# README.txt (see READMORE.txt for more)
# See LICENSE.txt for license note.
# 2004-02-29 initial release,
# 2004-03-10 minor changes,
# 2004-04-20 minor changes.
# 2004-05-21 major changes.
# 2004-06-18 minor changes.
# 2004-07-13 minor changes.
# 2005-01-21 minor changes.
# 2005-01-23 major changes in function.
# L. Zhao <writebear \at yahoo \dot com>

Introduction

  Thanks for using JWebPresenter -- a very simple web-based
  presenting system. It is based only on bitmap image (any
  type supported by the JRE (Java Runtime Environment, see
  http://java.com/), namely PNG, JPEG, GIF are OK) to avoid
  compatibility problem such as text corruption, font etc.
  
  Roughly speaking, you can think JWebPresenter a distance
  slideshow tool. But it is designed to do presenting very
  efficiently, and can do even better with the help of the
  presenter (you?). The details are explained later.
  
  Notice that there is no tool provided (and there is no
  such a plan) to create the presentation image (= slide).
  Instead, you can use your favorite tool (e.g. PowerPoint,
  MagicPoint, Impress or others) to create the presentation,
  then export it into images (or try "screen shot" if your
  tool does not support image exporting).

File list

  JWebPresenterSS.java : the Java program source
  LICENSE.txt          : license note (GPLv2 in one word)
  MANIFEST             : used to create package jwp.jar
  README.txt           : this one!
  READMORE.txt         : for more readings (with ChangeLog)
  doxygen.cfg          : use doxygen doxygen.cfg to get docs
  index.html           : sample HTML file for presenting
  jwp.jar              : compiled classes package
  slideshow.pl         : slide changing tool (perl script)
  slideshow.sh         : slide changing tool (shell script)
  (slideshow.pl and slideshow.sh have the same function.)
  note: jwp.jar can be obtained by the following.
        (1) compile: java JWebPresenterSS.java
        (2) create:  jar cvfm jwp.jar MANIFEST *.class

How does it work

  Simple. A presenter puts the slides to a pre-defined URL.
  An audience then fetches the image by that URL. Presenter
  changes the URL (thus the slide) at his or her will, and
  audiences just fetch it. For more, see READMORE.txt.

Requirement

  Audience: JRE (Java Runtime Environment) v1.4+
  Presenter: an HTTP (or FTP if above JRE supports) server,
             Perl or shell utility.

Howto (install and work)

  First of all, you need a BASE URL for presenting. Suppose
  it is "http://host/dir/", which locates at the server's
  directory "DIR" (e.g., "/var/www/html/myPresentation/").

  For the presenter (be sure that the Web server works!).

  1) Prepare your presentation, export it to images (currently
   PNG, JPEG and GIF are supported), one image for one slide.
   Name them slide-1-1.png, slide-1-2.png, ..., (mixed format
   is OK. Actually the extension is not important. The slideshow
   script will automatically choose the file of minimum size if
   there are several files with the same name except extension).

  2) Copy your images and index.html, jwp.jar, slideshow.pl (or
   slideshow.sh) from the JWebPresenter package to DIR.

  3) Modify the applet parameters in index.html to refer your URL.
   Set "slideURL" to "http://host/dir/slide-1.png"; set "ctlURL"
   to "http://host/dir/ctl-1.txt", "baseURL" to "http://host/dir/".
   Actually ctlURL has higher priority than slideURL. Other applet
   parameters are explained in the sample index.html.

   The presentation can be started by "perl slideshow.pl" at DIR
   (or "./slideshow.sh" if you are using a shell).

  For audiences.

   Use your browser (with a working Java 2 plugin!) or an
   appletviewer to access the specified URL. Or you can download
   the jwp.jar file, and run it from console by
     "java -jar jwp.jar [parameters]"
   (it shows usage if no parameter was provided).

   Use ESC key (may not work) or mouse triple-clicks to quit.
   2004-04-19: a popup menu is added! You can do quite a lot of
     things with it, including quit. Try even though JVM is buggy!
   2004-06-18: the only two non-trivial functions provided by the
     popup menu are "Reset URL" and "Fast Mode". "Reset URL" will
     reset the internal URLs to the original given parameters
     (i.e., provided in the HTML file containing the applet, or
     by command line). This is useful if the presenter has stopped
     an old presenting and started a new one (without "Reset URL",
     JWebPresenter will still try to fetch slides for old presenting).
     On the other hand, in "Fast Mode", JWebPresenter will fetch
     only the newest slide. This is useful for slow connections.
   2005-01-21: presentation window can be resized or moved by
     choosing "Decorate Window" from the popup menu.

Q&A

  1. Why use the name "slide-1-1.png" instead of "slide-1.png"?
  A. slideshow.pl and slideshow.sh support multiple presentations
     at the same time (e.g., for multiple resolutions). Thus the
     image file name is chosen to be "slide-X-Y.png", where "X"
     denotes the source number, "Y" denotes the slide number.

Note

  JWebPresenter uses Java, which is responsible for the first "J"
  in the project name. Non-Java client is also possible, but I like
  Java :-). I would be happy if one sends me other implementations,
  e.g., in C, or other utilities for this project.

Have fun!

L. Zhao 2005-01-23