Intel Web 2.0 TDK Q&As

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Since its launch several month ago, the Intel Web 2.0 TDK has been attracting the developer community's attention - more than 3000 downloads have occured (as of June 2007).

We've taken the feedback from developers who have used the Intel Web 2.0 TDK and compiled a list of Q&As to address some of your questions.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q1: Which browsers does the Intel TDK software package support?

A1: The Intel Web 2.0 TDK software package currently only supports Microsoft Internet Explorer Versions 6 and 7.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q2. How do I install the TDK?

A2: Download the TDK installation file (IntelWeb20TDKSetup.exe) at http://www.intel.com/software/web20tdk/. Then run the setup file on the target computer on which you wish to install the TDK.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q3. After installation of the TDK software package, are further manual changes to the browser settings required?

A3: During the installation of the TDK, no browser settings are modified. To register the sample TDK ActiveX objects:

• Make the contents of the TDK wwwroot directory available to a web server. For example, copy the contents of C:Program FilesIntelIntel Web 2.0 TDKwwwroot to the wwwroot directory of an IIS server. Alternatively, you can create a virtual directory and point it to C:Program FilesIntelIntel Web 2.0 TDKwwwroot.

• On the client/test machine (the machine on which you wish to install the ActiveX control), use Internet Explorer to navigate to the Web 2.0 TDK sample page Web20TDKDemo.html on the web server system.

For Example, if I copy the contents of the TDK wwwroot directory (C:Program FilesIntelIntel Web 2.0 TDKwwwroot) to the IIS wwwroot directory on my development workstation (C:inetpubwwwroot), and the hostname of my development workstation is crobiso1-svr, on my test client machine, I would navigate to http://crobiso1-svr/Web20TDKDemo.html.

• Internet explorer will automatically download and register the Web20TDKAggregatedControl.cab ActiveX control.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q4. How do I disable the TDK ActiveX control in IE if it has already been installed on my PC?

A4: Open IE, go to Internet Options" > "Programs" > "Manage Add-ons", select "CIntegratedInterfaceObject", and click on "Disable".

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q5. When the power source changes on a laptop computer (for example, the AC power cord is plugged in and then uplugged), the estimated time remaining does not change immediately. Why?

A5: The data for a batterys estimated time remaining comes from battery itself. After the power source is changed, it takes about 10 seconds for the battery to estimate the time remaining until it is fully discharged.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q6. When using a laptop computer, the remaining power value returned by using the method getPercentRemaing is NOT accurate. Why?

A6: There are several reasons for this. First, the Intel Web 2.0 TDK uses the Windows operating system to talk to the battery. If your mobile computer has additional software provided by the battery manufacturer (i.e. a driver), that software may have access to more accurate information that the Windows operating system does not know about.

Second, it is possible that the software that came with the battery is reporting the estimated time remaining until the battery is completely drained, while the Windows operating system is reporting the estimated time remaining until the operating system shuts down to prevent data loss.

Third, battery technology itself is not precise. In other words, measuring how much battery time is left is not as precise as measuring how much water is left in a cup. If a glass of water is full it contains the same amount of water whether it has been filled one time or 1000 times. However, if a new battery is full, it will contain more charge than a battery that has been filled and emptied 1000 times.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q7. After creating a PowerInfo object, you can use the getRate method to retrieve the batterys charge and discharge speed. Why does this sometimes return a negative value?

A7: When using the getRate method, negative value indicates the battery is discharging; a positive value indicates the battery is charging.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q8. What protocols does the Uri object support?

A8: The Uri object supports HTTP and HTTPS.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q9. When the parameter passed to the Uri object is an Internet domain other than the host Internet domain (for example, the TDK is installed on domain www.xyz.com, and you want to test the connection to www.abc.com), the client browser pops up a security warning. Why? Is there a way to fix it?

A9: This warning lets the developer know that the Web 2.0 TDK is doing cross-domain scripting. Cross-domain scripting is a potential security hazard and most browsers dont allow it by default. The warning lets the developer know that cross-domain scripting may be disabled on the users machine. If developers wish to disable the warning, they may modify the connectivity.js file and remove the warning. However, if the client browsers security settings have disabled cross-domain scripting, the browser itself may either pop up an additional warning, or the cross-domain connectivity check will silently fail, resulting possibly in a false negative-domain www.abc.com may indeed be reachable, but the browser's security settings did not allow the TDK check.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q10. How do I determine if a host is accessible and the network status is correct?

A10: You can use the "isReachable" method to test if a host is accessible. The "isConnected" method indicates that there is at least one valid network interface connecting to the network, but it does not indicate that the network interface can access a host on the network.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q11. Why am I unable to instantly get the return value when I use the isReachable method to get the network connectivity status?

A11: The isReachable function is limited by network latency because it actually attempts to make a connection to the URL in the Uri parameter and read the response. The isConnected function is much faster, but it only checks to see the system has a connection to any network. For example, the isConnected function is not useful when the target URL lies behind a corporate firewall and there is no VPN tunnel through the firewall. It will return true even though the target URL is not reachable.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q12. When I use the method getDataRate to try and receive the network connectivity speed, why can I not get the speed immediately?

A12: The getDataRate function is limited by network latency because it actually times how long it takes to receive a response from the URL in the Uri parameter. The data rate is not the same thing as the connection link speed. A Gigabit Ethernet connection will have a link speed of 1000Mbps between the system and the network router, but the data rate between the system and the server may be limited by a DSL connection which throttles down the actual data rate significantly.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q13. Why does the method "getLogicalsPerCore" not return the number of enabled CPUs by an application?

A13: You can use the method "getEnabledCpuCount" to get the number of CPUs enabled for an application. Method getLogicalsPerCore returns the number of logical CPUs in each core, and it does not return the number of CPUs available for use by an application.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q14. Why does the method getPersistentFreeSpace not return the free space of all local drives?

A14: The method getPersistentFreeSpace returns the total free space of all drives in the clients PC, including network drives, but it does not include read-only drives, such as CD-ROM. The capacity returned is in kilobyte(KB).

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q15. How to stop the Event detection function?

A15: You can use the removeObserver(EventObserver) method to stop the detection of events.

[Jason_Z_Intel]

Q16. Are the methods of BandwidthInfo and LinkProtocolInfo functional?

A16: These objects were included in the original TDK documentation for completeness; however, they have not been implemented as of version 0.6.

[Intel_Software_Netw1]

According to the authors, the Intel Web 2.0 TDK has been replaced by the Intel Web APIs:
Site: http://software.intel.com/sites/whatif/webapis/
Forum: http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-web-apis/

==
Lexi S.
Intel Software Network Support