JNEXT Blog

JavaScript bar and pie charts

Not directly related to JNEXT, but thought this might benefit various JavaScript/Web developers. I wanted but couldn't find a simple but solid JavaScript charting object on the net for creating pie charts and bar graphs so as usually happens in these situations I made my own. It is based on a slightly modified version of Walter Zorn's fantastic JavaScript graphics library and is built in such a way that you just pass the values and JavaScript does all the dirty cosmetic work for you (just view the source to see how simple it is).

To see a sample, just click here

RIA technology roundup

Since it seems that every time I look there's yet another big company that is joining the RIA technology party, I've compiled the ones I'm aware of today. I hope to soon compile a more detailed comparison table of the various technologies (including JNEXT)

Name	Company	Link
FLEX, AIR	Adobe	http://www.adobe.com/products/air/
SilverLight	Microsoft	http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/
Google Gears	Google	http://gears.google.com/
Prism	Mozilla	http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Prism
JavaFX	Sun	http://www.sun.com/software/javafx/index.jsp
BrowserPlus	Yahoo	http://browserplus.yahoo.com/

So, where's the next version ?

Everyday dynamics has left me with little time to devote to closing a release, also there has been a lot of progress in adding support for additional infrastructure.

For those who would like to get a taste of 1.0.8 you can compile the sources - download the sources using bazaar as follows:

bzr branch http://jnext.org/src jnext

In case you're wondering what "additional infrastructure" is - its an implementation of jnext over flash. A proof of concept has been made and now what is left is to glue the pieces together.

so, sorry for the delay, but it will be worth it in the end

JNEXT 1.0.8 delayed a bit

Releasing JNEXT 1.0.8 is taking a bit of time since there's a lot of code that was added and reorganized: support for all the plugins on Mac OS/X, refactoring part of the code, adding JavaScript and internal plugin namespaces, adding the external libraries as part of the trunk for a self contained build environment, moving over from SVN to Bazaar and other tasks all contributed to the delay. There's a lot of other things that are in the pipeline as well but will have to wait for 1.0.9.

Anyway - the planned release date for JNEXT 1.0.8 is sometime during the begining of May - however if you wish to see the latest source, install bazaar (available for Windows, Linux & OS/X) and from the command line execute

bzr branch http://jnext.org/src jnext

which will download the latest version of the code to a folder named jnext

The latest source code runs all the plugins on all 3 platforms.

Closing in on 1.0.8

I've been busy cleaning up the JNEXT framework for release 1.0.8 - the main change is the support for OS/X and organizing the source code so that all the existing plugins are self contained (i.e the source will also include any external library sources a plugin depends on, which is the case with the SQLite3 JNEXT extension).

Its a slow process since it involves double checking that everything complies and runs without a problem on Windows, Linux and Mac OS/X

The screen shot below illustrates accessing an SQLite 3 database from Javascript with the JNEXT SQLite3 extension on Mac OS/X from both Safari and Firefox.

This is just the beginning - I'm really excited to think about all the applications just waiting to be written with JNEXT. I've had my share of UI development, and nothing comes close to the speed of creating applications this way... :-)

jNext for OS/X is working !!!

Finally jNext for Mac OS/X is working on both Safari and Firefox. I'd first like to express my gratitude to Nir Soffer the Mac expert, for providing a scriptable NPAPI sample that works on both browsers. Below is a screen shot of the jNext FileReader extension running on both Safari and Firefox:

I've been holding back on releasing new jNext extensions since I wanted to first complete support for jNext on all the major OS platforms. Now that this is complete, prepare to see a whole lot of powerful extensions unleashed during the course of the next few weeks :-)

P.S. The formal release of jNext with the Mac OS/X support (1.0.8) is planned within the next few days.

Updates

Despite my earlier statement, each day I try to scrape another hour or two to work on JNEXT (I am trying to get by on less sleep, which reminds me of the old joke of the farmer who tried to get his horse used to eating less...)

Anyway, I'm focusing my energies on getting a Mac OS/X (Intel) NPAPI plugin (npruntime to be exact) version working with Safari and Firefox. Although the documentation and number of working samples for scriptable plugins on the Mac is pathetic, after lots of experimenting and trial and (mostly) error, there seems to be enough info for me to combine all the pieces together into a working plugin.

Getting the plumbing working on different platforms has never been one of my favorite development pastimes - personally I find everything that requires a lot of guesswork and trying different stuff until you find something that works quite boring. I guess that's why I never enjoyed adventure games or reverse engineering. For me the creative juices start flowing only after the OS specific plumbing has been completed - and that is why I'm full of anticipation to start implementing new and exciting JNEXT plugins once the Mac port is done.

Suspending development for a couple of months

Too many other important tasks have been piling up which means I have to let go of JNEXT for a bit. My hope is to complete the Mac OS/X port and add some very useful plugins + a quick financial analysis sample after I get back to it. If anyone wishes to continue the Mac port from the point I left it at, then feel free to contact me (though I'm not holding my breath...)

Mac OS/X plugin working !

Finally the JNEXT version for the OS/X is working - need to clean it up and repackage for the next version, but the vision for a complete cross browser cross platform framework is one step closer to being achieved... :-)

Got my Mac !

I set up the Mac mini and now its standing next to my Ubuntu desktop :-)
I have to admit that Apple knows how to create polished products better than any other company in this business. From the hardware to the software, usability and elegance are very prominent.

Anyway - I've been chasing deadlines and immersed in work the past couple of months and its probably going to stay that way for another few weeks, so in the meantime, not much work has been done in the JNEXT front. I've began to look into what it would take to convert it to the OS/X platform and is seems I already have enough to go on to start the process, but as I've mentioned, it will take another month or two.