I have seen some amazing things, where portlets (similar to Servlets) deliver content with Swing
applets, running on the portlet. Indeed, data from a Swing component running within an applet communicates with a much larger framework, BUT, it was a very home grown solution that required a great deal of infrastructure development. It ends up becoming a framework on its own.
I think integrating a Swing applet with the Servlet and
JSP API on your own would be a fairly daunting task.
You may want to re-evaluate the various Servlet frameworks. Sure, Servlets and JSPs aren't perfect, but with
JSF and
Struts, many, and I mean millions, have been delivered very robust and effective web based applications. Surely your requirements aren't so unique that the Servlet and JSP API couldn't suffice?
-Cameron McKenzie