HTML-based/Browser apps (was Re: anti-cheating)

Thu Feb 12 09:28:07 EST 2009

Hey Mike,
Make sure to restart Sugar between activity changes (Ctrl+Alt+Erase) as the
shell doesn't automatically pick up changes yet.

Also, make sure the .SVG is located in the same folder as the
activity.infofile.  You might try copying a .svg from another activity
(say Browse) and
renaming it to activity-econdev.svg just to make sure the correct file is
being found.

Finally, make sure the activity is Starred in the list view or it will not
appear in the circle.

-----------------------------------------

Your home finance initiative sounds like it dovetails nicely with my
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Finance activity.  It's an extremely simple home
financial calculator ala Quicken.  I wrote it in the hopes that children
might help their parents keep track of income and expenses and make budgets.

If you have time, please take a look and let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Wade

On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 5:25 AM, Mike Dawson <mikeofmanchester at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey All,
>
> The offline spec is indeed something very cool - I had some time back
> done some work with XSL to try to create something that would have a
> similar effect with Apache cocoon - but nothing can (or should) beat a
> w3c standard.
>
> What we are trying to do in Afghanistan to see if we can offset the
> cost of the laptop is deliver info to the parents using the XO to see
> if we can help them to increase their income - things like home
> business ideas (e.g. Afghan carpets), CV writing etc. for when the
> kids are asleep...
>
> As HTML seems to be the most portable / compact choice we have made a
> collection of info as such - but as per the previous post we would
> rather have it a bit more prominent than making the .xol collection
> file.
>
> I hence copied the help activity to a new folder Econdev.activity:
>
> Left helpactivity.py as it was except for changing the line:
>
> HOME = os.path.join(activity.get_bundle_path(), 'econdev/index.html')
>
> Created activity
> [Activity]
> name = Economic Development
> activity_version = 10
> service_name = af.asmed.EconomicDevelopment
> icon = activity-econdev
> class = helpactivity.HelpActivity
> license = GPLv2
>
> Then there is an SVG I made in Inkscape activity/activity-econdev.svg
> - yet somehow when this folder Econdev.activity is copied to
> ~/Activities and sugar etc. is restarted - no icon turning up.  I also
> tried packaging it as a .xo file and then running the install script
> that put it under /usr/share - it turns up, but no icon...
>
> I went through the log viewer and there didn't seem to be any special
> mention of it...   Is there possibly a problem from not changing the
> Class name of the helpactivity to be unique - or some naming
> convention that I have neglected here?
>
> Our stuff (in English, Dari and Pashto) will go up on olpc.af and as a
> collection...
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Mike
>
> PS:
> I have to hang my head in shame that I have not yet done much Python /
> XO activity coding (yet) - I've done more Java/J2EE and Linux server
> admin thus far.  I will take time over the "weekend"...
>
> 2009/1/13 Sameer Verma <sverma at sfsu.edu>:
> > On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 2:15 AM, S Page <info at skierpage.com> wrote:
> >> Carlos Nazareno wrote:
> >>
> >>> - I'd also like to see more work done on a method to easily bundle
> >>> Gnash or HTML-based/Browser applications as stand-alone activities, or
> >>> at least launch the browser with the wrapped activity loaded upon
> >>> startup.
> >>
> >> See the Help activity in 8.2.0, it instantiates the WebView from hulahop
> >> that underlies Browse and points it at help/XO_Introduction.html.
> >>
> >> But is it so bad to make your "HTML-based application" an installable
> >> collection that shows up in the "OLPC Library" navigation on the Browse
> >> home page?  See <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Creating_a_collection>.
>  Just
> >> because most library content is static non-interactive ebook material is
> >> no reason really cool browser apps shouldn't go in the OLPC Library.
> >>
> >> One thing that might make collections more appealing and feel like
> >> applications is if the collection's library.info icon (which seems
> >> otherwise unused?!) or the web site's favicon would appear in the
> >> Journal instead or as well as the generic globe icon of Browse.  I filed
> >> a confused ticket #9188 for this enhancement.
> >>
> >>> - Using a local daemon or service of some sort, the method I
> >>> previously outlined can also be used here for "standalone" mode of the
> >>> tests. This way, the learner can also practice with them and learn
> >>> outside of class hours.
> >>
> >> The WikiBrowse activity (WikipediaEN.activity on G1G1 8.2 laptops)
> >> starts a local python Web server and fires up a WebActivity (Browse)
> >> instance pointing at it.
> >>
> >> Better, Browse's engine is XULRunner 1.9 and it has support for most of
> >> the HTML 5 offline application spec
> >> <http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-html5-20080122/#offline>.
> >> E.g. http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/offline/todo.html is an
> >> expanding form you can fill out while offline that will update the web
> >> server when next online.  It should work on an XO (I can't try it, my
> >> wireless router is bust! :-( ).
> >>
> >> I concur with where you're going.  *Never* ever bet against the browser.
> >>  Browse or a custom WebView activity can do everything that Firefox 3
> >> can do, without worrying about compatibility with abysmal MS Internet
> >> Explorer that's keeping the web stuck in 2004.
> >> E.g. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/FindTheCountry -- why bother with crappy
> >> static PDF atlases when interactive technology like that is available?
> >> And you can View > Source it!
> >>
> >
> > This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time!!! This is
> > definitely going down in the SVG examples section for my class in
> > Spring.
> >
> > Sameer
> > --
> > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor of Information Systems
> > San Francisco State University
> > San Francisco CA 94132 USA
> > http://verma.sfsu.edu/
> > http://opensource.sfsu.edu/
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> > Devel at lists.laptop.org
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> >
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