EQUIP Component Toolkit (ECT) To Do

• W needed for first webstart releae
• C needed for RCA curious home explorations (also implies W)
  

Documentation

• All source files need javadoc formatted comments (present in some already).
• Tutorial docs?
• etc. :-)
  

Release

• W Canonical set of core components [kind of]
  
• W Sample networks and arrangement [getting there - tar & sxi tutorials/intro/scenarios]
  
• Wiki [not done], mailing list [done] and/or similar community support for sharing arrangements, components, etc.
  

Licencing

• Choose open source licence
• Release on that licence
• track/prune non-licencable elements
  
• SourceForge?!
  

Infrastructure

Bugs

• Per-component persistence...does not atomically transition from one backup to another, i.e. there is a period of time during the writing of persistence files in which a container or host failure will leave an unreadable (typically truncated, i.e. partially written) persistence file.
• It is still a VERY BAD THING to cross-link component properties and then re-activate them all at once, e.g. from persistence recovery. Probably unavoidable deadlock possibilities. Could consider making property add events (as well as updates) queued.
• Web start container hard-coded hack to only be able to start java container.

Desirable features

• Standard recording facility (?extension to configuration management?) for (a) dataspace state and events [=File backed dataspace logs!] (b) internal component state and events (c) media (e.g. captured video frames, audio packets).
• Extensible framework for coercion to target property type on set for non-primitive types, e.g. URL or image to float, etc.
• It should be possible to mark some properties as being propagated as non-mandatory [note - discovered that all updates are currently unreliable by default - beware - 2004-07-13 cmg] updates in EQUIP, specifically those which may change very rapidly and for which intermediate values may be missed without problems. This should improve the responsiveness and resilience of the system under load. Suggestion: use custom extension of Bean Property Info descriptor. Non-mandatory events which change rapidly will lose intermediate values, e.g. triggers! beware!
  
• WebStart version
  
• should show allow installation auto-start to be configured.
• should run automatically as a service (Windows) or equivalent.
• ...on stop container or installation... containers should do persistence at this point.
• should allow dataspace master a clean shutdown (to flush persistence) on installation terminate.
• (ComponentExporter) should create new component instance(s) in a separate thread (remember to resync & check that request still exists once successfully created and before actually exporting).
• should have an extra  persistence indication mechanism to ensure short-lived components are still persisted
  
• Something like configurations but transferable between installations, i.e. templates.
• Allow a partially configured component to be exposed as a capability (e.g. SimpleVideoProcessor with particular config).
• Move processing import facility to a separate tool, or...
  
• [after Processing support v.1] support Processing jars directly as a component type in ExporterGUI/Container.
  
• C? Timeview can't cope with high update rates, i think (was trying a simple video network and the whole system bogged down).
• Container GUI:
  
• add label, e.g 'Capabilities'
  
• Host manager GUI:
• reorder tabs: new -> dicovered -> known
• add restart with download updates options
• 'secure' export of secret, e.g. via memory stick?!
  

Tools

• (more) New browser(s) and configuration tools that are pretty and easy to use.
• Easy link from component browser to web browser [improved through set value and copy]
• Structure running components to show parent/child hierarchy
• C Timeview version to work on File backed data store logs.
• Dataspace browser does not terminate on close (but consider embedded use with DataManager).
• Log overview/directory/browser ...-->?? replay tool
  

Current Component Issues

• Bar Code 1D reader is pretty useless in its current form. Does not read reliably or consistently.
• Component ...X... does not stop. [insert component name] EZIO?
  
• Nice if video framework image URLs allowed click to give position in image coordinates for use in Region processor.
• ARToolkit video component missing important outputs - confidence, image-space position of glyph.
  

Desirable Components

• Input for Java version of the Phidgets Manager and device and sensor/etc. components comparable to the C# version using the Phidget Java binding [still waiting on support from Phidgets- RSN?!].
• TV remote control input/output (with supporting hardware), to allow system to control TVs, etc., and to be controlled/affected using a regular remote control. [awaiting parts]
  
• Bluetooth device monitor [stalled (was Stripes)]
• Motes proxy components [partial version exists - jan].
• URL cacheing/uploading components (a) on infrastructure server (container server? 'real' server, e.g. tomcat?) [tom??] (b) on remote public server (via webdav??)

