Collaborative Editing with Rendezvous
by Wei-Meng Lee, contributor to
Mac OS X Unwired and
author of Windows XP Unwired
12/02/2003
Rendezvous is an intriguing technology that simplifies certain
networking tasks in Mac OS X. It allows you to connect to the network
and use services offered by other devices on the network, all without
any of the usual messy configurations (see the sidebar for an
explanation of how Rendezvous works).
One of the innovative uses of Rendezvous is in the area of
collaborative editing, which allows multiple users to edit a document
simultaneously, collaborating through the network. In this article I
will introduce two collaborative editing tools, SubEthaEdit and
iStorm, and talk about their various features.
Collaborative Editing with SubEthaEdit
One of the challenges in working in a group is maintaining version
control on the documents that are created. SubEthaEdit from The Coding
Monkeys (formed by a group of three computer science students)
redefines the meaning of collaborative work. Using SubEthaEdit
multiple users can edit a single document at the same
time. SubEthaEdit uses Rendezvous to discover other users who need to
edit the same document.
You can download SubEthaEdit from http://www.codingmonkeys.de/. Once
you have successfully installed SubEthaEdit, an icon will be placed on
the Desktop.
Launch SubEthaEdit.
You can start editing your document at the text editing
area. To share this document with someone using Rendezvous, click on
the Share button (see Figure 1)
|
Figure 1. Sharing a document
|
SubEthaEdit will reveal the access control list showing the people
who are currently editing this document (see Figure 2).
|
Figure 2. Viewing the access control list.
|
For other users who want to share the task of editing the document,
they need to run SubEthaEdit as well. To see which document is being
shared, click on the Rendezvous button (see Figure 3). Here it can be
seen that Wei Meng Lee is editing a document called "Untitled.txt".
|
Figure 3. Viewing the list of users via Rendezvous
|
Double click on the document that you want to edit (see Figure 3),
and your name would appear in the access control list of the document
master (see Figure 4). The document master simple selects the user
name and clicks on the check (to allow access) or cross icon (to deny
access) buttons.
|
Figure 4. Granting (or denying) permissions to user using the access control list
|
By default text that every user types is highlighted with a pink
background. To differentiate your text, go to SubEthaEdit -
Preferences... and set your own color. You can now differentiate who
typed what using the different background colors (see Figure 5).
|
Figure 5. Multiple users editing a document
|
Multiple people can now edit the same document simultaneously.
Editor's note: SubEthaEdit, formerly known as Hydra, was a
first place winner in the second Mac OS X Innovators Contest. You can
learn more about the application and its creators by reading
this interview with one of the Coding Monkeys, Martin Pittenauer.
Brainstorming with iStorm
iStorm is a collaborative editing tool from Math Game House
Software. It is similar to SubEthaEdit and is available for download
at
http://www.mathgamehouse.com/istorm/. The
trial version allows users to collaborate for 20 minutes; pricing
starts at $10 per user for the uncrippled version.
Once iStorm is downloaded and installed, you should see a familiar
editing window with a few buttons at the top (see Figure 6). I have
highlighted the significant ones:
|
Figure 6. The various buttons in the iStorm window
|
To share the document with other users, simply click the Host a
document button (see Figure 7):
|
Figure 7. Editing and hosting a document
|
You will then be asked for some information such as the document
name, your name, as well as your server information (you can just accept
the defaults). To share the document, click Serve (see Figure 8). Your
Mac will now be the hosting computer for this document.
|
Figure 8. Sharing the document
|
At the bottom of the screen you should see a green button (see
Figure 9). The green button signifies that the document is available
for editing. Since, at the moment, you are the only one editing the
document, you have full control over the document.
|
Figure 9. Editing the document
|
Let's assume that another user is using iStorm on another Mac. To edit
the shared document, the user would just need to click on the Connect
to a shared document button. The documents available for edit would be
shown (see Figure 10). By default, iStorm uses Rendezvous to locate
other users on the local network. You can disable Rendezvous and
manually enter the IP address and port number of the hosting
computer. Select the document you want to use and click Connect.
|
Figure 10. Connecting to a shared document
|
[1] [2] Next