as nice as that is i dont need that!
i need perl with applet like abilities!

from what i can tell perlscript is for asp pages?

what i need is something where i can do realtime manipulation
inside of the 'perl-let', in much the same way as java does

maybe an explain is in order?

i use a lot of vrml /web3d stuff

they use a mechaism that is called EAI
which stands for external application interface
what this does is allow java to make calls back and forth to the vrml plugin
{this can be done with other plugins too AFAIK}
now, john stewart of freewrl {freewrl.sourceforge.net}
has made it possible to use perl eai in freewrl
this is great but not really deployable across multiple vrml plugins!
what id like to see is this type of thing for perl
why?
as good as java is nothing beats perl for pattern matching!
and heck i just like perl better than java!
as well its good to have choices!!

Assuming that it was set up that way, we'd need to incorporate a GUI method for the webbrowser. Probably GTK or Glade or something, perhaps TCL/TK, which would morph into some sort of Browser::API; I'm not going into the holy war on GUIs thing.

After we had this "plugin" in place, we'd have to work on the transport protocol. It'd be a terrible thing to have someone insert into a cleartext transmission from a webserver to a perl plugin some malicious code like system("your nasty commandline here"); Which means we'd need at least a CRC transmission test system and probably SSL.

So... If we got the plugin created, and to an acceptible point where the clients would not have to worry about simple hack attacks, then we'd have something. I'm afraid I don't use much client side applications, so I don't use much java at all.

defintley security is an issue
thankfully
we can look back through five years of how java did/didnt do it!

i dont know if gui is a real issue
i mean a java applet doesnt
nessicarily output anything

thats up to the developer and what their project needs

the ability to use gtkglarea in a perl plugin
would be super smoking

i think size of the plugin could matter esp on windows
but if it was included in activestates setup?

okay..
i have to ask.
why do you write <BQ>your posts like</BQ>
e.
  e.
    cummings?

well, if activestate was set up, we could just develop a perl package system... where all the code and optional libraries could be contained, possibly compressed, and CRC verified (to avoid simple tampering over TCP). This would be a very small download for most applications.

OTOH, without activestate set up, the plugin would be very hefty, because you'd have to basically install perl somewhat... perhaps a binary distribution that was self contained could be rather win32 universal... I'm not sure.

Regardless, the download would be very small for almost all "applets" ... :) ... it's the plugin download that'd get you. It'd basically activestate, with a small package management setup and mime type.

The biggest problem would be getting anyone to set it up. Perl's *way* too powerful to just download something automatically from any site and execute it. :) Gives "Microsoft Free Fridays" a brutal edge to it, as soon as someone starts using malicious system calls. :)

Thoughts anyone?

hey:
one of the problems im trying to solve is in my last post
java development is very expensive in terms of dev time and project budget

and for eai
perl could do things a lot faster
and with less difficulty


this site has java eai examples
http://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/vrml/examples/eai/

ok i havent tested these code pieces
thoughoughly but check it out
there are some differences in the way they currently work
mostly because there is no activex/pluing for perl!!
here is the java directory of code for changing rgb
http://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/vrml/examples/eai/rgb-change/
check out RGBChange.java its the core of it all
there is an html page there you should be able to load if you hava a vrml plugin:
say http://www.parallelgraphics.com/ plugin under windows

here is the perl code


# Very simple: just get the TouchSensor event and give
# a random color to the other box.

# NOTE - this does not work very well, at all!!!! Have
# to figure out how best to fix it. JAS.   


$PORT=90000;

use IO::Socket;

$server = IO::Socket::INET->new(Proto => 'tcp',
        LocalPort => $PORT,
        Listen => SOMAXCONN,
        Reuse => 1) or die("Can't set up server");
system("perl /usr/bin/freewrl t1.wrl -best -eai localhost:$PORT eai &"
+);


$sock = $server->accept();
$sock->autoflush(1);
 
sub getlines {
        print "jt1.pl getlines starting\n";
        my @arr;
        for(1..$_[0]) {
                print "jt1.pl EXPECTING ROW $_\n";
                my $str = <$sock>;
                chomp $str;
                print "jt1.pl GOT '$str'\n";
                push @arr, $str;
        }
        print "jt1.pl returning from getlines @arr\n";
        return @arr;
}

# Test the sample EAI protocol.

$a = <$sock>;
$sock->print("TJL EAI CLIENT 0.02\n");

$sock->print("1\nGN TS\n");
my @l = getlines(4);
# print "\njt1.pl ok, REAL node of TS is $l[3]\n\n";

$sock->print("2\nGN MAT\n");
my @m = getlines(4);
# print "\njt1.pl ok, node of MAT  is $m[3]\n\n";


# print "jt1.pl SENDING 3 RL $l[3] TouchTime XX\n";
$sock->print("3\nRL $l[3] touchTime XX\n");

my @l2 = getlines(4);
# print "jt1.pl - Touchtime returned @l2\n";
         


# XXX This is fragile - it breaks if user clicks quickly and two event
+s
# come before our response gets to them

while(@x = getlines(3)) {
        print "jt1.pl in while loop with @x\n";
        if($x[1] ne "XX") {die("Invalid ev '$x[1]'")}
        $sock->print("15\nSE $m[3] diffuseColor\n".(join ' ',map {rand
+} 0..2)."\n");
        #@y = getlines(4); 
        #print "jt1.pl finishing while loop with @y\n";
}
[download]


please keep in mind this is the first
implementation of perl eai in freewrl
no other vrml viewer/browser
has the capability of running perl...yet

hope that helps in understanding!


back in the day we didnt have no old school

hey
ok i do realize it has to be an
active x control for one browser!!lol

not everything i do is server side
the thing is its not about replacing a working solution,
its about having choices

sure java is great but have you ever had
to make an applet that worked:

a) on multiple o/s's?
b) on multiple browser and versions?
c) had to work on a java project with more than one class file?
d) had to recompile recompile recompile the java code?
e) had to use jar files that are out of date/have no source code?{ahhh cpan}


perl would eliviate a lot of this redundant work
and of course drive down the cost of the project too!!

look at my next post i wil be providing examples between the java and perl versions of eai
{i just wanted to address this post seperately}

back in the day we didnt have no old school