Google Talk for Zune

calyx · 08-11-2010, 06:22 PM

Many people use Google's chat services, and (admittedly, not as many) use the ZuneHD. It would be a great achievement to combine the two, and although mobile web services can be used to connect to the Google servers, a Zune app could provide much more functionality.

I have been trying to work with this the past few months, and have made some progress, but I lack the knowledge to complete the project efficiently.

Google chat is based off of the XMPP protocols (XMPP Standards Foundation), and Gloox (gloox - A portable high-level Jabber/XMPP library for C++) is an open source C++ library that connects to XMPP serves such as Google Talk. I have been able to connect successfully to the Google servers from my Windows system, and have ported the library to Zune. I was able to get that to connect to Jabber.org, another XMPP server, but could not connect to Google. In order to connect to their server, Gloox needs some form of encryption, and supports Windows' TLS functions (although these are incomplete, and therefore non-functioning, in WinCE). Gloox also supports OpenSSL and GnuTLS, both open source encryption libraries.

If I can build and use any of these libraries, then I can connect to the Google Talk servers, and the app will be easy to write from then on.

GnuTLS seemed to have too many external dependencies, so I've been working on building OpenSSL on the OpenZDK platform, got 2 dll's and lib files, but haven't successfully used either of those yet, which is my next goal.

If anyone wishes to help with such a project, they can contribute by figuring out how to implement OpenSSL in Gloox with OpenZDK.

I believe this is possible, considering what I have been able to do so far, but am slowly moving away from the scope of what I know or can learn in a reasonable amount of time.

So, if this can be accomplished, soon we can have a common chat client installed on our Zunes.

One final note, the licenses on these libraries are open source, and can freely be used in whatever application we end up creating.

I look forward to your help!

itsnotabigtruck · 08-11-2010, 07:26 PM

Sounds like an ambitious project - just what we need for OpenZDK.

If you need any help, you're welcome to stop in at #zbdf on Freenode for any assistance you require.

That Guy Is Here · 08-11-2010, 07:46 PM

This would be really cool.

calyx · 08-19-2010, 06:41 PM

Excellent news!
For the first time, I have gotten the Zune to connect to the Google Talk servers via wifi, and send that Holy Grail message, "Hello World." Development can really take off now!

Arfy · 08-19-2010, 06:47 PM

That's great!

comics11 · 08-19-2010, 06:53 PM

Good job! I would love to have google talk on my Zune

alexskc · 08-20-2010, 01:10 AM

Cheers for OpenZDK!
And Google Talk.
And you, Calyx.
And all other good things!

codeGeek · 08-20-2010, 05:30 AM

I don't currently use Google Talk, but if this was made, I'd probably start. Good job and good luck!

Redwing · 08-20-2010, 08:50 AM

Excellent. My girlfriend and I both use Google Talk extensively and this would be wonderful. If it's convenient, you might also include support for other chat clients which use the same protocol (you mentioned Jabber). Thanks for putting the effort into this project!

sai777 · 08-23-2010, 06:59 PM

google talk will be a good addition to hd apps but what about all the copyright stuff? google talk is owned by google and developers would pay money if they want to make the google talk app. I use google talk too and will look forward IF theres a chance of and app like that coming

itsnotabigtruck · 08-25-2010, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sai777

google talk will be a good addition to hd apps but what about all the copyright stuff? google talk is owned by google and developers would pay money if they want to make the google talk app. I use google talk too and will look forward IF theres a chance of and app like that coming

Google Talk uses the open XMPP standard and can be connected to using any XMPP (aka Jabber) client. This would simply be an XMPP client for the Zune.

None of this matters much, however, if the project ends up dead. Any progress so far?

calyx · 08-28-2010, 12:37 PM

I've been a bit busy lately, but don't have intentions of abandoning this project. I said I'd finish it, on the internet, so now I can't give up!

As for copyrights, I was planning on releasing it without using Google's name directly. I named this thread the way it is because not as many people would be interested in "XMPP client for Zune."

The app should be released under the GPL, because that's what Gloox is released under, and to use that library I need to release it under a compatible license. Unless, of course, the WTFPL is compatible...

But I'm thinking too far ahead right now.

What little progress I've gotten done:
Set up main loop to work with Gloox.
Set up functions necessary for Gloox.
Gotten it to connect/disconnect with user input,
Sent messages with user input,
Displayed messages received on screen.

Right now I'm working with the keyboard to send custom messages, but I'm having temporary trouble getting GetKeyboardBufferText to work.

Also, good news. Facebook apparently uses XMPP protocol for their chat, something I did not learn of until recently. This doesn't mean I'm going to get it implemented right away, but it's a plausible opportunity in the future.

itsnotabigtruck · 08-28-2010, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calyx

Right now I'm working with the keyboard to send custom messages, but I'm having temporary trouble getting GetKeyboardBufferText to work.

This kind of stuff is exactly why you need to stop by #zbdf.

The header files that come with the Quick Start Kit are missing the fourth parameter to ZDKSystem_GetKeyboardBufferText, causing it to fail. This can be corrected by replacing your zdksystem.h with the latest one off the SVN. The relevant docs on the wiki are based off the correct declaration in the new headers.

calyx · 08-28-2010, 06:06 PM

Many thanks.

I _was_ wondering why the API docs didn't match...

I'll stop by from now on.

calyx · 08-13-2011, 03:29 PM

Good news everybody, this project is back! I'm looking to release it sometime in the next few weeks if at all possible. The majority of the coding is done, I just need to make sure all the licensing things are in order, etc.