Mconf and the BigBlueButton Android Client

Authors:Felipe Cecagno

Leonardo Crauss Daronco

BigBlueButton Summit - August 28th 2011

Agenda1. About us + Mconf Overview (5 minutes)2. The Android client (10 minutes)

1. About us

About usPorto Alegre - Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil

About usInstitute of Informatics at UFRGS (http://inf.ufrgs.br/en/)Group: PRAV (http://inf.ufrgs.br/prav)

2. Overview

OverviewMconf - "Sistema de multiconferência paraacesso Interoperável web e móvel"

In English: multiconference system for interoperable access between web and mobile devices

Main objectives:● Provide a complete webconference environment● Integration with mobile devices● Usability● Open Source

OverviewThis project is supported by RNP.The "national network for research and education".

The project started in November 2010.The 1st phase will last 1 year.But it will possibly (hopefully) be extended:

● More 1, 2 or more years

http://www.rnp.br/

Google code, for docs and issue tracking:http://code.google.com/p/mconf/

GitHub, for code:https://github.com/mconf

Our mailing list, for anything else:mconf-dev@googlegroups.comhttp://groups.google.com/group/mconf-dev

Where to find us

Architecture

1. BigBlueButton

2. Mobile

3. Web portal

Mconf-Web

Mconf-Web is our web application that manages the meetings in BigBlueButton.It can be compared to the other integrations BBB has: Moodle, Sakai, Joomla, etc.

It's currently based on Global Plaza: An event based social network http://globalplaza.org

But we are thinking about remodeling it...

Mconf-Web

Developed in Ruby on Rails.

Two libraries (gems) also available:● bigbluebutton-api-ruby: BBB library for Ruby● bigbluebutton_rails: BBB library for Rails

Mconf-Web

Available at: http://mconf.inf.ufrgs.br

You can register and try it for free.Any kind of feedback is welcome!

3. BigBlueButton Android client

Overview● Goal: transparent interaction between desktop and mobile

users

● Developing a native Android application● First iniciative on building a mobile client

Architecture● flazr is a Java library which handles the RTMP

communication○ Support to Remote Shared Objects developed by our

team

● bbb-java is a client side Java API to interact with the BigBlueButton server

● bbb-android-core is a native Android library○ Mostly developed in Java - some code in C++○ Some code from the IVA project○ Integrated with Sipdroid to provide voice functionalities○ Uses FFmpeg for video encoding and decoding

Main functionalities● Public and private chat

Main functionalities● Voice interaction

○ Tap to speak

Main functionalities● Administrative actions

○ Assign presenter○ Kick user○ Lower hand○ Mute / unmute

Main functionalities● Video visualization (one at a time)

Main functionalities● Video capture and publish

BBB-Android and Mconf-MobileBBB-Android accesses directly the BigBlueButton server by a JSP demo application

● Can join freely all the running meetings, also as a moderator

● Needs to know the server address

Mconf-Mobile accesses the web portal● Same permissions as in the web portal● Can join only his own rooms, rooms from spaces that the

user is member and rooms from public spaces● Just needs to know the mconf.inf.ufrgs.br (or mconf.org)

BBB-Android and Mconf-Mobile

BBB-Android + Web portalJoin a meeting

● clicking on a hyperlink (in the device web browser)● bigbluebutton://

BBB-Android + Web portalJoin a meeting

● scanning a QR Code

BBB-Android and Mconf-Mobile

Compatible with Android 2.0 and above (~96,7%* of the devices)

Constantly tested on:● Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.2)● Samsung Galaxy Tab (Android 2.2.1)● Motorola Milestone (Android 2.0.1)

Recommended: Android 2.2 or above

* http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html on August 2011

BBB-Android and Mconf-Mobile

We maintain both English and Portuguese (BR) languages● It is automatically detected by the device● Easy to translate to others

BBB-Android security modelOn BigBlueButton 0.71a:

● JSP application removes the need of the security salt (!) On BigBlueButton 0.8 (under development):

● JSP application requires a checksum with a unique security salt per server

● Salt must be small enough to be entered in the device, probably a 5-char string

Mobile JSP applicationSupports the calls above:

● getMeetings● createMeeting● join

What's coming next?● Presentation module● Bugfixes● Big effort on usability and stability● Android Market (more frequent and easy updates)

How to contribute● Testing

○ Reporting bugs○ Describing new features or enhancements

● Sending feedback● Translating● Sending patches

Are you interested?● Find us on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/mconf)● Contact us directly by e-mail (mconf.prav@gmail.com)

Thank you for your attention

Mconf and the BigBlueButton Android ClientBigBlueButton Summit - August 28th 2011

Authors:Felipe Cecagno

Leonardo Crauss Daronco