[brailleblaster] Re: More Thoughts

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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