P4AllBuildingBlocks

This repository contains 'sub-repositories' with configuration and build files for deploying dedicated AsTeRICS Building Blocks as runnable stand-alone demos. Additionally, the building block demos can be bundled together into one installer. A dedicated deployment tool (AsTeRICS Packaging Environment, APE) has been developed for the Prosperity for All (P4All) project and is used to extract only the needed resources of a full AsTERICS installation to run a building block demo. For more information about customization of Building Blocks and deployments as well as licensing options please have a look a the Wiki

A short overview of the features of the building blocks can be found in the P4All Developer Space listing

Screencast

Check this screencast explaining and demonstrating the structure and usage of the repository.

Demos

Go to the AsTeRICS demo page to see the building blocks in action.
The demo release of the AsTeRICS system includes runnable versions of all these Building blocks and demo applications of their combination.

Licenses

The building blocks are dual licensed. You can choose between MIT or GPLv3 with CLASSPATH exception license depending on the selected set of plugins, services and libraries you want to use. Please read the license section in the wiki for more information.

Building the project

This repository is organized in thematic subfolders ('sub-repositories') like CameraInput containing building blocks using a camera (e.g. for facetracking or eyetracking) or demonstrate use cases for a Smart Home environment.

The building blocks can be used in two ways depending on your requirements:

• Option 1: Create a downstripped/extracted version of AsTeRICS depending on the given model files using APE-copy. APE-copy is available as a commandline tool (APE-copy.sh|APE-copy.bat) and as a build target (ant APE-copy) of the provided ant build infrastructure. You can use the resulting folder and bundle and deploy it together with your software.

• Option 2: Create a native installer and native launcher for your platform of choice. Currently Windows (.msi, .exe), Linux incl. Raspberry Pi (.deb) and Mac OSX (.dmg) are supported. This option is only available as an ant build target (ant deploy).

The behaviour of APE-copy and the native installer creation can be configured in the file APE.properties. There you can define model files, copy modes, application name and version and optionally embed a JRE (Java Runtime Environment) into your installer.

Install and build instructions of prerequisites

The commandline tool APE-copy only needs a Java Runtime Environment. In order to use the ant build targets and create native installers you also need ant and a Java Development Kit 8.

• Clone the P4AllBuildingBlocks repository

git clone https://github.com/asterics/P4AllBuildingBlocks.git

• Download and install AsTeRICS v2.8 full installer or the platform independent zip-file containing ARE and APE. If using the zip-file, extract it to a parallel folder of the P4AllBuildingBlocks repository.

• Install the [Java Development Kit 8 (32-bit)] (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html)

  • Verify the java installation by opening a command shell and entering javac -version. In case of trouble, ensure to set “JAVA_HOME” to the folder where you installed the Java JDK and add the JDK bin path to the Environment Variable “Path”

• Install the [apache ant build framework (version >= 1.9.1)] (http://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi)

  • Ensure to set “ANT_HOME” to the folder where you installed ant and add the ant bin path to the Environment Variable “Path”

• Only for option 2: Install installer-specific toolkits like [InnoSetup >= 5] (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php) (.exe), WiX toolset >= 3.0 (.msi) or [debian packaging tools] (https://wiki.debian.org/PackageManagement) (.deb) depending on the required target platform. You must run the installer build process on the target platform of the installer. For more details, read the [JavaFX packaging tutorial] (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/deploy/self-contained-packaging.html#A1324980)

Creating bundled demo with ant APE-copy

• Open a terminal window in the root folder of the P4AllBuildingBlocks repository and call
  
  ant APE-copy
• To test the result, go to the build\merged\bin\ARE subfolder and start the ARE.

cd build\merged\bin\ARE
start.bat

Creating bundled demo installer (.exe)

Please ensure to install [InnoSetup >= 5] (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php) to be able to create .exe installer files.

• Open a terminal window in the root folder of the P4AllBuildingBlocks repository and call
  
  ant deploy
• To test the result, go to the build\deploy\bundles subfolder and execute the demo installer

cd build\deploy\bundles
asterics-prosperity4all-bb-demos-0.2.exe

The demo will be installed to the user home directory and started automatically.

Creating single camera mouse demo with ant APE-copy

• To build the demo of a single building block, go to the respective subfolder - for the crossplatform camera mouse, this is CameraInput\XFacetrackerLK and call ant APE-copy.

cd CameraInput\XFacetrackerLK
ant APE-copy

• To test the result, go to the build\merged\bin\ARE subfolder and start the ARE.

cd build\merged\bin\ARE
start.bat

Creating single camera mouse demo installer

• To create a native installer for a single building block, go to the respective subfolder - for the crossplatform camera mouse, this is CameraInput\XFacetrackerLK and call ant deploy.
• The build process must be run on the target platform of the installer (e.g. Windows for .exe, Debian/Ubuntu for .deb). Also check the dependencies first.

cd CameraInput\XFacetrackerLK
ant deploy

• To test the result, go to the build\deploy\bundles subfolder and execute the demo installer

cd build\deploy\bundles
cameramouse-xfacetrackerlk-p4all-bb-demo-0.2.exe

The demo will be installed to the user home directory and started automatically.