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14.0 Desktop Sharing

14.1 Overview

web.alive enhances the collaborative experience of its users by allowing them to share their desktops. "Desktop Sharing" is an easy to use feature in web.alive, where with "one-click" the user will be able to share his desktop with other users. Content developers can create many instance of "desktop sharing" in the same level, this enables multiple users in the same volume or in different volumes to share their desktops. The following sections will detail the steps required to create an instance of "Desktop Sharing" in a level.

14.2 Prerequisites

The following instances has to be created for every instance of "Desktop Sharing" in the level:

  • In an existing textures package or in a new texture package create an instance of "AppSharingButtonTexture" and give it name. You do this by click File->New in the texture browser window and selecting the "AppSharingButtonTexture" MaterialClass as shown below.

Right click on the newly created texture in the texture browser window and select "Properties".

  • Use the "Browser Textures" package (downloadable here) to assign the values of the following properties of this instance:
  • GreyedOutOnTexture: Texture'Browser_Textures.GreyedOut'
  • OffTexture: Texture'Browser_Textures.BrowserShareOff'
  • OnTexture: Texture'Browser_Textures.BrowserShareOn'

After assigning values to these properties the above figure will be as follows:

  • Add to the same package an instance of "WebTexture" (i.e. via File->New in texture browser) and give it a name as shown below.

The properties "PageHeight", "PageWidth", "TextureHeight" and "TextureWidth" of this newly created WebTexture will have to be changed to match the settings that will be chosen later for the "BrowserFrame" static mesh. The properties of the WebTexture can be accessed by right clicking and selecting "Properties" on the WebTexture in the Texture Browser window.

14.3 Creating the "Desktop Sharing" instance

  • Launch the "Static Mesh Browser" in the web.alive editor and open the Browser_Meshes package (downloadable here)
  • Select the "BrowserFrame" static mesh in the Static Mesh Browser as shown below.

  • Right click in your level and select "Add Static Mesh: Browser_Meshes.BrowserFrame"
  • Size and place the BrowserFrame properly in your level.
  • Set the "skin" property of this instance to the "AppSharingButtonTexture" instance that was created in the previous section, as shown in the following figure:

  • In the Static Mesh Browser, select the "BrowserScreen" static mesh from the Browser_Meshes package and add it into your level just as you did with the BrowserFrame above.
  • Size and place the BrowserScreen propertly in your level.
  • Set the "skin" property of this instance to the "WebTexture" instance that was created in the previous section, and set the property "bUseWebTexture" to "True", as shown in the following figure:

  • In the "Actor Class Browser" in the web.alive Editor select the "AppSharingActor" as shown below.

  • Add an instance of "AppSharingActor" to your level by right clicking in your level and selecting "Add AppSharingActor here".
  • Set the "OnOffTexture" property to the same texture that was used to skin the "BrowserScreen" instance.
  • Set the "SharedApp" property to the same texture that was used to skin the "BrowserFrame" instance.
  • Set the "tag" property to a name that is unique across all other "AppSharingActor" instances in the level.

The following figure shows the settings of the "AppSharingActor":

  • Add an instance of "LookAndUseTrigger" and place it behind the "Desktop Sharing" button. This button is shown in the following figure:

  • Set the "Event" property of the trigger to the same unique name that was used to set the "tag" property in the "AppSharingActor", as shown in the following figure:

14.3 Setting up the "Popup window" button

"Desktop Sharing" provides the ability for the user to opt to view the shared session in a separate window outside the 3D environment. All what the user has to do is click on the "Popup Window" button which is shown on the following figure:

Here are the steps to setup this button:

  • Create in the level an instance of the trigger "PopupLookAndUseTrigger".
  • Place the trigger behind the above shown "Popup Window" button.
  • Set the "Event" property of the trigger to match the "tag" of the "Appsharing" actor.

14.4 Using "Desktop Sharing"

Using "Desktop Sharing" in the level is straight forward. To start "Desktop Sharing", the user will walk to the "Desktop Sharing" instance and click on the "Desktop Sharing" button. When doing that the user's desktop will be shared and the "Desktop sharing" button will change to the "stop Desktop sharing" button which is shown in the following figure:

To stop sharing his desktop, the user will have to click the "Stop Sharing" button. The following should be noted:

  • A "Desktop Sharing" session can only be closed by the user who has started the session or an "Administrator".