kukulski / npTuioClient

TUIO Client plugin for web browsers

npTuioClient

npTuioClient is a TUIO Client implemented as an NPAPI-based browser plugin. It uses reacTIVision's TUIO Client as a base.

The plugin constantly calls a javascript function tuio_callback whenever a new touch event arrives. Having this function called, you can start using javascript to manipulate HTML, Canvas, SVG, etc in order to create a multi-touch application!

Check the included examples to see how to use this plugin. Check also TUIOjs to see more examples.

The plugin has been tested and works on

• Windows XP: Firefox 3.0.10, Google Chrome 2.0.172.33, and Safari 4.0.
• Linux (Ubuntu 8.04): Firefox 3.0.11
• Mac OS X 10.4.11: Firefox 3.5rc3 and Safari 4.0

It doesn't work on Opera 9.64 on Windows XP nor Internet Explorer.

To make the plugin works on Internet Explorer, the plugin has to be ported (or wrapped) to an ActiveX-based plugin first. This is needed since Internet Explorer doesn't support NPAPI-based plugin.

Download

• Windows
• Linux (Ubuntu 8.04 i386)
• Mac OS X

Compilation

Windows

Open the Visual C++ project/solution file and build. I use Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.

Linux

Go to the project directory and type make.

Mac OS X

Open the Xcode project and build. I use Xcode 2.5 under Mac OS X 10.4.11.

Installation

Windows

Put the plugin file npTuioClient.dll under Firefox'/Mozilla's plugin directory. Mine is C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins.

If you are using Google Chrome, put the plugin under C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\Plugins. Create the directory if necessary.

Linux

Put the plugin file npTuioClient.so under ~/.mozilla/plugins.

Mac OS X

Put the plugin bundle npTuioClient.plugin under ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/.

Usage

Install the plugin, open one of the example files on your browser and start using your multi-touch display!

You can open multiple tabs or windows as long as they belong to the same browser instance. The plugin can't be used from multiple browsers at a time. This is because the TUIO Client library can only be started once at a time.

Issues

• Firefox on Mac OS X crashes when the plugin is unloaded (all pages that use the plugin are closed). This doesn't happen on Safari 4.0.

  TODO: check plugin's shutfown and bundle unloading.

• Firefox on Linux can't cleanly close the TUIO connection. So, the browser has to be restarted if the plugin want to be loaded again.

  TODO: check TUIO Client's stop function.