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BlackConnect allows interoperability between Java and XPCOM components. It is possible to implement XPCOM components written in Java instead of C++.
Maintainers
- Brad GNUberg - bkn3@columbia.edu
- Kevin "The Burtonator" Burton - (email address here)
News
- July 22, 2003 - BlackConnect project is posted to java.mozdev.org
Status as of July 22, 2003
BlackConnect has been forward-ported to Mozilla 1.4 on the Windows platform only. Creating Java XPCOM components now works and can be called from JavaScript and C++, and calling XPCOM components from Java also works. BlackConnect only works correctly on debug, non-optimized builds. BlackConnect's build system has been fully forward-ported to Mozilla's modern build system, not the old Mozilla system that was used on M4. Exceptions need more robust testing, thread-safety seems to be correct (there is a unit-test for this). Passing null values currently does not work. A new Java build system has been integrated into Mozilla's build system that makes creating Java XPCOM components very easy. Code has been added to pass human-friendly error messages when XPCOM exceptions are thrown over the BlackConnect boundary, but needs to be tested more fully. A tutorial has also been added to the README file stepping the user through creating their own Java XPCOM components and calling XPCOM components written in other languages from Java.
License
BlackConnect should be triple licensed under the GPL, LGPL, and the MPL. All of the changes that I (Brad) have made are under these licenses. However, the original BlackConnect sourcebase was started before Mozilla decided to triple-license code; we still need to get a definite go-ahead from Sun to make sure the original code can be released under a triple-license. This would be a great task for someone who wants to contribute.
Documents and Files
- README - The readme file accompanying BlackConnect; read this to get a good scope of where we are at and what remains to be done to get BlackConnect stable, documentation on the technical layout of BlackConnect, and a tutorial on how to use the system as a developer.
- blackconnect_2003_07_24.zip - A debug build of Mozilla 1.4 with BlackConnect enabled. Use this to play around with the system and test against your system without having to build the entire Mozilla tree. Win32 only.
- blackconnect_src_2003_07_24.tar.gz - A source-drop of just the BlackConnect module.
- blackconnect_patches_2003_07_24.tar.gz - Grab all the patches at once to look them over.
- Specifications - Older document from 2001 describing technical specs needed for BlackConnect.
- Technical Design - Older document from 2001 describing the technical design of BlackConnect.
References
If you do not get a response to a question posted in this forum, please try sending a message to the project's mailing list or to the project owner directly.
- [1] Submitted by: Davide on Friday July 25th 2003
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I'm eager to see a build of mozilla 1.4 with BlackConnect for Linux !!!
- [2] Submitted by: Brad Neuberg on Friday July 25th 2003
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David, I don't run Linux on my box and can't produce a build of BlackConnect for Linux. Are you interested in modifying the build files to get things working on Linux? I could provide you some pointers on how to get started if you wanted to do this.
- [3] Submitted by: Davide on Friday July 25th 2003
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mmm...never built mozilla before. I'll try on monday when I come back to my office. Please send any clue to dadaista@crs4.it. :)
- [4] Submitted by: George Cao on Saturday July 26th 2003
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Would blackconnect build with the SVG trunk (SVG_20020806_BRANCH/GDI+). BTW, I so happy that you guys picked up this project. Thank you.
- [5] Submitted by: Brad Neuberg on Tuesday July 29th 2003
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George, not sure if our BlackConnect changes will mix with the SVG changes. I don't necessarily see a problem, since I imagine the SVG work involves changing Mozilla's layout and content modules while BlackConnect doesn't necessarily change anything core in the browser, just introduces a new module. However, I'm not sure how old the SVG trunk is. You can do an experiment: compile the SVG code as a debug, non-optimized build. Download the BlackConnect binary already compiled distribution. Copy the following files from blackconnect's dist/bin/components directory over to the SVG builds dist/bin/components directory: black* and bc* (everything starting with black or bc). Follow the README file in BlackConnect to see if things are working correctly by running xpcshell and testing out the sample component.
- [6] Submitted by: Brad Neuberg on Tuesday July 29th 2003
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Sorry, also copy over the dist/classes directory from the blackconnect build to the svg dist/classes directory. Send me an email to tell me if this works for you.
- [7] Submitted by: Brad Neuberg on Tuesday July 29th 2003
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One more thing about mixing SVG and BlackConnect: also follow the README files advice about setting up your environment for working with BlackConnect.
- [8] Submitted by: Alex on Sunday August 31st 2003
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Nice project!
- [9] Submitted by: Karl on Friday September 12th 2003
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Very interesting project!
- [10] Submitted by: jims on Sunday September 21st 2003
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Mozilla is a nice browser!