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Archive-name: auto/comp.groupware/availability-of-GroupKit-1-0-toolkit-for-real-time-groupware

We're making available "GroupKit", which is a groupware toolkit developed
at the University of Calgary on top of Stanford's InterViews package.  It
allows developers to more easily construct real-time groupware systems.
This is the first public release of the system.  We'll do what we can to
provide some support, but essentially its available "as-is".  Comments and
bug reports appreciated of course!

We're presenting a paper on this at CSCW this coming week (the paper is
included in the distribution).  Those of you who are going to Toronto who are
interested, I'll be looking forward to talking to you about the system
there.

The following is an excerpt from the README files:


                README for GroupKit 1.0
                -----------------------
 
This directory contains the initial release of GroupKit 1.0, from 
the University of Calgary.  GroupKit is a C++ toolkit for building 
real-time groupware conferencing applications (such as shared 
drawing tools, group writing systems, group support tools, etc.).

GroupKit is provided free of charge, to encourage more reseach and
development into groupware applications.  GroupKit makes it relatively
easy to develop new applications, by providing many "standard" groupware
components, for registration, communications, etc.  GroupKit also
supports several features motivated by groupware "human factors"
work, including overlays to support gesturing and annotation, flexible
registration mechanisms to support group processes, etc.

GroupKit is an on-going research project.  The latest version of the 
software will always be available for ftp from "cpsc.ucalgary.ca".  
Inquiries can be addressed to Mark Roseman (roseman@cpsc.ucalgary.ca)
or Saul Greenberg (saul@cpsc.ucalgary.ca).



What Else You Need
------------------

GroupKit is built using InterViews, currently version 3.1-beta3.  
GroupKit will be updated to IV 3.1 when it is made available.  The
InterViews distribution is available by anonymous ftp from 
"interviews.stanford.edu".  See also the "comp.windows.interviews"
Usenet group.  

A C++ compiler is also required, which accepts revision 2.0 or later
of the language.  X11-R4 or -R5 are also required, as are imake and
makedepend.  The FAQ for InterViews or the InterViews newsgroup 
is probably a good place to check about specific compilers.



Structure of the Distribution
-----------------------------

The GroupKit distribution contains a set of include files, source for
the C++ classes implementing the GroupKit libraries, and a number of
GroupKit based programs.

Three libraries (reflected in the "include" and "src") directories are
included:

  gk     - this provides core GroupKit classes for managing conferences,
           communications, overlays (for sketching and gesturing), etc.

  gk-reg - this provides core classes for building "Registrar Clients"
           which are programs allowing users to register for conferences

  gk-ui  - this provides a number of "normal" widgets used by GroupKit
           programs, including a shell, a table widget, string browsers,
           a static text field, etc.  These could be used in non-GroupKit
           InterViews programs

The "src/examples" tree contains a number of GroupKit based programs,
both "standard" GroupKit programs and examples:

  registrar -   a program maintaining a list of all active conferences

  reg-open -    a client program to the registrar, allowing users to join
                conferences using an "open" registration protocol

  reg-master -  a client program to the registrar, suitable for use
                by a facilitator in a strictly controlled conference

  reg-slave -   a client program to the registrar, suitable for use
                by a user in a strictly controlled conference

  deck-flip -   a simple GroupKit conference example, making the
                InterViews deck example multi-user
 
  cursor-demo - a GroupKit conference which demonstrates the
                cursor overlay for gesturing

  groupsketch - a simple multi-user freehand sketching program

  monitor -     a GroupKit conference component which will monitor
                the list of users in the conference

  brainstorm -  a simple brainstorming tool, where ideas typed by
                each user are broadcast to other users

  vote -        a Conference where users can poll other users on 
                yes/no questions and receive a tally of responses



Documentation
-------------

A tutorial on building GroupKit applications is contained in 
"doc/tutorial.ps".

A reference manual is contained in "doc/reference.ps"

A paper describing GroupKit (GroupKit: A Groupware Toolkit for
Building Real-Time Conferencing Applications, Roseman and Greenberg,
Proc. CSCW '92, Toronto) is contained in "doc/gk_cscw92.ps".

An intro guide to using InterViews (meant to supplement the 
reference manual contained in the InterViews distribution) is
contained in "doc/ivtutorial.ps".


-- 
==============================================================================
Mark Roseman  --- Groupware'R'Us
Dept. of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta.  T2N 1N4
(403) 220-7691   roseman@cpsc.ucalgary.ca    Fax: (403) 284-4707