[jawsscripts] Re: Introducing HomerJax script library for accessing Internet data
- From: "Donald Marang" <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jawsscripts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 14:29:58 -0400
It might take me a while to get my head around this package. I can imagine
a few examples I want to tackle where these functions would come in handy.
I will probably try to understand Webrequest functions first. Thanks for
making this package available!
Don Marang
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <JAWSScripts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 3:27 PM
Subject: [jawsscripts] Introducing HomerJax script library for accessing
Internet data
>I have created a JAWS script library for accessing Internet resources
> called HomerJax, available at
> http://EmpowermentZone.com/HomerJax.zip
>
> It is a collection of JavaScript functions that become available to JAWS
> scripts via the files HomerJax.jsb and HomerJax.wsc. No COM server has to
> be registered to access the HomerJax object and its many methods.
>
> HomerJax.jss currently contains two functions: CreateHomerJax() for
> creating the object, and HomerJaxDemo() for running an interactive demo of
> its capabilities. The demo shows how you can get the content type, source
> HTML, or plain text of a web page; download a file to disk; get public
> messages from Twitter.com, or post a tweet if you have an account. The
> code accesses data in JSON format (JavaScript Object Notation) as well as
> in XML. The demo may be run by launching Notepad and pressing
> Alt+JAWSKey+D.
>
> Documentation is in the files HomerJax.txt and HomerJax.htm. For ease of
> learning more via this email message, I am pasting the initial sections of
> documentation below.
>
> I credit list members: Bryan Garaventa for information on the
> MSXml2.XMLHTTP object, and Martin Slack for information on the
> System.Collections.ArrayList object.
>
> Jamal
>
> HomerJax
> Beta 0.6
> August 3, 2009
>
> Copyright 2009 by Jamal Mazrui
> GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
>
> Contents
>
> Introduction
> Overview
> COM Exchange Format
> Dialog Methods
> File Methods
> Folder Methods
> HTML Methods
> JScript Data Methods
> Path Methods
> Regular Expression Methods
> Registry Methods
> Shell Methods
> String Methods
> Variant Data Methods
> Web Request Methods
> XML Methods
> Development Notes
> ----------
>
> Introduction
>
> HomerJax is a library of convenience functions for accessing Internet
> resources. It is written in JScript, the Microsoft version of JavaScript,
> and is dependent on several COM servers distributed with Windows. The
> word "Homer" is a brand name I sometimes use for developer tools I create.
> The word "Jax" derives from Ajax, which originally meant "Asynchronous
> JavaScript and XML." Ajax technologies focus on building dynamic user
> interfaces in web browsers. HomerJax functions use some of these core
> technologies, but focus on reading, interpreting, and writing data from
> the Internet.
>
> Since the Internet is a great source of accessible information for people
> with visual disabilities who cannot readily read the printed word, my hope
> is that this library makes it easier for developers, including blind ones
> like myself, to build applications that take advantage of new social
> networking sites such as Twitter, FaceBook, and many others. I intend for
> HomerJax to be accessible via various programming environments, including
> the Windows Script Host, screen reader scripting languages, and other
> programming languages via a COM server interface.
>
> A demonstration program is included that shows how you can easily get the
> content type, source HTML, or plain text of a web page; how you can
> download a file to disk, how you can get messages from the public timeline
> of Twitter.com, or poast a tweet if you have a Twitter account. The demo
> shows how data is converted from JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to what
> I call COM exchange format, and how XML data may be conveniently accessed
> as well.
>
> The functionality and documentation of HomerJax will improve over time in
> response to comments, questions, and suggestions. Code contributions are
> also welcome.
> ----------
>
> Overview
>
> HomerJax methods are divided into categories indicated by a prefix at the
> beginning of their names: Dialog, File, Folder, Html, Js, Path, RegExp,
> Registry, String, Vt, Web, and Xml. By convention, HomerJax variable
> names use lower case prefixes to indicate the data type: s for string, i
> for integer, n for floating point number, l for list, d for dictionary,
> and o for other COM object. Method and variable names use upper camel
> case (like the .NET Framework), e.g., XmlGetValue rather than XMLGetValue.
> JavaScript is a case-sensitive language, so methods need to be called with
> appropriate capitalization.
> ----------
>
> COM Exchange Format
>
> The Component Object Model (COM) is a set of Windows standards by which
> different programming languages and applications can communicate. COM
> uses a flexible data type called a variant, which can be an individual
> value, array of values, or complex object with methods, properties, and
> events. In general, any COM client can use string, numeric, and COM
> objects as the data types of parameters or return values. Some, however,
> cannot use arrays. COM exchange format is intended to support
> collections, as well as primitive data types, for use by any COM client.
> Rather than an array, a list COM object is used from the .NET Framework
> (any version). A COM object dictionary is also used from the Windows
> Script Host.
>
> HomerJax includes a method called JsToVt, which converts data in JSON
> format to variant types understood by JAWS Script (or any COM client
> language). JavaScript arrays are converted to COM objects with the progID
> "System.Collections.ArrayList." The methods and properties of this object
> are documented at
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.collections.arraylist.aspx
>
> JavaScript objects, which are like dictionaries, are converted to COM
> objects with the progID "Scripting.Dictionary." This object is documented
> at
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x4k5wbx4(VS.85).aspx
>
> In Visual Basic and other languages, either of these types of object
> collections may be iterated with the "For Each" statement. These objects
> have an "Item" method, which is the default COM method of the object, so
> syntax can succinctly referr to items without even using the "Item"
> keyword (just using an integer element of a list or string key of a
> dictionary enclosed in parentheses). The code of the demo program
> illustrates this in getting public messages from Twitter.
>
> HomerJax includes various methods for converting between JavaScript Object
> Notation (JSON), variant data types, and COM exchange format. This
> provides much flexibility for accessing data on the Internet.
>
> ...
>
>
> __________
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>
> View the list's information and change your settings at
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>
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