Merapi (Flex Camp Boston 2008)
Merapi
Andrew Powell, Universal Mind
Only a couple people have used it.
Grew out of old Apollo project. Named after volcano on Java. What AIR to talk to Java.
AIR does what it does well, but we want it to do more. How do you extend AIR? Have it talk to GPS. Make mashups that just aren't components but also bring hardware into the mix. Anything that has Java library or JNI will work. Main component is called a Bridge because it is all about moving data back and forth between AIR and Java.
Need to create a connection, could be local or remote. AIR/Flex runs on OS. Bridge runs on OS. Hardware and applications also running on OS. AIR and Bridge are connected via AMF using BlazeDS serialization/deserialization techniques. Bridge then talks to applications and hardware.
var message:Message = new Message(); message.data = "Hello World"; message.type= " Reply"; Bridge.instance.sendMessage(message);
BridgeInstance has result event that you can handle.
Bridge API is easy, complexity is all in external APIs Merapi talks to.
It's alpha so security, reliability, installer, etc. are still being worked on.
merapiproject.net (where to get)
infoaccelerator.net (Andrew's site)
All applications have a Java piece and a Flex piece.
Demo of AIR application controlling bluetooth connected robot. Lego Mindstorm.
Demo of Google translator and text to speech.
Demo of Growl for the Mac. This also works from the browser.
Demo showing data grid in Flex exported to Excel. Data updates in Excel when saved update the data grid. Can create and send email message, update contacts, meetings, etc. If you can do it in Java you can do it with Merapi.
If within the browser, can it be an applet or if it is an application. Right now it needs to be a Java application, possibly a service.
Remote Java objects and competing with BlazeDS. Some overlap, but Merapi is more about hardware connections.
It is all Flex based. Next beta will also include Flash support.
Excel formula values are sent back. Word formatting probably comes back over RTF.
Public beta in the next couple of months.
Is it open source? It is open source, value is in derivative work.
How would the browser and desktop piece work? Still TBD.
Only limit is your imagination. Anything Java can do you can send it back and forth.
Data access size and transfer rate limits are not known, probably limited to hardware.