Union News
Union 1.0 Beta 1 is now available for download. Beta 1's primary focus is Union Server security. Prior to Beta 1, malicious clients could easily attack Union Server using built-in commands such as "remove room" and "remove account". For example, a client could request a list of rooms on the server and remove them all without restriction. As of Beta 1, Union Server provides fine-grained controls over client privileges. An administrator can, for example, specify that a room can be removed by the client that created it only, or that no client is allowed to remove any room. For complete details, see Union Server's security settings documentation.
Now that security is in place, Union 1.0's feature set is largely complete, very few bugs remain, and the API is close to frozen. We expect to release only one more Beta version before shipping the final Union 1.0 commercial release.
For more information about this release, please see the Union 1.0 Beta 1 Release Notes.
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.
A couple of interesting community examples were posted recently to Union Coders:
Thanks to Kenichi and Alex for making their code publicly available.
Source code for Union Pong is now available here. The example explains how to combine client-side Reactor code with a server-side room module to create an online multiplayer version of the classic game of Pong.
Source code for a fridge magnets application is now available here. When a user drags a letter in the application, all other connected users see the letter move. The example demonstrates room modules, room attributes, and client-to-server module messages.
Today at FITC in Toronto, Canada, USER1 Subsystems Corporation announced its official licensing terms for Union 1.0. When Union 1.0 is released, it will available under two licences: Union and Union Enterprise.
Union will be entirely free for both commercial and noncommercial projects, and will support up to 1000 simultaneous client connections.
Union Enterprise, a commercial license, will support an unlimited number of simultaneous client connections. Pricing for Union Enterprise will be announced when Union 1.0 is released.
For complete licensing details, see Union Licensing.
By releasing a free 1000-user licence, USER1 aims to make multiuser-application development significantly more accessible to innovators, businesses, and hobbyists alike. Under Union's free licence, the vast majority of realtime-multiuser applications will be able to be deployed without the need to purchase costly server software.
In order to foster community sharing, USER1 is committed to providing a free licence that supports a minimum of 1000 simultaneous client connections for all future versions of Union. We hope that this promise gives the community the confidence to develop and share custom components, server modules, applications, client SDKs, and best practices in the field of multiuser computing.
We believe that all applications should be multiuser; we hope our free Union licence helps make that belief a reality.
Union 1.0 Alpha 7 is now available for download. Alpha 7 expands Union's user-account and data-storage feature set, provides access to room observers, introduces an "information "snapshot" API, adds many UnionAdmin improvements, and includes extensive Reactor API polish.
This release brings Union 1.0 a very large step closer to final shipping status. Only one major feature remains unimplemented (see security, permissions, and privileges). Major changes to Reactor and Union's existing APIs are now unlikely, but minor changes and expansions will continue to occur until Union 1.0 Beta 1 is released.
For more information about this release, please see the Union 1.0 Alpha 7 Release Notes.
Two new Union application examples, both built on the ReactorGUI component set, are now available:
Both examples include fewer than 100 lines of code, demonstrating how Union's modular design helps encapsulate and organize the complexity of multiuser interface development.
ReactorGUI, a user-interface component library for building multiuser applications with ActionScript 3.0, is now available for download.
Built on Adobe Flex and Reactor (Union’s ActionScript client-communications library) ReactorGUI provides Union developers with high-level multiuser-application building blocks such as a user list, a room list, an avatar pane, a chat widget, a login window, position broadcasting utilities, and a debugging panel.
ReactorGUI is a free part of Reactor, and includes all source code so developers can study, modify, and extend ReactorGUI’s component set without restriction.
Examples, an API reference, and download information for ReactorGUI are available here.
Alpha 6 introduces the first phase of Union's "persistence" feature set, which includes user-account management and server-side data storage. Starting with Alpha 6, Union clients can save room attributes and client attributes to a database or other data source. Union Server now includes a light-weight built-in database called Apache Derby. Because Derby comes built into Union Server, Union developers can now easily create multiuser applications that support user registration, login, personal data storage, and application data storage--all without any special server configuration.
Developers can also optionally connect Union's persistence layer to an existing data source, replacing Union's built-in database with any other database or arbitrary data source. For example, a travel-booking Web site could replace Union's built-in database with an existing database of users and allow those users to login via Union's standard account API. Union applications, such as a traveller's chat or a realtime booking agent, could then be integrated directly into the Web site's existing data management system.
For sample code showing how to use Union's user-account management in ActionScript 3.0, see the new Reactor sample User Account Registration and Login.
For more information about this release, please see the Union 1.0 Alpha 6 Release Notes.
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