WireIt: a javascript wiring library
I’m pleased to announce the first release of WireIt (version 0.1) !
WireIt is a javascript library that allows you to create cool wires like Yahoo Pipes. It is built upon:
- the CANVAS tag to render the wires
- the YUI Library v2.3.1
- excanvas for IE support
It comes with some examples (see the home page) and an application example, the Planar Game.
Why would you make such a library ? After playing a lot with Yahoo! Pipes, I realized how powerful it was to create mashups. I was already used to visual programming Languages like PureData or Mac OS Automator, but they’re definitly not able to do mashups.
However, Yahoo Pipes has this big inconvenient to run your pipes on their web servers. It has at least two disadvantages. First, it means we will always be restricted to the modules and types they implemented. You could always create a restful webservice and wrap it into a pipe, but the execution time blows up. Second disadvantage, you have to be careful with your data privacy. Indeed, I would like to create some Mashups that could mix with my private data in a more secure way.
That’s how I started to develop a Yahoo pipes-like application, and how I ran into this stumble block: “How the hell did they do those pipes ?”.
Waiting for your feedback,
Eric
December 12th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Looks + feels awesome. Well done!
December 12th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Brilliant!
December 13th, 2007 at 4:27 am
ah, beautiful. thanks for making this!
December 16th, 2007 at 2:37 am
i have been unwiring in cube format, it’s not solved until it is in a perfect x by x square. written in this format it makes it simple to write a program to resolve almost any instance of the problem…
have you considered when you have 9 balls, to create a 6 by 6(double the square number of balls before randomizing them into a circle? by removing a non-linear solution ( just map the balls to a grid and move them around the grid until a solution is reached) the introduction of empty spaces adds additional complexity to the problem.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Paul > I guess you are talking about the Planar Game, not WireIt
This game was made as an example for WireIt.
If you want to play the real game, go to http://www.planarity.net/
On his wiki, John Tantalo describes an algorithm to generate planara graphs: http://johntantalo.com/wiki/Planarity
December 20th, 2007 at 1:24 am
amazing job. Congratulations!
did you also take a look at draw2d? It also has some pipes/lines to link figures.
I have not looked in details at your library yet. But how easy is it to implement the boxes part of yahoo pipes?
Thank you
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:50 am
I’m looking forward to tinkering with this. Very nice work!
December 27th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Would be great if the wires could have a direction, like showing an arrow on a specified end of a connection.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Fantastic Work !
but i’ve one question.
How does one determine which BoxIO is wired to which BoxIO ?
is there some function that can give output of BoxIO A is wired to input of BoxIO B
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
This is awesome. I’ve been looking for a library giving a Yahoo Pipes GUI. Thanks!
March 8th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
This kicks ass! Thanks a lot, Eric - I’m going to use it in an upcoming project.