Would anyone be interested in a Java wrapper?

[L B]

I've started school in Java and it could be a fun project to do to learn. Does anybody need/want that?

 

• Yes, for development
  
• Yes, for the theoretical aspect
  
• Yes, in the ideology that LE has all common languages
  
• No, not at all
  

[Canardia]

No.

[Laurens]

I am not planning on using Java for any sort of game development but if it will get you through college then go for it

[cocopino]

Nah... Prefer C# (Visual Studio!) over Java any time.

[Rick]

I don't, but I remember someone coming to the forums and being kind of pissed it didn't have a Java binding. Like you said it would help you learn it.

[Masterxilo]

"Yes, for the theoretical aspect"

Making a dll work in Java is a pretty difficult and annoying task. I think you even have to write some of wrapper dll with their API.

Let me know how you'll do it. Once you get the base working, automating the conversion of the c headers shouldn't be too difficult and LE would have one more supported language!

[Davaris]

I personally won't be using Java, but I like the idea of it. Now Python on the other hand, would be sweet to make games in, if it wasn't so slow...

[L B]

I hate Java as well, I think the syntax is sketchy and inferior to that of C#. But I do need to get used to the "Java-mindset", i.e. the libraries and syntax changes, even if they're minor.

[Laurens]

I agree that C# is far superiour to Java. Sadly my college won't do enterprise architecture classes in C# or any Microsoft-related technology.

 

Oh how I loath you GlassFish

[DaDonik]

I won't use it because i dislike Java, but "Yes, in the ideology that LE has all common languages"

[Mumbles]

For the concept of learning how to do it, then yes, by all means try it. But Java is going to be inherently slow for any serious games due to the nature of the virtual machine

[Rick]

It should be about even with .NET and I know .NET can handle running games at an acceptable speed.

[Matthew Nicholls]

I would like to have LW working in java. I tried to the other day and couldn't get it to work. I wrote all the Java side native interface part and generated the header file but then I was stumped on the C++ side as I don't know it much.

I couldn't work out what types to use and how to write the inplamentation of the wraper. Maybe if I was good at C++ I could do it but then why would I need it in Java lol.

 

I managed to get some simple functions in a dll and then load it in java and use them there but not the Leadwerks stuff. I have been using Java on my college courses and I understand it far better then I do C++ so I would really like it to try stuff out in Java then do a rewrite in C++ once I have it working. Or if it was a reasonable speed I would just use it in Java. I was thinking of writing some classes for AI in Java then using them as a Library to use in C++. By the way the JNI documentation does say that if you use the native code librarys then there is not much of a lost of speed if you keep comunication between both sides to a minimum. Do a large chunk on one side then send it across, don't do lots of little transfers and it is ok. Not sure if that is very helpful in a game engine =).

[Matthew Nicholls]

I have just found that you can use the engine.dll straght into Java without using the JNI. I just managed toget the graphics window up wand working. Now to see if i can get the rest of the commands to work. =)

[Masterxilo]

How that?

[Matthew Nicholls]

Instead of using the JNI directly use the JNA API JNA

JNA docs

 

Function names are mapped directly from their Java interface name to the symbol exported by the native library.

 

You don't have to touch the c++ side other then for reference for the function names

[Josh]

Warning: Failed to initialize Newton.

Looks like your Newton DLL is missing?

[Matthew Nicholls]

woot it works.. I just built it and put it in the leadwerks folder and ran it and I got a window with hello world on screen using the DrawText() comand. now to see what else it can do. don't want to jump the gun!

[L B]

Heh, turns out headers will exist.

Although I might still wrap it.

[Matthew Nicholls]

Managed to finally get a scene to load in Java. I have written nearly all the library, just have to test and debug every method.