CP2JavaWS 1.0 final : protocol check

The final version (1.0) of CP2JavaWS is available :

Added support for service protocol (CP class with methods signatures) specifying when retrieving a proxy, in order to allow :
- arguments type check
- nil arguments values (the expected type can then be retireved from the protocol – required for Java reflect)
- generic methods arguments (CPObject in CP, Object in Java)

Renamed HabiltationService/Filter to AuthorizationService/Filter.

Bug fix in CP2JavaWSJSONPConnection (synch. with latest code since addition of URL class).

MasterDetailView now uses alternating row color for table view, and background for detail view .

Note : documentation has been moved to MediaWiki.

First Atlas beta’s screencast

A first screencast of Atlas beta is available here : payment calculator from chapter 2 of Cocoa Design Patterns (Cib-based project, laying out an interface and binding outlets/actions to working code).

Cappuccino : Atlas beta launched

The 280North’s Atlas beta program just opened ! That is here for registration (20$ through Paypal or credit card – will be deducted from the final price).

Cappuccino and spriting

Back from JS Conf (Berlin), the 280North staff published an article about the new advanced spriting feature in Cappuccino (available in the jake branch, and in the upcoming 0.8 version. See also the CP2JavaWS demo that uses it). This solution doesn’t require any code change, and also works with older IE 6 and 7 (as all other Cappuccino features).

CP2JavaWS 0.92 available : Jake/spriting

A new version (0.92) of CP2JavaWS is available. It puts the project in synch. with most recent branchs (tested with latest jake branch) :

- CP2JavaWSURLConnection updated from CPURLConnection changes due to new URL class
- CP2JavaWSURLConnectionAuthDelegate updated due to new URL class (now uses its facilities methods)

The demo on AppEngine has also been updated (uses the jake branch, and so the spriting feature that allows a faster download).

Note : there is still a bug in core CPTableView : a wrong transient value is displayed shortly in first visible row’s first column, after calling reloadData and before the datasource’s methods get called (it then happens after sortDescriptors:didChange ends).
It happens both in Firefox and Safari (but for the later it doesn’t show as it draws the cells values much more faster – can however be tracked when adding a breakpoint).

The documentation pages for the project at sourceforge are being migrated to the new MediaWiki app (DocMan has been deprecated recently by Sourceforge).

WebKit : Web Inspector new features

An article about new features of WebKit’s Web Inspector is available. There is to note that most features aren’t really usefull when developping in Cappuccino, and setting a breakpoint using the Web Inspector doesn’t seem possible in ObjJ source code (as it is converted at runtime in js), I’ve then always used the debugger; instruction instead. Moreover I didn’t find the stop on exception option in Safari 4’s debugger (is said to be present in WebKit – and is also available in Firebug).

Unity Indie 2.6 free

Unity Indie (2.6) games development solution is now available for free. It was priced 199$ before. That is here for download. We can also access to some demos that run directly through the browser using the Unity Web plugin (works on PPC and is really fast… ways better than any Flash). The Tropical Paradise demo is really stunning.

The Indie version isn’t listed in the licenses page, and  the Pro version remains priced 1499$. The iPhone targeted version isn’t free, however a 30 days demo is provided).

CP2JavaWS 0.91 available

A new version (0.91) of CP2JavaWS is available. It is a bug fixes release :

- fixed a bug with habilitation filter’s init (as filters’s init methods order can change, we don’t pass anymore the userSessionKey info from the authentication filter’s init method to the habilitation filter’s init. That information has then been added also in the habilitation filter’s config in web.xml).

- fixed a potential bug in authentication filter when comparing request uri with authCredentials’s uri, for cases where the browser returns its host in authCredentials’s uri (shouldn’t).

- remote methods that returned a String (root, not JSON) leaded to an error when decoding on the client side (missing quotes). It was ok for String attributes in nested objects of the return graph.

- calling a remote method without any parameters (that is passing nil to the single selector part – ie [remoteService aMethod:nil]) now works properly (fixed test for remaining invocation arguments).

Websocket in WebKit : Apache mod and tests

Implementation of Websocket (client side) started this Spring in Firefox, and this Summer (since late June) in WebKit. We could also read a document, WebKit Web Socket design doc (that was slightly revised early september), written by WebKit members working on this task (Fumitoshi Ukai, Yuzo Fujishima, etc.). References to many cpp sources files about Websocket implementation have emerged these last three months in the long WebKit development timeline.

In early September Yuzo pointed out (in a thread about requirement for an Apache module that manages Websocket) an experimental open source extension for Apache, mod_pywebsocket, that brings server-side Websocket implementation.

These elements are now listed in the latest changelogs of WebKit timeline (10/26), and test files are provided (start with pywebsocket/test, see also here and there).

London FOWA 2009 : Atlas video available

The video of the full Atlas presentation at London FOWA 2009 is now available at carsonified (30′ length). It demoes the fully fonctionnal screens compositing (nested views), the RSS controller (that had also been seen during the first Atlas presentation in March) – we can also see Array Controller, FaceBook and Twitter controllers -, various project templates (among these a new document-based one), a Bespin text editor component, and a new “native” target mode (that is said to use an own solution instead of Titanium Appcelerator, for some explained reasons).

Finally I would like to thank Francisco for his kind words about Java server-side support for Cappuccino – that is CP2JavaWS –  (26′) :

About backend support, there are Lift, Scala, Rails, and Java as well [was the first, January, 5].  The Java support is pretty amazing, as it takes Java Objects [full objects graphs, through JSON] and serializes these into Objective-J objects.

The Direct2CP mode of CP2JavaWS, and its digest authentication management and automatic session tracking per endpoint, are also complementary to Atlas (that focuses mainly on UI components, but not to their behaviour on the server side – except the RSS feader component).

An extension mechanism to Atlas (through plugins) was suggested initially (in March’s first announcement), and I then explained it was a great idea, that could use Osgi bundles concepts, and would open the way for business (alla Eclipse plugins). I proposed to write a plugin for remote services calls (through CP2JavaWS), such a controller that could be added to existing RSS, FaceBook and Twitter ones. I hope such architecture will be provided by Atlas beta’s mid-November release.

Sofa : EnStore made using Cappuccino

Sofa company, presented a Cappuccino version of its EnStore admin application, that allows to customize and deploy web stores. They provide their experience with the Cappuccino development process and nib2cib, and explain why they found this solution the most suited and productive (easy to add drag&drop feature thanks to advanced AppKit, easier controls customizing, browser independant). All this without even considering the upcoming Atlas ! A stunning video is available.

Flash Apps on iPhone using a compiler

While Adobe knows that a Flash plugin for iPhone won’t likely happen (besides strategic reasons around RDA, this is the result of long non optimized Flash for OSX), they are trying to circumvent this restriction, by providing a compiler (based on LLVM) that will produce ARM assembly code from ActionScript programs. It will be included in Flash CS5 (a beta is expected by the end of the year), and will work on both mac and Windows.
The limiting factor will be the lack of debugger, but it should be ok for simple applications, as development and debugging could be made on a desktop computer (by simulating the iPhone drawing area and limited processor power). The compiler would then be used only at integration test steps, and for final deployment. However, for more advanced (demanding) applications or games, such solution will end being very difficult and tedious, as optimizing near the limits won’t be possible.
Finally it will paves the way for paid Flash applications on iPhone (there have still been some iPhone games derived from free Flash games).