James W. Harris

Software Engineering Languages and Tools

The University of Iowa

Introduction
The ObjectDraw is an application, which allows users to collaborate remotely across the internet or network. The user can share their artwork with other users in the session. The software is peer-to-peer software, which allows anyone to start a new session from any location. Once the user creates the session, allow can join that remote session on the network. The user can develop new drawing tools and introduction these tools into the session at which the tool is distributed to the other users.

Any user can use these tools to doodle on the canvas. After the session is complete, the users can save their artwork. The administrator of the session can pass control to other users in which he can control who can draw on the canvas. This application is portable. The user can create or join sessions on anyone network. This application can run on multiple platforms. A user with the Linux operating system can communicate with Windows users running the same application. This application is ideal for personal and business solution.

Conclusion

The ObjectDraw is an application, which allows users to collaborate remotely across the internet or network. The first major team decision was choosing the language, Java or wxWidget for C++. The Java language was more feasible because it is cross platform. The wxWidget requires more advance C++ knowledge. Also, Java is widely used. The next decision was deciding to use DatagramSocket or Java Sockets. The DatagramSocket did not make sense for usage in our application and does not have a continuous connection. The DatagramSocket established only UDP connections. The application needed a continuous connection, so the team decided to use Java Sockets. After using Java Sockets, it did not meet the project specifications. The Java Socket crashed when sending objects across the network. This problem forced the project to use the RMI technology. RMI handled the transmission of serialized objects reliably.
The team designed the application as a dynamic server or p2p application. The dedicated server required a dedicated computer. Developing the application as a p2p application is portable and can be easily be setup by anyone running the application. The team tested the program through the whole coding process. The program was successfully completed using RMI as the backend.

Team Members
James Harris
Kiran Kasamesetty
Fan Yang
Jack Wise

 Screen Shots