Rev Interoperability Discussion Group

[Richard Gaskin]

As I mentioned in my presentation in Malta at ERC 2004, I've put 
together a new discussion group at Yahoo to focus on issues and 
solutions for developers using Rev to make plugins and other components 
for use in multiple applications.

The Rev Interoperability group is at:
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/revInterop/>


I've uploaded two files there:

- EMCI.txt - A first (and rough) draft of a specification to
   help such components play nice with others.

- lib4WSHELL - An example library shell which can be used as
   a template for building your own libraries, with a few
   conveniences built in.  This shell is also available in
   RevNet.


If you build libraries and other components for use by other Rev 
developers, or have been itching to do so, this discussion group may be 
helpful.  Please feel free to rip apart the current rough draft spec so 
we can all contribute to revising it into something that's truly useful 
for everyone.

Here's the introduction section for the draft 001 to give you a feel for 
what that group's discussion is focused on:

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

INTRODUCTION
------------
As the Transcript development community grows we can expect many new 
innovative solutions coming from its members.  These include:

- Libraries
   Stack files that hold scripts which can be called from throughout
   the message path, initialized with "start using".

- Components
   Objects or groups of objects which have a specific purpose or
   function, such as a table widget or FTP settings dialog, useful
   across multiple projects.

- Templates
   Prefabricated collections of objects which work together to
   provide the basis for a complete software application, such
   as a shell for a slide show viewer or a system utility.

As the variety of these things grows issues of interoperability are 
introduced, such as name space conflicts among handlers or objects.  In 
addition to minimizing errors, there is an opportunity to provide easier 
integration of elements from different third parties.

This initiative proposes a set of conventions which aim to serve both 
goals, minimizing the risk of introducing errors when integrating 
elements, and exploring ways to make it simpler to use such elements.

Much of what is needed for that goal could be described generically as 
"metadata", additional information bound to the objects in question but 
which do not directly affect performance of those objects.

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiatibe (DCMI) is a consortium effort to 
facilitate exchange of documents.  Given that the goals of the DCMI and 
this initiative are in many ways very similar to ours, and that the DCMI 
working group has already expended tremendous investment in defining 
metadata needs for such purposes, this initiative aims to use DMCI 
nomenclature and conventions whenever practical.

To reinforce this deference to the DCMI project and as a tip-of-the-hat 
to the company that produces Transcript and Revolution (Runtime 
Revolution Ltd. of Edinburgh), this project is given the lighthearted 
name of "Edinburgh Core Metadata Initiative" ("ECMI").
....

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  Developer of WebMerge: Publish any database on any Web site
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com