Web page embedding

[Jared Walker 5rt]

Hello,

ImageJ  has had an applet component for a very long time. Unfortunately
applet support in modern browsers isn't great (Chrome refuses, IE and
Firefox are ok as long as you set up permissions).

Is there an alternative to running ImageJ as an applet or something like it
directly in the browser.  I'm trying to find a way to have a lightweight
client that can do image processing directly on a web site.

Any input or referrals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Jared

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[ctrueden]

Hi Jared,

> Unfortunately applet support in modern browsers isn't great (Chrome
> refuses, IE and Firefox are ok as long as you set up permissions).

Indeed. Support for applets is on its way out:
https://blogs.oracle.com/java-platform-group/entry/moving_to_a_plugin_free

> Is there an alternative to running ImageJ as an applet or something
> like it directly in the browser.  I'm trying to find a way to have a
> lightweight client that can do image processing directly on a web
> site.

Four options I know of currently:

1) Java Web Start (JWS) [1], a plugin-free alternative to Java applets.
Users must have Java installed locally. They click a link, and then your
application loads and pops up in its own window(s), not embedded directly
in the browser window.

2) Run Java server side, and connect the browser as a client.

ImageJ now has a web server (still experimental quality!) which can be used
cross-language:
https://github.com/imagej/imagej-server

And we are in the process of developing a (very simple!) web client in
Javascript:
https://github.com/imagej/imagej-server/tree/web-client

With this scheme, the actual image processing happens server side. This
differs from applets and JWS, where every visitor to the site has their own
JVM running locally with image processing performed on their local machine.

3) Use a Javascript-based image processing library capable of running
directly in modern browsers, such as CamanJS [2] or Pixastic [3]. Then your
image processing operations can continue to run client side, embedded in
the web page itself.

4) Compile your image processing code to JavaScript, using a
<something>-to-JavaScript "transpiler." E.g., it is now possible to compile
Java to JavaScript using JSweet [4] or GWT [5], or C++ to JavaScript using
Emscripten [6] or Cheerp [7]. This option is not for the faint of heart,
though -- transpiling something like ImageJ with one of these tools would
be a very involved project.

I'd be very interested in any other solutions people have come across.

Regards,
Curtis

[1] http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/javaws/
[2] https://github.com/meltingice/CamanJS
[3] https://github.com/jseidelin/pixastic
[4] https://github.com/cincheo/jsweet
[5] https://github.com/gwtproject/gwt
[6] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten
[7] https://github.com/leaningtech

--
Curtis Rueden
LOCI software architect - https://loci.wisc.edu/software
ImageJ2 lead, Fiji maintainer - https://imagej.net/User:Rueden
Did you know ImageJ has a forum? http://forum.imagej.net/


On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 2:32 AM, Jared Walker 5rt <
[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> ImageJ  has had an applet component for a very long time. Unfortunately
> applet support in modern browsers isn't great (Chrome refuses, IE and
> Firefox are ok as long as you set up permissions).
>
> Is there an alternative to running ImageJ as an applet or something like it
> directly in the browser.  I'm trying to find a way to have a lightweight
> client that can do image processing directly on a web site.
>
> Any input or referrals would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> -Jared
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html