Information, Resources and Updates for KidCheck Users

An end to Java and ActiveX?

One of the most difficult things you can to when it comes to writing web software is to tie in with physical hardware like printers and scanners. This is because the web was designed to try to prevent this (so a hacker couldn't take over a hardware device on a computer from the web remotely) but this is something that KidCheck has to be able to do in order to seamlessly print out labels and read barcodes.

For the last 2 years, we've relied on 2 different technologies to make this happen, ActiveX and Java. ActiveX is an older technology that works with Internet Explorer browsers only. It's reliable, but very limited (Windows, IE only) in its reach. Java gives us a much broader reach (cross platform) but is not nearly as reliable as we need it to be.

Programming for Java applets over the web is a real challenge as well. Not only are there several different versions of Java (currently 22) that we have to support, but 2 different companies writing it. Even Apple is having trouble supporting Java on their systems and may end up dropping support for it in their upcoming system release. On top of that, there are 4 different browsers that we have to write for, all of which talk to Java in slightly different ways making it incredibly frustrating and challenging to maintain. (you can do the math on how many different versions of the Java interface there are in KidCheck)

Java is a great idea, but no longer the right choice for KidCheck to provide a fast and reliable, cross-platform system. So, what are we to do?

Enter Adobe AIR and KidCheck v3.0.

I'm sure you're all familiar with Adobe's Flash technology (ever watch a video on your web browser?) that is absolutely everywhere on the web. Well, the Adobe guys have released a new technology that extends Flash called AIR. AIR is a cross-platform application framework that gives us access to a whole new realm of technologies through a web browser. It's a light-weight, fast and proven technology that we are well under way in integrating it into the KidCheck system.

The new AIR system brings a lot of advantages over both Java and ActiveX:

Increased reliability. AIR has its own integrated web browser, so all KidCheck code can be written for a single web browser, greatly simplifying code and increasing reliability substantially.

Full Screen Check-in. AIR allows us to automatically run check-in as a full screen application without special installers or desktop icons, on any platform.

Better Printing Support. The AIR print engine is substantially more robust than the Java engine. Faster print queues, automatic label scaling and the potential to support many different types of label printers.

The AIR system is scheduled to go into an early Alpha release at the end of the week. If you'b be interested in trying it out, please just email support@kidcheck.com and we'll send you instructions on how to check it out.

We are REALLY excited about KidCheck v3.0 and the new AIR system and are looking forward to having it ready for prime time in the upcoming month.

An end to Java and ActiveX?

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