CAIP's XML Supported WhiteBoard Java Bean

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Download and Installation
  3. Running the WhiteBoard in DISCIPLE
  4. User's Manual
  5. Design Documentation
  6. Java API Specification for Multiple Document Environment
  7. Bug Report
  8. Contact Information

Introduction

A whiteboard application is a tool that contains a space into which a user can draw graphics. At minimum, the user should be able to simulate drawing into the space with a pen or set of pens. More elaborate whiteboards provide shape drawing abilities such that a user could quickly construct a drawing containing rectangles, ellipses, lines, curves, etc.

In the DISCIPLE Project a WhiteBoard Java Bean has been developed using the Multi-Document Editor Framework.  This Bean provides a fully functioning multi-document interface that allows a user to construct complex 2D graphical drawings into one or more documents (spaces). It resembles Microsoft's PowerPoint in its functionality.   (NOTE: this whiteboard is not a bitmap editor, so images cannot be edited).  By utilizing the capabilities of the JFC (Java Foundation Classes) within the JDK (Java Development Kit) Version 1.2, a variety of powerful features are available within the whiteboard. The key features are as follows:

This application comes already packaged in a JAR file, ready to use as a JavaBean within the DISCIPLE collaboration framework or any environment that supports Java Beans (e.g., IBM VisualAge, Symantec VisualCafe, etc.).  It is also a Java applet and can be run in the appletviewer or in a Web browser which supports JDK 1.2. At this time none of the major Web browsers do so, but look for more information below.

When running within the DISCIPLE framework, the WhiteBoard behaves as a collaboration-aware application in the sense that it knows that it is shared by multiple users simultaneously.  The WhiteBoard takes advantage of this knowledge to improve the performance and to facilitate the group work.


Download and Installation

If you want to run the WhiteBoard as an Applet, follow the steps below. To run it, use appletviewer, which is supplied by Javasoft as part of JDK1.2. The Applet will not work in any currently available browser since there is no support for JFC classes, but you can download a plug-in for JDK 1.2. (NOTE: Make sure you get plugins for JDK 1.2, not JDK 1.1 !!) After installing the new JRE, check the demo applets on JavaSoft's site to see if the installation was carried out successfully. If it doesn't work (most probably it will not) then follow the instructions on this page.

NOTE: Do not try to run this version in the DISCIPLE framework. DISCIPLE accepts only jarred beans, and WhiteBoard is already packaged with the DISCIPLE software itself. If you still wish to download the latest version of the WhiteBoard to run in DISCIPLE then you may download the WhiteBoard JAR file by right clicking here and selecting the "Save link as" option to download it to local directory.Also see: Further instructions

System Requirements

What is required to use with the WhiteBoard:

Download and Run in Appletviewer

  1. Make sure that JDK 1.2 (final release) is installed as the default Java environment on your system.
  2. Download the Windows version of the WhiteBoard class files.

    3.    OR
    Download the UNIX version the WhiteBoard class files.
  3. Extract all of the files into a separate directory on your hard disk (e.g., on the Windows system D:\Java\WhiteBoard).
  4. Add the directory into the CLASSPATH environment variable.  Here is an example for the Windows system:

    5.     set CLASSPATH=.;%JAVA_HOME%\lib\classes.zip;D:\Java\WhiteBoard
    OR for the UNIX system:
        export CLASSPATH=.:${JAVA_HOME}/lib/classes.zip:/usr/local/WhiteBoard
    (Look at your operating system documentation for specifics on how to set the environment variables.)
  5. To run the WhiteBoard Bean on Windows (or unix) , go to the root directory of the WhiteBoard and type : appletviewer whiteboard.html
WARNING: Applets don't allow direct access to files and other system properties. So do not try to open or save any files.

Source Code

The WhiteBoard's Java source code for Windows can be downloaded from here. Click here to download the the source code for UNIX.
 

Running the WhiteBoard Collaboratively in DISCIPLE

To run the WhiteBoard within the DISCIPLE Desktop, download the latest desktop from here.   Follow the instructions to install and run DISCIPLE. WhiteBoard can be loaded through the DISCIPLE bean browser.

Screen snapshot of the WhiteBoard Bean in the DISCIPLE Desktop:

Design Documentation

WhiteBoard software design documentation describes object-oriented analysis and design of the multi-document editor framework and the tutorial example of how the whiteboard is built using this framework. This document includes the textual description of the software along with the relevant class and sequence diagrams defined using Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Download design document: MS Word file (427 Kbytes)

Bug Report

Here is the list of known bugs: These options are under construction and still not available:

Contact Information

Questions?  Comments?  Bugs?  Please send e-mail to the DISCIPLE Group at the CAIP Center, Rutgers University and we will promptly answer your concerns.

Back to

  1. DISCIPLE Home Page
  2. CAIP Center
  3. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Last update: August 18, 1999