• Platform-independent media viewer?? c.f. dynamo media viewer (Windows-specific)
• Simple image URL viewer?
• Reminder, e.g. of birthdays, appointments (see also ACCORD reminder).
• Calendar, shared?

• EQUATOR AudioChair interface component(s).
• RSS feed source. [started by tom]
  
• RSS feed custom client. [probably by tom]
  
• Email monitor (e.g. unread messages, etc.)
• Ticker Tape??Coffee Biff?? etc.
  
• Printing and Scanning components - moving documents between physical and digital.
• Data logger/aggregator, collects and outputs time-series data, e.g. light level over day, e.g. as CSV [consider processing applets]
  
• Graph/display, to show output from logger/aggregator [consider processing applets]
  
• Contect-aware camera, records annotations with image: who, what, where, when.
• Mobile display - PDA/phone - for video, images, etc.
• Biometric inputs - fingerprints, etc.
• LEGO Mindstorms
  

History/done

• Build file needs javadoc target. [2004-07-12 cmg]
  
• WebStart installation dataspace should be persistent (symptom: restarting the dataspace loses all component requests and links). [2004-07-12 cmg]
  
• Container persistence of sub-component GUIDs for sub-components and their properties (symptom: after restarting a persistence container any links to/from sub-components are apparently missing (since they link to/from the old property GUID)). [2004-07-13 cmg]
  

• Auto-export of capabilities from the container (present in Webstart version already). [2004-07-12 cmg]
  
• WebStart version should show [a little] current status of host, and give access to browser(s)/GUIs... [2004-07-12 cmg]
• Automatic coercion to target property type on set, e.g. link a string property to an int property causing the target to parse the string if it is a stringified number.[basically only for numbers, char, boolean and toString - 2004-07-13 cmg]
• Some attempt to enhance synchronization to avoid races/livelock/deadlock. Note: all property item changes will now be asynchronous compared to the property change event that triggered them. [2004-07-13 cmg]
  

• Save and restore configurations, i.e. back up dataspace, per-container and per-component persistence information so that the same arrangement of components can be restored at a later time. Currently only the state of the system at the present time is persistent (over partial or complete system failure). [doesn't do anything about internal component persistence, but i think that is ok 2004-07-13 cmg]
• Component browser adding 'delayed' properties not working (at least once) - delayed properties not shown in component tree [2004-07-14 cmg]
• Added Set Value Popup to browser (context menu on Property node in running component tree) [2004-07-14 cmg]
• Occasional deadlock (?) when accessing video processor embedded web server for image viewing or configuration (symptom: capture device stops printing frame #s indicated stopped or stalled) [hopefully fixed 2004-07-14 cmg]
  
• Deadlock is possible, e.g. video capture thread emits frame, locking capture component and chain of handler components, one of which emits a property change event which requires the ContainerManager lock to progress. Concurrently, a change on a linked (source) property changes, acquires the ContainerManager lock (first), and then attempts to set the target property on one of the locked components. Resolution: property change event handler must be able to make progress (with required sync. access to internal information about bean property items) concurrently with in-progress property change and set. [2004-07-14 cmg]
• Vision framework components (processor, average) stop correctly [2004-07-14 cmg]
• Allow (user) naming of capabilities, components [in progress], ?links, e.g .using RDF statements with property dc:title shared persistently in dataspace (needs support from browser(s) and config manager) [2004-07-14 cmg]
• Vision framework capture components crash (JVM crash) if stopped and restarted. This seems to be a JMF issue?! A messy workaround would retain the internal stuff but just make the surface bean stuff go away. [messy workaround done 2004-07-14 cmg]
• ? Restarting a persistent container with a visionframework chain does not always correctly set the destination sink value. (may be a more general race condition with initial values) [possible fix; awaiting confirmation/replication - 2004-07-13 cmg]
• Security needs implementing in webstart (shared secret) [2004-07-15 cmg]
• WebStart access to component updates site(s)/facilities with download of components, DLLs, etc. [2004-07-15 cmg]
• WebStart handling a JAR and DLL dependencies of components (load, path)[2004-07-15 cmg]
• Webstart file cache should remove old un-needed files.[2004-07-15 cmg]
• WebStart version should show [more] current status of host, ...containers to be stopped and restarted [2004-07-16 cmg]
  
