Can a java application interface with an ipad?

Question

I am working on a research project to create a system to control electronic music through a touch screen. We're planning on building out own special screen for this purpose, but that won't be ready for some time, and I need to start working on the software now. I've been given an ipad to use as a temporary test bed touch screen.

So, it looks like I'll be creating my software in java, and I need to find some way to interface the touch information from the ipad with my code. The connection doesn't need to be wireless. In a perfect world, I would even send display information to the ipad, but that's not a necessary feature. I mostly need to be able to test out multi touch functionality in my control engine before I get my hands on the actual screen we'll be using.

As the screen we'll be using will simply be passing in a set of touch points on each frame (as it's machine vision based), that's all I really want from the ipad. I don't need its gesture interpretation, as I'll be doing that on my end. I just need to get my java application to somehow get real time touch information from the ipad. I haven't had much luck googling solutions to this. Only thing relevant was the TouchPad app, but I think that's more directly interacting with the operating system, and wouldn't be giving me the data I need (although I'm going to buy it and experiment). Does anyone have a suggestion as to where I may start? Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes, you can develop everything in Java and then expose the business logic using a Web Service , which you can then consume using wsdl2objc in your iPad .

Then basically you will just call that Java business logic on your callbacks for the touches on the iPad.

Answer 2

Another option (to the web service) is to abstract the functionality away from the ipad to your computer, ie use it as a basic input device (multitouch mouse).

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=use+iphone+as+a+pc+mouse#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=use+ipad+as+a+pc+mouse

Answer 3

You need to interface them using TCP/IP (or higher layers, eg HTTP), and ensure the machine running your Java program has IP connectivity over WLAN to your iPad.

So, you need to write a program running on the iPad that connects via TCP/IP to your Java program, and exchanges the information you need, such as passing the touch points over to your java program.

Answer 4

as a workaround you can use the following way

1. Install WebORB for Java on your dev box.
2. Create a simple rtmp application with your logic
3. Download the WebORB for iOS RTMP Library and attach it to your project.
4. Communicate with your server code through the RTMP protocol.

At this point the client library supports method invocation (client-server-client), data push ... Also with this workaround, you will have a persistent connection between the client and the server (I have no idea if it will be beneficial for your, but sounds awesome :) ). Moreover, it works really fast... Finally, for this case this approach is free - you can apply for the WebORB community license, or just use it in the development mode.

Examples http://www.themidnightcoders.com/products/weborb-for-mobile/ios-integration/rtmp-ios-examples-integration-between-java-net-and-ios.html

Documentation http://www.themidnightcoders.com/fileadmin/docs/ios/

Let me know if you need more information