I've been asked to investigate the possibility of porting a Java application to the TouchSmart. I've done a quick review of the Application Development Guideline (version 1.5), but don't see any obvious starting points (at least not for Java development).
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Is such an approach even feasible at this time?
Thanks.
Gary
Hey Gary,
In order to make an application for TouchSmart, all you have to do is make a windows application that follows the guidelines outlined in the document.
So, don't worry about doing anything differently technically - most of the restrictions are more design-focused.
--Andrew
Andrew,
Thanks for the quick reply. I was concerned that there might be custom API issues to deal with. I am waiting for my TouchSmart to arrive, so I haven't had a chance to experiment yet.
If I could take advantage of your hospitality just a bit more, I have two (hopefully) quick questions...
Java defines a MouseEvent for conventional mouse inputs. Does the touch based interface work like mouse inputs so that the Java Virtual Machine can deliver MouseEvents to the application? (I imagine that the two-finger interactions won't be available because they're not supported by the current Java API yet... I'll have to look at what Google does with their Android project).
Second, my customer wants to use the TouchSmart in a kiosk style presentation, in which the application claims the entire screen (rather like a game-console interface). I know that this is not in keeping with the guidelines set out in the Development Guidelines document and certainly doesn't map well to the idea of a touchsmart being used to run a bunch of compatible applications for the multi-tasking user, but it is well-suited the job my customer is attempting to accomplish. Is this approach something that is supported?
Thanks again for your help.
Gary
It sounds like you just want to create a stand-alone application to enable custom kiosk functionality. You don't necessarily need to follow the development guidelines in this case, since you won't be authoring your application to be "hosted" within the HP TouchSmart custom touch UI (the one that contains Notes, Calendar, Video, Music, Photo, etc.) You may want to take advantage of the recommendations in the document regarding target sizes, spacing and so on, but there's no need to follow the layout switching, registering for multi-touch custom messages, registering your application to work in the TouchSmart UI and so on.
As far as mouse input goes, most events should get delivered to your app. Just like they get delivered to Windows itself.
1. Correct - single-touch inputs work just like mouse inputs. Two-touch input is given to the focused application through window messages - if you can access those through Java, you can access the messages (I don't know that you can, but it's been awhile since I last used Java). Details on those messages are in the guidelines.
2. You might have some trouble with this one When you've added an application as a tile into the TouchSmart application, it will take control of its window position and window size. It will also attempt to place itself on top in some circumstances. Depending on how you do it, you might have trouble with it policing your window when you want it to be shown exclusively.
Is there any particular reason you'd like it to run within the TouchSmart application? Since the TouchSmart PC has windows, you could just create a separate application and run that in full screen mode without problems. Adding it to the TouchSmart application doesn't grant you anything other than running your application as a tile within the TouchSmart application, so you won't be missing anything you need if you go that route.
Since the customer is using it as a kiosk, I would suggest running your application outside of the TouchSmart application, as you would really want only the kiosk software to be available to ensure his/her customers aren't exiting the software, fiddling with the system, then leaving the kiosk software closed for the next customer.
Obviously, your customer might have different requirements, so just keep that in mind.
Let me know if you need any more help. Good luck and have fun!
--Andrew
Oh - sorry, didn't refresh my browser and pretty much repeated what you said, GeekTieGuy.
--Andrew
Seems like the forum software is missing auto-refresh of some kind...
Thanks to everyone for the helpful (and reassuring) replies. I'm pleased to see that the signal-to-noise ratio at this forum is so good. I'm really looking forward to the arrival of my TouchSmart so that I can start developing on it.
Gary
No problem - we'll be around if you have any other questions. Good luck!
--Andrew
View unverified member's comment - posted by William Holdt
As far as I know, Java is not included on the HP TouchSmart. Sorry. You may have to detect and do a separate download.
@Gary7, the absolute quickest route to Java development is netbeans, and it's all free.
Just head straight to http://www.netbeans,org/ download the full package, install and start. No messing around with runtimes, and class paths, and it'll even create your deployment package/jar with an exe stub to launch it if need be. :-)
Have fun.
Shawty.
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