Orbiter (JavaScript Client Library) Preview Release

Update: OrbiterMicro has now been released.

A public preview of Orbiter, Union Platform's JavaScript client library, is now available for download here. Using Orbiter, web developers can create multiuser web pages, applications, and games that run natively in web browsers without the need for additional plug-ins.

To see Orbiter in action, visit this JavaScript chat application, which communicates seamlessly with the equivalent Flash-based chat application posted here.

Orbiter is already fully functional, but at this preview stage of development it is limited in the following ways:

• Requires Union Server 1.0 Beta 1 or higher, which can be obtained here.
• No documentation. However, Orbiter's API is, in most cases, identical to Reactor's API. Furthermore, complete source code is included in the release.
• Incomplete API. Orbiter does not yet have a room manager, client manager, or account manager, nor does it have Client objects, Room objects and UserAccount objects. Instead, most communication methods are currently defined by the Orbiter class directly. In a future release, Reactor-style managers will be added to Orbiter's API, and the Orbiter class's temporary communication methods will be removed. In the interim, developers can access all Union Platform features by sending and receiving UPC messages directly via Orbiter's MessageManager.

Orbiter is currently tested and verified working in the latest version of the following web browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, iPhone Mobile Safari, Android Browser. Please send reports of incompatibilities to union [-a-t-] user1.net.