• Logging/console output fixup - for diagnostics/debugging (to file?) [2004-07-15 cmg]
  
• Add config manager to webstart [2004-07-15 cmg]
• After joining a newly discovered installation, then terminating it, the BootFrame still shows it as discovered, not known. [2004-07-19 cmg]
  
• If a webstart slave is (auto)started without its master running the installation is started but the container is not. This is no good: it should either stop installation until discovered, or start container as well so that it will (re)try connect to DS. [2004-07-19 cmg]
• Bean Shell Script component should have a property that can be used to force it to execute and also make it stop when it has gone into an infinite loop. [2004-07-19 ted]
• At least once I used configuration manager to clear and re-make a video processing network, and the simple video processor did not recover its configuration. Not sure if this indicates a more general problem. [fixed - persistence startup update issue - 2004-07-19 cmg]
  
• ?Once terminated installation (with component browser running - might be significant) and the host manager did not reappear. [not seen this again for a while - cmg]
• Add timeview (live and logged) to webstart. [2004-07-19 cmg]
• Fix timeview time stamps to be something useful (e.g. for replaytool) [2004-07-19 cmg]
  
• Timeview should show given (RDF) names. [2004-07-19 cmg]
• Timeview should allow property names to be specified (for output to log files) (perhaps using RDF mechanism). [2004-07-19 cmg]
• Timeview should cope with any height of tracks (currently fixed-size panel - tracks lost at top). [2004-07-19 cmg]
  
• Installation manager "Dataspace [not] connected" does not change back from "...not..." to "...connected" when master is restarted. (not async???) [2004-07-19 cmg]
• SmartITs factory components do not stop. [2004-07-20 cmg]
  
• Video averager does not reflect change in threshold property in (persisted) config property. [2004-07-20 cmg]
  
• Java version of the Phidgets Manager and device and sensor/etc. components comparable to the C# version using the Phidget Java binding [NB input only, at present - waiting on support from Phidgets 2.0 input - 2004-07-20 tom hart]
• Various component browser consistency and link view enhancements [2004-07-20 cmg]
• We need an easy way to build the webstart verion(s). [2004-07-20 sxi]
• ...per-container persistence does not atomically transition from one backup to another, i.e. there is a period of time during the writing of persistence files in which a container or host failure will leave an unreadable (typically truncated, i.e. partially written) persistence file. [2004-07-20 sxi]
• Use property values serialised in container persistence file to initialise writable properties on non-Persistable components (this would avoid the need to implement Persistable if a component exposes all of its state as properties). [2004-07-21 cmg]
• Dynamo media viewer does not stop or re-start. [2004-07-21 cmg]
• Clean shutdown/restart option for containers; Webstart version should allow containers a clean shutdown (on stop container or installation), ... [2004-07-21 cmg]
• Dataspace persistence (a) should use write to temp and rename strategy to avoid exposing incomplete checkpoint files (b) should catch and log/ignore IO exceptions during reading of event log (which may be truncated) [2004-07-26 cmg]
• Webstarted container hangs  on attempt to instantiate a component class which requires (not exactly sure which) loading of a native library and/or access to another jar file (which may do the same), i.e. video capture, media viewer, phidgets. [2004-07-28 sxi]
• Container persistance file path to component jar not always matched by actual jar on restart (observed when i used webstart version 2004-07-21 ish, logged in as local admin). [presumed fixed 2004-07-23 cmg]
• Installation GUI: show status of download/update; add 'export secret' GUI option (just display in text field for now?!) [2004-07-30 cmg]
• Dynamo media viewer hangs on startup in webstart version (new feature today :-( ). [2004-07-28 sxi]
• Audio capture and processing framework comparable to the video framework, e.g. to detect noise level from a microphone. [2004-07-30 cmg]
• Bean supporting MIT's Processing language for display components. [chris 2004-09-01]
  
• Video plus audio, video-only and audio-only streaming and display components to support media-server functionality, serving media from files. Possible channel abstraction? Could use JMF RTP support. Option: video framework transmitter component, e.g. for remote video monitoring. [tom has done an initial version]
  
• RFID Tag Readers (various) [ted TagIt  2004-09-01]
  
• SMS Gateway [shahram 2004-09-05]
  
• X10 controller (serial or USB??) [chris 2004-09-19]