Note:

Maple V release 3 files end in .ms.

Maple V release 4 files end in ending in .mws.

Release 4 can open .ms files, but Release 3 cannot open .mws files.

If you want to place MAPLE files so that your students can access them via a web page, here are some suggestions.

The following link is to a maple file contact.mws. (This models two masses coming in contact via a spring, then moving apart. ) Contact.ms is placed in the same directory where your web pages are stored.

A student can access and save this file by

• Activating this link (clicking with the left mouse button), which brings up a page of gibberish-looking text. Then under File, he or she does a Save As to a chosen directory.
  
• Right-clicking (clicking with the right mouse button) on the link, then under Save Link As, he/she can save it to a chosen directory.

Later, the student launches Maple to run the file. This is a very straightforward operation.

You can also store Maple files on a FTP site, and make links to that site.

When Netscape encounters this link, it will initially not recognize that file type, and bring up the gibberish-looking file again.

You can, however, teach Netscape to launch Maple when it encounters a file of extension .mws or .ms. This is done by going to Options, then General Preferences, then Helpers. In the Helpers menu lets you Create New Type. In the dialog box, under Mime Type you enter 'application', and for Sub Type you enter 'maple'. Then you can type the extension(s) in the line provided below the main text box. Make sure the radio button is set to 'Launch the Application'.

This method will open one copy of Maple for each link encountered, so students should be cautioned about having multiple copies of Maple running.

Here is a link to a maple file on our FTP site. contact.mws(FTP).     Try it out!