Hi -
The short answer is "no-can-do": the HTML DOM Javascript lives in - vs. the sandbox the applet lives in - are two completely separate domains.
The longer answer is: most of the time you'll want to do this kind of thing, you probably want to use server-side JSP's (rather than client side applets). Honest!
But if you *must* integrate Java and Javascript on the client (where it's hard) vs. on the server (where stuff like Tomcat or JBoss makes it much, much more straightforward): here's a link:
http://swinglabs.org/docs/presentati...ng_secrets.jsp
'Hope that helps .. PSM
PS:
In any case, you'll need some external .jar - and you'll need the client to be able to install it on their PC and integrate it with their browser's JRE - in order for it to work. And if the client uses Firefox and IE ... they'll probably have to install and configure twice...