🚀 go-pugleaf

If I have understood your question :

> Do these applets required to be digitally signed to allow read/write access
> rights? I am guessing not because all the reading and writing of files is
> from the one hard drive (the Web Server) which is where all files reside.
> Could someone confirm this?

You need digitally signed applets to read/write at the client machine.
To display(at client) / update database (at the server), you could
aswell use servlets in combination with applets which will server the
functionality. You may also need to consider the authentic machanisms
like password based or certificate based.
 
> Also, my biggest query, do the applets need to be digitally signed to allow
> the displayed text file to be printed to a non-local (not the Web Server)
> printer? Could anyone point me in the direction of how to create code to
> allow the printing of the text file to a non-local printer?

I do not think you can print from the applet on the server from which
it is downloaded.  You can  instead invoke a servlet from that applet
and ask it print. @see ToolKit class.

Hope you get some sort of inertia from this .

Good luck!.