Open Visualization Data Explorer
New with 4.0.7: java explorer build
new samples w/ java explorer doc and samples
In the future, JX specific information may be moved to
dx/src/uipp/java/README . It appears here for initial visibility.
Java Explorer serves DX programs to web browser clients. It is designed
so that your same DX programs run in the web or conventional client-server
environments. Minor modifications to existing programs are required and
are largely automatic. From the visual program editor menu bar, select
Edit...Java...Add Web Tools. This is described in more detail in
dx/java/htmlpages/Status.html which comes in the sample tarball.
This release should build and run, but since it is the first release
that has attempted to do so, it may not be for the faint of heart.
The overarching problem is that all but one of the jx samples use GIF,
and GIF has been removed from the opendx build for copyright considerations.
Progress in restoring GIF or enabling alternatives is a high priority.
Java Explorer requires a JDK on the server to build and run
(and, if separate, JRE).
You probably have the JDK already, but it is easy to get if you don't.
(for example, http://www.ibm.com/java/jdk/download/index.html
http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/). This is just a server
requirement, as the client's browser will have its own JRE.
It turns out there is little that is predictable about where the jdk installs.
Configure has been modified to test your java environment, and for this,
javac must be in your path. If configure cannot get the information it needs,
the java portion of the dx build is turned off.
At present, configure can't get the information it needs
from kaffe, so if you want to build the java portion the expedient route is
to install another jdk too. You can probably *run* with kaffe. Contributions
for making JX build and run on various java and OS combinations are awaited.
Once both dx and the samples have been "configure... make... make install"ed,
the java explorer server can be started by:
cd /usr/local/dx/java/server/bin
startserver
and stopped by
stopserver
An attempt was made for startserver.in to be used by configure to create
an installation-specific startserver that required no other arguments, however
various arguments can be used at your discretion. stopserver has some
OS-dependent use of telnet, and may require modification to work on your
machine.
At first, perhaps, try running a browser on the server an pointing it
at file:///usr/local/dx/java/htmlpages/Status.html
(be sure to get that last "l")
Various frames should load and the server status should be visible in the
left frame. Substantially all of the JX documentation is in the right
frame.
For remote clients, you need an httpd, probably also already installed.
Administering the httpd is beyond the scope of this README.
However, some hints are in order.
Both the htmlpages and output directories in /usr/local/dx/java need
to be visible to the httpd, this can be accomplished in a number of ways.
A symlink from an httpd-reachable directory to /usr/local/dx/java will suffice,
as will PASS instructions in httpd.conf.
The httpd.conf file is usually in /etc/ or a subdirectory thereof.
RedHat left .htm out of /etc/mime.types, you'll need to add htm to the html
line. for vrml to work, it is necessary to add an AddTypes line to
httpd.conf (or perhaps srm.conf ). Syntax varies, for instance
AddType .wrl x-world/x-vrml binary 1.0 #VRML files
works for some,
AddType .wrl x-world/x-vrml 8bit
works for cern httpd
When you find some indespensable bit of information, please contribute it.
The remainder of this file appeard in earlier READMEs :
This is a *very* early version of the OpenDX source distribution.
Your patience is appreciated! It is quite likely that problems will
arise building OpenDX; if you encounter difficulties, please try to
work them through as best you can. If you find solutions, please send
in a note; they'll be incorporated into the distribution as time allows,
and it'll be that much easier for the next person. If you find a
problem that you can't solve, again, send a note; we'll try to help.
Please use the 'Reporting Bugs' link at <http://www.research.ibm.com/dx
to report installation problems.
Bugs:
While DX 4.0 has a very mature code base, many source files (actually
virtually all, thanks to the new copyright notice) have been modified for
this first open source release. Furthermore, its likely that it is being
built on previously unencountered OS versions and using different compilers
than before; as such, bugs may arise. As above, take a crack at it if you
wish, then send reports in to the bug-report address.
Version:
This version, labelled 4.0, is an upgrade from the final IBM
distribution, DX 3.1.4. It corresponds to the final bug-fix version of
of 3.1.4 plus several new features amongst which are improved OpenGL
rendering (better use of display lists, most notably), JavaDX, and
stereo rendering.
Build Instructions:
This is intended to be a simple configure-and-make build.
configure
make
make install (as root)
By default, the installation will be in /usr/local/dx; this can be
changed using the --prefix= argument to configure:
configure --prefix=/usr/lpp
make
make install (as root)
will install place the installation in /usr/lpp/dx
Prerequisites:
Motif - Lesstif works, www.gnu.org
OpenGL - Mesa3D works, www.mesa3D.org
For Windows builds:
Cygwin - www.cygnus.com
not sure what, if anything, else
Not required, but nice:
NetCDF - www.unidata.ucar.edu
CDF - nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cdf
Hints:
No one has yet reported a successful using AIX and gcc. Nor, for
that matter, AIX 4.2 and xlC. Several people have succeeded using 4.1 and
xlC. 4.2 xlC also works with xlC. On one 4.3 system here I had to fix
/usr/include/Xm/XmP.h - in two places (around line 408) the final element
of enum declarations had a trailing comma that xlC didn't like without the
-qlanglvl=compat flag, and I couldn't get xlc to accept at all. So I fixed
the header file.
If you are using Lesstif instead of Motif, you may need to create
symbolic links in /usr/include to /usr/X11R6/include/Xm and /usr/X11R/X11.
If you are using Mesa3G instead of OpenGL, you will need symbolic links
/usr/local/lib/libGL.a pointing to /usr/local/lib/libMesaGL.a and
/usr/local/lib/libGLu.a pointing to /usr/local/lib/libMesaGLu.a
If you are building on Windows, things are really untested. Best of
luck, and let us know how it goes.
If you are using Lesstif, check include/dxconfig.h after you configure
to make sure USING_LESSTIF is set to 1
To do dynamic loading on linux (at least) you'll need to add
LDFLAGS=-export-dynamic on the make command line.
Known Problems:
Run-time Loading - eg. user-defined modules, interactors
Java DX - The code is all there; however, it has not been tried under
this distribution.
Probably lots of other things.