Reviving WW.NET development

[knji]

OK guys, it has been a while how and there has been no updates on the status of WW.NET development, which means no one is doing anything about it. I am a developer with enough experience in .NET and Java and having to develop user interfaces in Java just to use WW's Java SDK it taking a step back in time.

I will like to start contributing to WW.NET development but need the ABCs on getting the source and compiling with or without Visual Studio. I will prefer to use Visual Studio 2008/10/12, whatever as I have all versions.

First question, I guess that needs an answer is where is the source code for WW.NET? If I can get the source, I can start from there.

I think we can also setup a StackOverflow site for this?

[nlneilson]

Why don't you consider porting WWJ to C++ ??

There may be more interest than in C#

[knji]

I do not have that level of C++ experience to take on such a venture.

[nlneilson]

If you are good at C# then C++ should be easier once you get used to it.
Take a look at this IDE.
http://www.ultimatepp.org/index.html

I have ported apps from Python, Java etc. to the MSVC++ IDE and then to U++.
If some managed code needs to be included in a .dll that can also be done.

Get something started and help will follow. It would be a challenge but getting the core code done would be a big step.

You can get the java code here:
http://builds.worldwind.arc.nasa.gov...ease-daily.asp

[James_In_Utah]

Knji,
If you want to take a crack at the .Net code, at least start with the latest fix. NASA took down all the tile servers, so now you need to down load imager from WMSs. You can find fixes to point to the correct servers here:
http://forum.worldwindcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=32363

I think you will find links in there to fixes in the code.

[knji]

Neil, thanks for sharing the links to U++ and the source code. I will take a look at it. What I want to kick start here is a C# or C++ replica of the Java SDK, so I will need to get an overall architecture of that SDK. I have access to Enterprise Architect which could be used to reverse engineer the Java SDK.

Even without this overall picture, I surely can say for a smaller team (starting with me alone) there will be greater milestones achieved if this is done in C# rather than C++. It will also be interested to find out why NASA decided to abandon the .NET part of this project and instead focus on a Java SDK. I can see some reasoning behind portability but if this was one of their sole motivations for using Java, why not use C++ instead from the additional performance benefits you will be getting? Were they also concerned about productivity?

If you are good at C# then C++ should be easier once you get used to it.
Take a look at this IDE.
http://www.ultimatepp.org/index.html

I have ported apps from Python, Java etc. to the MSVC++ IDE and then to U++.
If some managed code needs to be included in a .dll that can also be done.

Get something started and help will follow. It would be a challenge but getting the core code done would be a big step.

You can get the java code here:
http://builds.worldwind.arc.nasa.gov...ease-daily.asp

[nlneilson]

1. Neil, thanks for sharing the links to U++ and the source code.

2. ... so I will need to get an overall architecture of that SDK.

3. I have access to Enterprise Architect which could be used to reverse engineer the Java SDK.

4. ... if this is done in C# rather than C++.

5. It will also be interested to find out why NASA decided to abandon the .NET part of this project and instead focus on a Java SDK.
I can see some reasoning behind portability but if this was one of their sole motivations for using Java, why not use C++ instead from the additional performance benefits you will be getting? Were they also concerned about productivity?

1. You are welcome. Glad to see someone interested in a C++ port of WWJ.

2. Download the WWJ source. It is in there and most portions have good explanations what the code does.

3. "reverse engineer" I don't know what you mean by this, the code is there so it just needs to be ported to C++.

4. I don't think there will be much interest in C#. Some think that is just M$ butcher of C++.

5. There was a post years ago why the WW team chose java over C++.
First of course was to get away from C#/.NET. There were more java programmers available and it is an easier language than C++.

I think your biggest hurdle will be to get away from C#/NET.

Getting tiles to display on an ellipsoidal globe would be the first step.
Things should fall into place a step at a time after that.

The U++ IDE is much better to work with than M$VC++ in my opinion.
It does use the M$ or GCC compiler.

[nlneilson]

knji:
Look at \src\gov\nasa\worldwind\globes\
Earth.java, EllipsoidalGlobe.java and Globe.java
Plenty of comments on what the code does.

If you can draw and manipulate a sphere divided by latitude and longitude like WWC# and many other 3D globes do then the WGS84 shouldn't be that much difference. The vec4 math code should be fairly easy to port to C++.

[knji]

Neil, thanks for the pointers. I have both the Java and C# sources so will be studying them over the next couple of days. I will have to admit that the details behind 3D computer graphics is new to me so there is a steep learning curve ahead.

[nlneilson]

It may be best if you start with the WWC# code James gave the link to.

The 3D globe code you can learn with that.

[knji]

To anyone who is interested, I have started the WorldWind Java SDK port to .NET. I am going off the Java SDK model and not off the C# source code. However, I do occassionally glance at the C# source code to see if there are elements in there that align with the Java counterpart and can be reused. My goal is to create an SDK that supports both OpenGL and DirectX.

Anyone interested can follow progress here.

https://bitbucket.org/knji/worldwindsdk

Once I have ironed a basic architecture I will be opening the project to anyone who is interested to contruibute.

[nlneilson]

Good luck on that.

I may look at your code later to consider porting portions from C# to C++ if you keep the managed code and CLI to a minimum.