Webapp manual

Webslides Webapp manual

overview

1. What it does
2. How to deploy
3. How to use

1. What it does

The webslides webapp is a simple web application. On this site, you can upload a .pptx or .pdf file that you want to convert to Open Webslides. After the conversion, the Open Webslides will be returned as a zip file which may be bundled with the Shower javascript presentation engine.

2. Deployment

Windows

Create the following structure in %userprofile% (for most users C:\Users\[username])

• tiwi
  • upload
  • download
  • java_app_pack (which contains the OpenWebslidesConverter.jar)
  • java_app_logs

If you have access to a Glassfish server, simply deploy the application (.war file in project directory, dist subfolder) using the web interface. If the /dist folder doesn't exist in your directory, open the project in netbeans and build it. You may choose another webserver if desired, Glassfish was chosen for its easy deployment of java (web)applications.
You may also test the application by building it yourself, simply clone the project, make the directory structure, build the web application (preferably in Netbeans because of the integrated Glassfish) and run it. (last tested 15/05/2017)

*Nix

The same rules apply as for Windows with one caveat: the application makes use of the user.home system property which may vary depending on whether the webserver is running as the root user or not. In case you don't have access to the root account of the server a workaround is required:

• In the case of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS replace every instance of System.getProperty(user.home) in the source code with File.separator + "home" + File.separator + "[your username on the server]".
• Create the directory structure under /home/[your username on the server]

Both

One necessary modification: the websocket.js file contains a line
socket: new WebSocket("ws://localhost:8080/OpenWebslidesWebapp/pipe")
This URL is for local testing purposes. A version intended to deploy requires modifying that line to your desired URL. In this case:
socket: new WebSocket("ws://webslide.ugent.be/OpenWebslidesWebapp/pipe")

If you do have control over the root user, you should create the directory structure under /root.

3. How to use

Files can be selected in two ways.

• Select your files using the choose button
• Drag your selected files in the indicated area

The selected files must be of type .pptx or .pdf. Files with other extensions will not be accepted. After selecting the files you want to convert, click the convert button to get the .pptx or .pdf files as Open Webslides. Depending on your connection and the size of your file, you should see a download button appear with the name of your file. You can then use that button to download your webslides. For more information regarding usage visit the application where an expanded manual is available.