Native Abstract Windowing Toolkit

The Native Abstract Windowing Toolkit (NAWT) provides Java™ applications and servlets with the capability to use the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) graphics function offered by the Java 2 Software Development Kit (J2SDK), Standard Edition.

Note: NAWT currently does not support locale- and language-specific fonts and character sets. When using NAWT, make sure that you comply with the following requirements:

Use only characters that are defined in the ISO8859-1 character set.
Use the font.properties file. The font.properties file resides in the /QIBM/ProdData/Java400/jdknn/lib directory, where nn is the version number of the J2SDK that you are using. Specifically, do not use any of the font.properties.xxx files, where xxx is a language or another qualifier.

Usually, NAWT uses the X Window System as its underlying graphics engine. To use the X Window System, you need an X server. An X server is a standalone application that accepts connections and requests from X client programs. In this case, the underlying NAWT infrastructure is the X client program.

The recommended X server is the AT^®&T Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server. The VNC server is well-suited to iSeries™ servers because it does not require a dedicated mouse, keyboard, and graphics-capable monitor. IBM^® provides a version of the VNC server that runs in the i5/OS™ Portable Application Solutions Environment (i5/OS PASE). i5/OS PASE is a UNIX-like environment that enables you to run most binary executables compiled for the IBM AIX^® operating system. i5/OS PASE is installed as part of i5/OS.

When you run the VNC server in i5/OS PASE, the iSeries server performs all the NAWT graphics computations and so does not require an external graphics server. The following NAWT and J2SDK information describes how to obtain and set up the VNC server in i5/OS PASE.

For more information about installing and using NAWT, see the following:

Because running NAWT requires using i5/OS PASE and VNC, you may want to learn more about these applications. For more information, see the following:

i5/OS PASE

Virtual Network Computing

Levels of NAWT support
The version of the Java 2 Software Development Kit (J2SDK), Standard Edition that you use affects the available choices for Native Abstract Windowing Toolkit (NAWT) support. Before you install NAWT, you need to understand which type of support meets your requirements. Use this information to help you assess your graphical requirements and select the version of J2SDK that you need to run. Use this information to help you assess your graphical requirements and select the version of J2SDK that you need to run.
Installing and using Native Abstract Windowing Toolkit
Use these step-by-step instructions to install NAWT and VNC. Before using NAWT, you must complete some required steps.
Tips on using VNC
Use i5/OS control language (CL) commands to start and stop a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server, and to display information about the currently running VNC servers.
Tips for using NAWT with WebSphere Application Server
Set up NAWT for use by graphical Java programs running under WebSphere^® Application Server. When you use WebSphere^® Application Server and NAWT, you need to enable secure communications between the Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server and WebSphere^® Application Server.

Parent topic: Run your Java application on a host that does not have a graphical user interface