6uN and applets

OpenGL Development JOGL Development
#1

I’m trying to understand how applets with JOGL and webstart JOGL apps are going to fit into 6uN and future Java versions. I understood previously that Sun was moving towards a unified opengl pipeline that would be shared between the core components such as 2d and swing, and libraries such as Jogl, with even the possibility that jogl would become a standard extension of jvms. I thought maybe that’s what 6uN was about. Anyway 6uN sounds interesting with some long overdue focus on the client experience and some attention being given to applets, webstart and client jvm availability. But the more I read the more I’m getting myself confused :slight_smile: Specifically how does direct3D assist Java portability. I understand it’s just another pipeline, but wouldn’t the effort be better spent on improving the nice cross platform solution which is opengl? Just sounds like another reason otherwise to ‘write once and test everywhere’. Or can the opengl pipeline choice be hardcoded into an applet or webstart app? Anyway, I digress from my reason to post.

Will the noddraw flag become redundant with 6uN, because from what I understand this is currently still required for correct operation of applets and webstart under windows. What I’m worried about is investing time in writing an applet that users are going to have problems running as the jvm versions change. Currently it sounds like the above flag is still required for windows, but is also a global flag that might discourage users from running my applet. ie they get some popup requesting a system wide change. And doesn’t this flag anyway disable hardware acceleration? Isn’t that something we would actually want to be working correctly at some point. Maybe I misunderstood the flag, but I always thought it was a temporary solution because of some clashes with the internal working of java3d or something?

I think what I’m looking for is a browser based experience that’s as smooth as flash(much as I hate it), that isn’t going to require lots of platform specific tweaks, hacks and testing. How do others currently handle this. ie I want an JOGL based applet and webstart app that will run anywhere a browser can. (ok I can skip portable devices for now). But I mean at least the major OSs like OSX, Linux, Solaris and Windows. Even my current webstart has some platform specific annoyances (besides still no java6 on osx), eg I noticed a swing popup in fullscreen mode under osx seems to lock up the system. Am I the only one to notice that? And tooltips over Jogl seem fine on windows but make the whole screen flash under OSX.

Please deliver me the promised write once run everywhere :slight_smile:

Anyway sorry for the rant, just looking for some reassurance and guidance that trying to write a web based game in Java is a realistic goal.

Cheers

Peter

#2

That’s a good summary of the problems affecting everyone.
The combination of different OS’es, availability of stable drivers,
choice of pipeline (Windows and Macs having their own set
of problems) and even text rasteriser choices make a
complex problem that has no simple answer.

There’s one thing I’m particularly concerned with, and I’m sure
many of us here share the same feeling too:

Will JOGL ever become part of the JRE distribution?

I’ll be perfectly happy with the 5MB extra footprint for all the things
that this makes possible.

.rex

#3

To quote Ken Russell: never

You can search the forum a bit for the thread about this topic.

#4

[quote]To quote Ken Russell: never
[/quote]
In my opinion this is a better way… I think that all thirds party libraries of java should have be done this way outside of the JRE, this enable a little and fast main base to be installed on the client platform. User that will need an extension can load them : opengl, sounds, networks, specific hardware access, and many more… java cannot handle the whole or it will become so huge to install when you only need the main base for an application, no ? what’s your opinion about that ?

#5

Take a look at the recently released documentation for the brand-new JNLP support in the new Java Plug-In, in particular the examples and demos. This shows how easy it now is to deploy JOGL content in applets. No more workarounds like the JNLPAppletLauncher; JOGL works identically in Java Web Start applications and applets. The Jake2 applet is an excellent example of the future of game distribution over the Internet.

Before you ask, the Mac OS X port of the new plug-in is coming.