Developing Applications

By :-AbhiJeetShiVamGurjot

Helps in building multimedia applications. Allows developer to edit various types of data file viz. audio & visual.

Provides assistance in building Prototype applications. Used for creating further productive versions of the existing soft wares /applications.

eg. Many tools are present & are being used – such as from employee at banks to professional application developer .

Traditional business presentations use 35-mm slides for overhead projectors.

Even amateur users can utilize these tools to create multimedia presentations on PC. Includes dynamic presentation tools which generate presentations that run on PC’s from magnetic or optical discs

these packages are supported by discs containing clip media- collection of images, audio, video clips provided with presentation tools .

Designed for professional application developers.

Support features like - layouts, graphics design, animation, control of branching and navigation-to provide end users the gist of their application.

Controls may be based on hypertext approach which allows user to link that contains a wide variety of data types etc.

Provides screen design tools to support layout of text, images and hotspots.

These includes the set of commands, script editors, interpreters, debuggers.

Makes possible to write a multimedia application that can be played on distinct delivery machines.

eg. Script X, from kaleida labs.

Allows authors to visualise and edit applications by creating two-dimensional graphic design using icons.

Applications like remote consultation, incorporating audiovisual telephony will require additional support

including directory services and a call set-up service.

Programming LanguagesNeed For Programming Languages

Disadvantages of authoring tools

Each package has its own ‘Look and Feel’ which it imparts to all the applications that are developed using that package. This may be unacceptable to companies who want to create apps. that reflect their own style.

System overheads are also a major concern which prevents the application from achieving fast response time.

Thus, developers find the need to create their own tools to handle all or a part of an application, using a third generation lang. like C, Smalltalk, or C++.

Advantages

In object oriented system, the data and its related procedures are packaged together as s/w objects, an approach well suited for development of multimedia applications.

Libraries of standard objects, also known as class libraries are available.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

(also known as multi-platform)

Refer to software that are implemented on multiple computer platform .

A platform is a combination of hardware & software used to run software applications.

Platform is simply as an operating system or computer architecture, or it could be the combination of both.

Eg: most familiar platform is Microsoft Windows running on the x86 architecture.

Developers develops application that are capable of running on multiple Platforms

Which saves Times and Resource, both in developing & Maintaining application

Two types of Platform Hardware Platform Software “

Approaches to cross-platform

Using a commercial tools eg: Macro-media

simply to create multiple versions of the same program in different sources.

i.e. application run on both MAC and IBM PC

choosing a scripting Language, such as ScriptX , which help to execute independently from any other application.

Adopting an industrial-approved or International standard, but these standards are limited and subjected to approval by the IMA

Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA)

Professional trade association of companies and Individuals.

Involved in Producing & using Interactive multimedia technology

Its member: Apple , IBM , Intel , Philips , Sun , Microsoft

It defines the multimedia platform as any hardware, OS environment that provide multimedia capability

HYPERTEXT What is hypertext ?? Vannevr Bush proposed a m/c with a

feature that had the ability to tie two items together.

‘Human mind operates by association.’ Man can’t hope fully to duplicate this mental process artificially, but he learns from previous experiences.

Basic Terminology In this system, objects in a database,

called nodes, are connected to one another by machine supported links.

User follows these links from node to node in order to access the info. they contain.

Contents of a node (normally text) are displayed in a window on a computer screen.

Window can contain a no. of link icons also called as targets or buttons, which represent pointer to some other node in the database.

Clicking on the icon with the mouse activates the link and causes the system to open a new window to display the selected node.

Users can create new nodes and can add new links.

•By selecting the link icons and following the links from node to node.

•By searching the database for some keyword.

•By navigating the database using a browser that displays the network as a graph.

The sequence of nodes that a user has accessed becomes a path.

HYPERMEDIA In hypermedia systems, a node may

contain any information that can be controlled, presented and edited on a computer (e.g. text, graphics, animations sound, images).

The terms hypertext and hypermedia are frequently interchanged.

Types of hypermedia systems General purposeGeneral purpose systems are available today in

commercial implementations.

Problem ExplorationProblem Exploration tools are designed to support early unstructured thinking in problem solving or project design

Browsing SystemsBrowsing Systems are intended for teaching, etc where ease of use and ease of learning are crucial.

Macro Literary SystemsMacro Literary Systems support on-line libraries in which all links b/w documents are m/c supported.

Hypermedia and WWW

Information providers set up hypermedia servers on the web to be accessed by browser programs over the internet.

The browser reads the hypermedia documents and can fetch a related document from another source.

Search of documents by browser is permitted if the server has server has search capabilities.

Dexter Hypertext Reference ModelDexter Hypertext Reference Model

A no. of hypertext projects led to inconsistencies of approach and terminology.

To achieve consensus on basic hypertext concepts dexter hypertext reference model was introduced.

It provides a standard terminology of the important constructs found in a wide range of hypertext (and hypermedia) systems.

1.The runtime layerControls the user interface.

2.The storage layerIt is database containing a n/w of nodes connected by links.

3. Within-component layerIt is the content structure inside the nodes.

Description of Layers The main focus is on the storage layer, which

consists of a set of components. Interface b/w storage and the runtime layers

includes presentation specifications that determine how components are presented at runtime.

e.g. size of window The within-layer component corresponds to

individual applications. Its interface to storage layer is via anchors.

Anchors consist of an identifier, which can be referred to by links, and a value that picks out the anchored material.

Runtime layer is responsible for handling links, anchors and components at runtime.

ReferencesReferences

J. Jeoffcoate- Multimedia in Practice.

The End …