URL RFC

[Christophe]

I'm working on a KDE interface for Celestia (based on 1.2.4), I've got almost all the features of the GTK/Gnome version implemented (minus the Tour guide and the star borwser, and plus a few niceties like saved preferences, configurable keybindings and a configurable toolbar). I'm also thinking about implementing some browser like functions: history, bookmarks and links - wouldn't it be nice to exchange links on the forum?

For that we need to define a URL format able to hold celestia state information (simulation and maybe some of the renderer's too). Obviously a URL also needs to be human readable, to a certain extent at least, and it should allow for some of the information to be missing (we should provide sensible and consistant defaults).

That could be something like:
cel://primary-mode/body1/[body2/][secondary-mode/body/][select/body/]
[ISO8601 UTC Timestamp/]?parameters...

where parameters would be the observer position, orientation, angular velocity, velocity... time settings, renderer flags...

An example:
cel://Fallow/Moon/Track/Earth/2002-01-0 ... y=...&z=...

I haven't really looked into the simulation's internals yet, so I'm not even sure that's feasible.

What do you think? Is it a good idea?

Christophe

[chris]

I'm not sure what the right way to do this is, but I'd love for there to be an easy way to exchange Celestia locations . . . My feeling is something like the way property=value scheme that's used with http addresses would be best, e.g. //Sol/Earth/Moon?mode=follow&time=241545.0 . . . But there are a lot of issues to think about . . . I have no idea how to make something like this work on various OSes. It'd also be nice to have this sync somehow with the format saved in favorites files.

--Chris

[Guest]

I love the idea of using a URL pattern for designating locations within Celestia. Great idea! I would also be tempted to create a new MIME type that maps to the Celestia application. In that way when a location file is retrieved by a browser, it would launch Celestia which then moves to the retrieved view. So from "any" browser

http://www.somewebsite.com/DawnOnEuropa

Would bring up Celestia and position the user appropriately.

Some of the stellar databases (such as http://www.stellar-database.com) might want to add a Celestia location button to their search results. Look up the star, and then go there. Shazam!

-----

Dave

SpaceGear.Org
Open Standards For Space Flight Simulation(tm)

[Rassilon]

Sorry this is a bit off topic but on your site what is Zelestra?

[Guest]

Zelestra is a company started by myself a while back to research and consult on unique content presentation technologies for K-12 education. I have worked on a few projects, had fun, and learned a lot. It has always been meant to be more of a hobby than any kind of real money-maker. While I am still involved in that pursuit, it has moved to the back burner.

At this point, Zelestra is poised to become a reference implementation of a Spaceport as defined within the SpaceGear.Org open standards architecture. I am hoping that Zelestra Spaceport will become a platform for introductory space sciences education as well.

Hope that clears things up.

-----

Dave

SpaceGear.Org
Open Standards For Space Flight Simulation(tm)

[Christophe]

I love the idea of using a URL pattern for designating locations within Celestia. Great idea! I would also be tempted to create a new MIME type that maps to the Celestia application. In that way when a location file is retrieved by a browser, it would launch Celestia which then moves to the retrieved view. So from "any" browser

To get the URLs to work from a browser you'd need to hack that browser a bit. In KDE it can probably be done by writing a small kio-slave that forwards the URL to Celestia (starting it if necessary) via a DCOP call. I suppose there are hooks in IE to do that as well, otherwise you can still drag & drop the URL on Celestia.

--
Christophe

[Rassilon]

Zelestra is a company started by myself a while back to research and consult on unique content presentation technologies for K-12 education. I have worked on a few projects, had fun, and learned a lot. It has always been meant to be more of a hobby than any kind of real money-maker. While I am still involved in that pursuit, it has moved to the back burner.

At this point, Zelestra is poised to become a reference implementation of a Spaceport as defined within the SpaceGear.Org open standards architecture. I am hoping that Zelestra Spaceport will become a platform for introductory space sciences education as well.

Hope that clears things up.

-----

Dave

SpaceGear.Org
Open Standards For Space Flight Simulation(tm)

Yeah thanks Dave

[Christophe]

But there are a lot of issues to think about . . . I have no idea how to make something like this work on various OSes. It'd also be nice to have this sync somehow with the format saved in favorites files.

What are the issues to think about? It /seems/ relatively straightforward to implement, I probably don't understand well enough how the simulation works.

I can easily extract the mode, refObject, targetObject, time, observer... Wouldn't restoring these take me back were I was?

By the way what are the Equatorial and ObserverLocal coordinate systems used for?

And are there going to be modifications to the API in 1.2.5?

--
Christophe