apr
Chrome 42 and Java Plugin

Chrome has recently released their latest version of Chrome – Version 42.  This update makes a very major change in how they handle plugins within the browser.

With this update, they have disabled a system called “Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI)”.  This system is what allowed a lot of programs to run within chrome – such as Silverlight, Quicktime, and Java – without being restricted to browser limitations.

You can re-enable NPAPI for a few months, by typing or copy/pasting the following into your chrome browser address bar:

chrome://flags/#enable-npapi

You will see a section that looks like:

Enable NPAPI Mac, Windows
Enables the use of NPAPI plugins. #enable-npapi
Enable

Click the “Enable” link to turn it back on.  This will work only until September 2015 when Chrome 45 comes out.  At that time, Chrome will remove everything about NPAPI from the browser – and it will not be re-enablable.

JAVA 8.0 UPDATE 45

You will also need to ensure that you have updated to the latest version of Java – which came out a couple of days before Chrome 42 was updated.  The latest version at the time of this post is Java 8.0 Update 45.  You can download the latest Java from http://www.java.com/

LONG TERM SOLUTIONS

After chrome 45, if you need to use Java, you will have to use an alternative browser.  There are currently no known plans for Safari, Internet Explorer, or Firefox to remove NPAPI support.

Chrome supports an alternative system called PPAPI.  However, this system does not allow plugins access to files on your computer.  We would not be able to see your folder structure to take photos from, nor will we be able to see your harddrive so we can save photos after they are completed.

We will still support Chrome for non-Java interactions.

WHY DOES RETOUCHUP.COM STILL USE JAVA?

Retouchup.com has been working very hard to move away from Java as much as possible.  However, there are some things that a browser does not allow us to do yet.

  • Browsers don’t let us see a relative path of the file you are uploading without using Java.  We don’t know if you are uploading a whole folder, or just a single image.  We can’t return photos back to you keeping a folder structure if you do not upload using Java.
  • We also cannot return a mass number of files to you.  A browser takes control of the download and for a large number of users, will just save the file in your “download” folder by default.  Likewise, you have to download each file individually, as there is no way to queue up 60 photos to download to a folder of your choice.

Java gives us the ability to overcome these browser limitations, and do so for both Mac and Windows machines.

EASY UPLOADER

We have tools in place to allow uploads to our system without any Java at all.  It is our default upload tool now.  Most of our clients are OK with not keeping a folder structure.  The only times this becomes important, is when you upload multiple files with the same file name into one order, or your system needs the photos to be in a certain folder – and you would like Retouchup to return it back to you automatically.

ZIP FILE DOWNLOAD

We also have the ability for you to download all of your photos as a zip file.  This feature is only available for orders with 50 photos or below.  Over 90% of our orders are 50 photos or less, and this is a great way to download all your photos as one file without the use of Java.  You will still have to extract the file after it is finished downloading, but OSX and Windows have built in zip extractor tools.