Application -- Venue interaction

[Eric Olson]

I'd like to propose to add 'venueUrl' as a possible replacement string
when launching applications.

I know this is not the final solution and would be subject to change in
the next release, but even in the short run, applications will want to be
aware of which venue they are in.

For a frame of reference, we make appUrl available for shared apps -- I
think venueUrl is similarly useful.

This would meet one of Terry's current feature requests to allow a
launched applications to be aware of the venue.

What does everyone think of this?

Eric


On Fri, 29 Aug 2003, Eric Olson wrote:

> 
> Terry described his multiblast application and how it would like to 
> interact with the Venue.  There are features he needs that aren't 
> quite finished yet and need to be addressed.  I was unable to get a 
> current working solution so hopefully other people can look at this and 
> address the part that is missing after reading the description of the 
> issues below.
> 
> Overview -- allow an application to interact more transparently with the 
> venue and data in the venue.
> 
> Unresolved issues:
>  - (Registering and) Launching the application from the venue and also 
> providing it with the venue url.  Currently, seperately starting the 
> application and copying and pasting venue urls makes venue interaction 
> cumbersome.
> 
> background on application:
>  - can search through the filenames in the venue (with wildcards)
>  - retrieve a file or multiple files,
>  - process these files and/or create new files,
>  - upload files back into the venue.
> 
> Here is what it asks the AG software for (beyond previously typical AG 2 
> use).  There is already a tool that fulfills the first two requirements 
> below, so items 3 and 4 are the items that still need to be addressed.
> 
> 1) Download/Upload data from the venue's datastore without actually 
> entering the venue.
> 2) Obtain the filenames and locations of the files so the names can be 
> searched through before they are downloaded.
> 3) From an item in the venue (likely a data file or a service), launch a 
> specific application.  Provide a standard way to register which 
> application gets launched and how it is supposed to behave (with added 
> venue enhancements or not).
> 4) Provide the venue url to the application being launched ( so that 
> applications can do operations such as item 1 and 2 above).
> 
> Solutions:
> 
> 1 & 2) Bob has written a datastore client application that can store, 
> search, and retrieve data without entering the venue.
> 
> 3) We haven't clearly defined the difference between when to open data 
> normally (as the os would start it) and when to open the data with added 
> venue features (perhaps right-click and select "open" or "venue open", 
> etc.).  We also need a simple tool to help set this up.
> 
> We need to make the similar decisions on how to start venue applications 
> that are not related to a particular venue data item.
> 
> Other people have been thinking about this, and this part has not been 
> finished yet although quite a bit of support structure is in place.
> 
> 4) Ivan suggested there is a substitution available (although subject to 
> change for a final solution) that could substitute the venue url as an 
> argument when launching an application.  I was unable to get that far yet
> because of complications mixing it with the previous item (registering and 
> launching an application with arguments).
> 
> 
> So, do we have the ability now or can we provide an easy way for apps 
> like Terry's to launch from the venue (including registering it somehow) 
> and also have it know about the venue (url)?
> 
> Thanks,
> Eric
> 
>