[brailleblaster] Re: More Thoughts

Hi John,

As I mentioned before, the menu bar should still be done natively for the 
desktop version.

I have a sort of idea on how to write the Javascript to make it more portable.

Regards,
Alex,


On 2011-02-03, at 7:29 AM, John J. Boyer wrote:

> Alex,
> 
> This sounds good. The nice thing about using the browser control is that 
> we could specify the GUI in html. This would be much faster to develop 
> than building the GUI from SWT basics. I'm looking at 
> org.eclipse.browser.Browser.java We can send the GUI to its setText 
> method as a string. 
> 
> Time forr another dumb question. What is Tomcat and where do I find it? 
> Michael may not like these questions, but asking them beats reading a 
> lot of stuff just to find out a few things.
> 
> John
> 
> On Thu, Feb 03, 2011 at 07:03:50AM -0800, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
>> Hi John,
>> 
>> The cloud version of BB would have no dependencies on JRE's. It would only 
>> need a JRE on the server, with something like Tomcat installed.
>> 
>> The server would aalso be the machine needing the native libraries installed 
>> on it.
>> 
>> Javascript would comunicate with the server.
>> 
>> The desktop applcation would be the same, eccept that the servlet server, 
>> either Tomcat or Jetty, would be installed locally inside something like an 
>> application bundle.
>> 
>> How about that for writing a UI once and using it twice?
>> 
>> Just my suggestion.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Alex,
>> 
>> Alex Jurgnesne,
>> VoiceOer Trainer,
>> 
>> Visit me on the web at: http://www.vibpc.org/
>> 
>> 
>> On 2011-02-03, at 2:28 AM, John J. Boyer wrote:
>> 
>>> Alex,
>>> 
>>> I would prefer not  to step outside of Java. That could be a distraction 
>>> and lead to other dependencies. Bookshare uses Java to run their 
>>> website, but I don't think their code is open source. 
>>> 
>>> It might be best if I look at the SWT browser control myself. As I see 
>>> it, the Web application would live in the cloud, where it could use Java 
>>> and native libraries compiled forr whatever platform it was running on. 
>>> It would have to use Javascript to tell the browser what do do and 
>>> servlets for editing. Would using servlets mean that the machine on 
>>> which the browser was running would have to have a JRE? This might not 
>>> be a gig problem. The desktop app could be quite similar, except that it 
>>> would use Java rather than Javascript to present GUI content. 
>>> 
>>> It would be nice if we could find out what Bookshare is doing.
>>> 
>>> Remember, this is not a change of course, just an exploration at the 
>>> momennt.
>>> 
>>> John
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Feb 03, 2011 at 01:36:24AM -0800, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
>>>> Hi John,
>>>> 
>>>> If we proceed with a web app, I suggest that Dashcode, Apple's web 
>>>> developer IDE be looked at.
>>>> 
>>>> Although some native UI stuff would have to be done for Windows and Linux, 
>>>> probably involving a little bit of CSS, Dashcode provides a nice work 
>>>> environment for creating web applications by abstracting UI design from 
>>>> the underlying Javascript.
>>>> 
>>>> It creates standard web files that should work in any browser.
>>>> 
>>>> Just my thoughts.
>>>> 
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Alex,
>>>> 
>>>> Alex Jurgnesen,
>>>> VoiceOver Trainer,
>>>> 
>>>> Visit me on the web at: http://www.vipbc.org/
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 2011-02-03, at 12:55 AM, John J. Boyer wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> There is already a Web application for liblouisxml at 
>>>>> http://www.abilitiessoft.com If you want to see it click on Use the 
>>>>> software. It is far from complete, and I don't intend to proceed with 
>>>>> it. It is based on php. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Would you be interested in looking at the SWT browser control. It might 
>>>>> even speed up development of the desktop app, since more of the GUI work 
>>>>> would be done for us. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> John
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Thu, Feb 03, 2011 at 12:34:32AM -0800, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
>>>>>> Hi John,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> If we are looking at writing a version of BB for the cloud, I am all for 
>>>>>> helping with this.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> This is the design that I am adopting for some of my own projects.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I am using native controls for the menus and somebuttons, but the rest 
>>>>>> is being done in the cloud.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Let me know if you have any more thoughts about hte idea of making a 
>>>>>> cloud version of BB.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Alex,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 2011-02-02, at 11:30 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The core of BrailleBlaster IS in C. It is liblouis and liblouisutdml. 
>>>>>>> The latter will eventually be a complete braille transcription engine, 
>>>>>>> capable of doing whatever a place like APH or NBP wants. It is already 
>>>>>>> being used for production in Europe. It was written as a library so it 
>>>>>>> could be used in any nuumber of applications. In my view, 
>>>>>>> BrailleBlaster 
>>>>>>> is just one of those applications. I like to say that 
>>>>>>> liblouis-liblouisutdml is the engine and BrailleBlaster is the rest of 
>>>>>>> the car. You can put the same engine in many different makes of car, 
>>>>>>> but 
>>>>>>> an engine doesn't go anywhere by itself.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> BrailleBlaster IS the UI. Any high-level language would require a 
>>>>>>> runtime environment. Alex is the only one who is talking about bundling 
>>>>>>> JREs. I think most users would already have one for their machine. If 
>>>>>>> not, the installer could fetch an appropriate one. 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The pure Java code is platform-independent and does not have to be 
>>>>>>> recompiled. Only the native libraries must be compiled for the 
>>>>>>> p0latform 
>>>>>>> and the architecture.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> From what I've been hearing, computing is moving into the "cloud." That 
>>>>>>> is why using the SWT browser control is of interest. 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> BrailleBlaster was never intended to run on embedded devices. Even 
>>>>>>> liblouisutdml would probably be too big for them. Some are already 
>>>>>>> using 
>>>>>>> liblouis.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I don't think that there would be much difficulty with BrailleBlaster 
>>>>>>> on 
>>>>>>> Linux. There is a gtk versionn of SWT and probably others. 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Quite frankly, I've been working on the Java code because nobody else 
>>>>>>> is. I want a good car to put my enginne into. I would rather 
>>>>>>> concentrate 
>>>>>>> on the engine.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> If somebody wants to put it into a different car that is fine. I just 
>>>>>>> think that BrailleBlaster with Java is the best bet for building a 
>>>>>>> driveable car.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> John
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
>>>>>>> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
>>>>>>> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
>>>>>>> Madison, Wisconsin USA
>>>>>>> Developing software for people with disabilities
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
>>>>> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
>>>>> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
>>>>> Madison, Wisconsin USA
>>>>> Developing software for people with disabilities
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
>>> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
>>> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
>>> Madison, Wisconsin USA
>>> Developing software for people with disabilities
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> Madison, Wisconsin USA
> Developing software for people with disabilities
> 
>

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