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20041202: IDV - using IDV bundles on our webpage

>From: "Evan Lowery" <address@hidden>
>Organization: Millersville University
>Keywords: 200412021622.iB2GMTU2008729

Hi Evan-

>Institution: Millersville University
>Package Version: 1.1
>Operating System: Windows XP Professional
>Hardware Information: Athlon XP 1.4 GHz
>Inquiry: Hello,
>
>I've been working on the Millersville LEAD portal webpage, and have some quest
> ions regarding accessing IDV bundles via our webpage.  In the help section, I
>  saw that by saving the files as .jnlp instead of .xidv it automatically open
> s up IDV with the specific bundles that were saved, instead of having to save
>  the bundle on your computer and then accessing it after you open IDV.  So I 
> tried this with a simple small bundle (compared to some of the others we have
>  worked on) and it took several minutes simply to load up.  Part of this coul
> d be due to the fact that I have a 1.4 GHz processor Vs. newer computers with
>  2.0 and up.  However, if there's a long delay with small bundles, how long w
> ill it take for larger bundles to load?  Have you noticed this issue in the c
> urrent 1.1 release of IDV?  Will it be addressed in the upcoming December rel
> ease?

Any noticeable difference between the loading of a bundle saved as
an .jnlp vs. an .xidv would be due to:

1) The downloading time of the bundle from your web server (which
should be pretty quick since the files are not really big).
2) Webstart connection back to the Unidata server to check for the
latest IDV version. (will depend on network latency)
3) Un-base64 encoding the bundle from the jnlp file.

Here's something to try:

-  Save a bundle as a .xidv and as a .jnlp
-  Start the IDV.
-  Through the File->Open... menu, open the .xidv version and time how
long it takes to load in.
-  Use the Edit->Clear All Displays and Data to clear everything out.
-  Use the File->Open... menu to load in the .jnlp file and time that.
-  Try this several times (switching the order of loading) to get a good
set of samples.

Any difference would be attributable to #3 above.

- Now, put the .jnlp file on your web server and use the URL Chooser 
in the Data Source Selector to open it.  Time that and any difference
there would be related to #1 above.

- Start the IDV through Webstart by opening the following URL in your
browser:

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/content/software/idv/webstart/IDV/idv.jnlp

- Exit and start the IDV from local disk

Any difference in startup time will be due to #2 above 

Let me know where the problem seems to lie.

>Next, are .jnlp files accessible via other operating systems such as Linux or 
> Unix, or is this specifically tailored for Java Webstart on Windows machines?

It's just XML (text) so the answer is yes.  Same goes for any bundles you
save.  You will need to have Webstart installed on the system and
have your browser set up to use it to open JNLP files.

>There are more questions, but I'll start off with these for now.  Thanks for y
> our time.  You can respond to either myself at emlowery@marauder.millersville
> .edu , Dr. Sepi Yalda at address@hidden, or Dr. Rich Clark at Ri
> address@hidden.

Okay.  Let us know if you have more questions about this.

Don Murray
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