Funkee 0.9 review

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Funkee is a cross-platform scripting host built on top of the Java Virtual Machine and the Groovy scripting language

License: The Apache License 2.0
File size: 0K
Developer: Joshua Turner
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Funkee is a cross-platform scripting host built on top of the Java Virtual Machine and the Groovy scripting language. Funkee is geared toward people who want to test code snippets, and toward those who need to write and run scripts quickly.

As of release 0.5, Funkee adds support for BSF -- the Bean Scripting Framework. It has been tested with Jython and Rhino (1.5R3), bringing the number of supported scripting languages to at least three, including Python, JavaScript/ECMAScript, and Groovy.

To add support for your favorite BSF-friendly language, just drop the language's JAR file into your .funkee directory, restart the application, and start writing scripts!

Funkee still favors Groovy, in that Java and Groovy can be used to define classes that can be referenced by any of the supported scripting languages.

Funkee now supports XML-RPC Web Services as both a client and a server. For security reasons, the server component doesn't start without user intervention.

XML-RPC server scripts only need to be dropped into the "xmlrpc" subdirectory off the user's funkee home directory in order to be picked up. Example code will be added to this page Real Soon Now.

In order to create a client, scripts currently need to invoke:

funkee.getRPC("http://some.host.name:8080/")

after which they can use the remote service as though it was a local object.

When executed, Funkee displays a smiley face in the upper-right corner of your screen. In the background, it also creates a subdirectory named ".funkee" in your home directory, and unpacks a default set of scripts. (MS Windows users: your home directory is probably under "C:Documents and Settings") You can then invoke Groovy scripts in your .Funkee directory by using the smiley.

To execute Funkee, you need the Java Runtime Environment 1.4 or better. Funkee has been tested against JRE 1.4.2 and JRE 1.5.0 on MS Windows and Linux.

To launch Funkee on MS Windows, double-click the Funkee.jar file. On UNIX, type "java -jar funkee.jar" at the command shell.

Here are some key features of "Funkee":
It's cooler.
JAR files dropped into the .Funkee directory are automatically read and made available to scripts at startup.
Funkee keeps an internal cache of compiled Groovy scripts and classes, which it verifies against the scripts in the .funkee directory. When a Groovy script needs to be recompiled, it gets done transparently at runtime (this includes Groovy objects!).
Funkee now supports a LOT more scripting languages than just Groovy.

Groovy scripts in Funkee are invoked by events. This means that the behavior of the application is completely configurable by the end user. The names of the scripts, the events that trigger them, and the value of the param variable that gets passed in are as follows:

sys_drop.groovy

param: java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable
Invoked when the user drops something on the smiley.

sys_hyperlink.groovy

param: javax.swing.event.HyperlinkEvent
Invoked when the user clicks a hyperlink in the speech window (after a sayHTML() command.) This is a good script to customize shortly after installing -- usually you'll want to shovel the URL from the event to your preferred web browser.

sys_mouseclicked.groovy
sys_mousepressed.groovy
sys_mousereleased.groovy
sys_mouseentered.groovy
sys_mouseexited.groovy
sys_mousepopup.groovy

param: java.awt.event.MouseEvent
Invoked when the user makes the corresponding gesture with the mouse over the smiley.

sys_mousewheelmoved.groovy

param: java.awt.event.MouseWheelEvent
Invoked when the user moves the mouse wheel over the smiley.

What's New in This Release:
The UI was completely rewritten and is now based on JRCF.
Both text and graphical targets are now provided for script outputs.

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