jDrive for Gmail Blog: May 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

jDrive for Gmail - next generation - RCP version (v2.0) blueprint

The next generation version of jDrive will be based on the Elcipse RCP technology. The version main stream number will be v2.0.

While the Eclipse platform is designed to serve as an open tools platform, it is architected so that its components could be used to build just about any client application. The minimal set of plug-ins needed to build a rich client application is collectively known as the Rich Client Platform.

Applications other than IDEs can be built using a subset of the platform. These rich applications are still based on a dynamic plug-in model, and the UI is built using the same toolkits and extension points. The layout and function of the workbench is under fine-grained control of the plug-in developer in this case.

When we say that the Rich Client Platform is the minimal set of plug-ins needed to build a platform application with a UI, we mean that your application need only require two plug-ins, org.eclipse.ui and org.eclipse.core.runtime, and their prerequisites.

However, rich client applications are free to use any API deemed necessary for their feature set, and can require any plug-ins above the bare minimum. Examples include the Help UI, and the Update Manager.

For more information of RCP, please visit the offical website at http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Rich_Client_Platform

Monday, May 18, 2009

jDrive version v1.05 released...

The new version of jDrive v1.05 has been released on May 18th, 2009. The version 1.05 includes the following new changes and features:

enhanced icons in the application
progress dialogs for uploading and downloading files.
connection status indicator
preference pages
ability to store encrypted passwords
and much more....

The new version will be available in the following link or visiting the download section on the left hand side navigation bar.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

The jDrive Development notes

The development of jDrive has been through few milestones as shown in the following,

Apr. 2009, the necessity of the tool for using gmail as a remote storage is considered.
May. 1st, 2009, the requirement of the tool was drafted.
May. 3rd, 2009, code of connecting to the gmail (IMAP) and sending content to gmail were programmed.
May. 5th, 2009, GUI design was started.
May. 10th, 2009, first beta testing version was released.
May. 13th, 2009, defects were fixed based on the feedback.
May. 14th, 2009, modified the code structure.
May. 15th, 2009, GUI design was finalized for the version 1.05.

Monday, May 11, 2009

jDrive

jDrive is Java application that uses Gmail as an online storage space to store and access your files at anytime.

The jDirive has the following outstanding features includes:

Written entirely in Java
Native OS look and feel, utilizing the Eclipse technology
Open source, completely FREE
Portable size
No need to install
Spam and virus free

The minimum require for running the tool would be:

PC with PII or above
JRE 1.6 installed in the PC
16M memory
8M hard drive space

The tool is targeted as open source, and it would be released under the GPL aggrement. For detail of the GPL, please click the following link.

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Sunday, May 10, 2009

jDrive version v1.00b (beta) released...

The 2nd testing version v1.00b has been released today. This testing version is untented to be a public version. Thus it is only available for the testers within our testing team. Feedback and comments will be collected for the feather enhance of the tool. The testing will be taking about 2 days. The public version of the tool will be released within the next week.

A progress bar

An undetermined progress bar animation image was design for the application. When the application is trying to send the file to remote host, the status can not be retrieved, so an undetermined progress bar is necessary to show the user that the transmission is undergoing.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The prototype of the main JFTP window

The main window including 2 tables, one for local file system, the other is for the remote system (Gmail).

The remote table will show the file name (or folder name), its type and its size (only for file).
In the name column, the specific file icon will associated to the known type files.
The connection status icon will show the status of the connection. (Either disconnected or Securely connected..)
Console will display message for the activities.

Once user connected to their gmail account, those two tables are getting enabled (not grayed out).

Friday, May 1, 2009

The jDrive thought

The jDrive has been thought for a long time, and we keep looking for the feasible ways to implement the tool. Since the Gmail offers more than 7 giga storage space, and it is the one of the most email service providers around the world, so we decided to write this jDrive to use the Gmail as the online storage drive.

Our choice of implementation has been limited to the Java, specifically, the Java mail for the file transferring module, and SWT from Eclipse to code the Graphical User Interface (GUI). As the Java technology become common these days, so we plan to write the whole tool in a executable jar file, and it can be executed by double click it.