Debugging java applet in browser - works in Eclipse but not browser

I have created an applet that opens a JFileChooser to select a file on the click of a JButton. It works fine when I run it in Eclipse. When I embed it in an HTML page with the applet tag nothing happens when I click the button.

Any suggestions as to why the JFileChooser does not open in the browser would be appreciated, but my main question is how would I debug this? I haven't been able to find anything on Google about how to add a Java console to Firefox 3.6 or Chrome. Is there a way to get some kind of information as to why the JFileChooser does not open?

Debugging answered in comment below

So the console says there is an access denied exception, which I'm guessing is because I have not "signed" the applet. What should the development process be as far as signing an applet goes? Do I have to sign it with a certificate issued by a valid CA before I can test it in a browser, or is there some simple thing you can do while just testing?

Here is my code:

package com.putapplet;

import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.URL;

import javax.swing.JApplet;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JProgressBar;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;


@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class PutToS3Applet extends JApplet {

    private static long maxFileSizeInBytes = 1048576;

    private static String listenerUrl = "xxx";
    private String listenerQueryString;

    private String signedPutUrl;

    private JProgressBar progressBar;
    private JButton button;
    private JLabel messageField;

    public void init() {

        setMaxFilesize(1);

        try {
            SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(new Runnable() {
                public void run() {                    
                    createGUI();
                }
            });
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.err.println("createGUI didn't complete successfully");
        }       
    }

    private void createGUI() {

        button = new JButton("Choose File...");
        button.addActionListener(new ButtonListener()); 

        progressBar = new JProgressBar(0, 100);
        progressBar.setStringPainted(true);

        messageField = new JLabel();
        //messageField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 20));

        FlowLayout layout = new FlowLayout();
        layout.setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT);

        JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
        topPanel.setLayout(layout);

        JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel();
        bottomPanel.setLayout(layout);

        topPanel.add(button);
        topPanel.add(progressBar);
        bottomPanel.add(messageField);

        setLayout(new GridLayout(2,1));
        add(topPanel);
        add(bottomPanel);

    }

    class ButtonListener implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
            JFileChooser fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
            int showOpenDialog = fileChooser.showDialog(null, "Upload File");
            if (showOpenDialog != JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) return;

            final File fileToUpload = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();

            if (fileToUpload.length() > PutToS3Applet.maxFileSizeInBytes) {
                messageField.setText("Your file must be smaller than " + getHumanReadableMaxFilesize());
                return;
            }

            listenerQueryString = "query[filename]=" + fileToUpload.getName();

            //get signed PUT url for s3
            try {

                URL listener = new URL(listenerUrl + listenerQueryString);
                BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(listener.openStream()));
                signedPutUrl = in.readLine().replace("http://", "https://");
                messageField.setText(signedPutUrl);

            } catch (Exception e) {             
                messageField.setText("Oops, there was a problem connecting to the server. Please try again.");
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }

    private String getHumanReadableMaxFilesize() {
        return Long.toString((PutToS3Applet.maxFileSizeInBytes / 1024 / 1024)) + "MB";
    }

    private void setMaxFilesize(int sizeInMegaBytes) {
        PutToS3Applet.maxFileSizeInBytes = PutToS3Applet.maxFileSizeInBytes * sizeInMegaBytes;
    }
}

Here is the exception:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-1" java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.util.PropertyPermission user.home read)
at java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(AccessControlContext.java:374)
at java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(AccessController.java:546)
at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(SecurityManager.java:532)
at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPropertyAccess(SecurityManager.java:1285)
at java.lang.System.getProperty(System.java:650)
at javax.swing.filechooser.FileSystemView.getHomeDirectory(FileSystemView.java:393)
at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI.installComponents(MetalFileChooserUI.java:253)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicFileChooserUI.installUI(BasicFileChooserUI.java:136)
at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI.installUI(MetalFileChooserUI.java:126)
at javax.swing.JComponent.setUI(JComponent.java:662)
at javax.swing.JFileChooser.updateUI(JFileChooser.java:1763)
at javax.swing.JFileChooser.setup(JFileChooser.java:360)
at javax.swing.JFileChooser.<init>(JFileChooser.java:333)
at javax.swing.JFileChooser.<init>(JFileChooser.java:286)
at com.putapplet.PutToS3Applet$ButtonListener.actionPerformed(PutToS3Applet.java:82)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:1995)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2318)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:387)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:242)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:236)
at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6289)
at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3267)
at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6054)
at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2041)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4652)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2099)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4482)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4577)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4238)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4168)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2085)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4482)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:644)
at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(EventQueue.java:85)
at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:603)
at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:601)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:87)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:98)
at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(EventQueue.java:617)
at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(EventQueue.java:615)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:87)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:614)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:269)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:184)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:174)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:169)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:161)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)