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Google Developing Master API — Web Intents

GeneralSecretary writes "Google is developing an API to allow web apps to easily share information with various services. Quoting: 'Android OS addresses this problem with Intents, a facility for late run-time binding between components in the same or different applications. In the Intents system, the client application requests a generic action, e.g. share, and specifies the data to pass to the selected service application. The user is given a list of applications which have registered that they can handle the requested intent. The user-selected application is created in a new context and passed the data sent from the client, the format of which is predefined for each specific intent type. We are hard at work designing an analogous system for the web: Web Intents. This web platform API will provide the same benefits of Android Intents, but better suited for web application. ... As with Android, Web Intents documents an initial set of intent actions (edit, view, share, etc.) that likely cover the majority of use cases on the web today; however, as the web grows and sites provide more functionality, new intent actions will be added by services that document these intents, some more popular than others. To foster development and use of intents, we plan to create a site to browse existing intents and add new intents.'"

21 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Great by X0563511 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yea, in the same way that following a specific ABI in your C magically tracks your users...

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  2. Let me know if I'm wrong... by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Google seems to be proposing a bit of javascript that anyone can add to their website,
    which will pull my data from any other enabled website I've stored information on?

    Why does this just seem like another entry point for abuse?

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    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:Let me know if I'm wrong... by McLoud · · Score: 2

      Google seems to be proposing a bit of javascript that anyone can add to their website,
      which will pull my data from any other enabled website I've stored information on?

      Why does this just seem like another entry point for abuse?

      Anything can be abused, give enough time and effort. It's just a matter of figuring if it is still worth giving how much useful it is still is. By the looks of the example it reminds me a lot of a ESB where You have services that do stuff registered in a common place, Google way seems like the REST counterpart of it.

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    2. Re:Let me know if I'm wrong... by Pollardito · · Score: 3, Interesting

      AFAIK Android intents are push rather than pull. And that's a pretty big difference, since you have to either select the app/site you're pushing to at the time of the push or preset it beforehand (meaning you have control of who's receiving the data). This looks like it has a return path though, so it does seem like it might be risky.

    3. Re:Let me know if I'm wrong... by DragonWriter · · Score: 2

      Google seems to be proposing a bit of javascript that anyone can add to their website,
      which will pull my data from any other enabled website I've stored information on?

      No, Google is proposing a set of web technologies (markup + JavaScript API) that will allow websites to advertise that they support certain actions, allow you to choose to install those websites as options to handle those actions, and then allow other websites to specify that they want one of those actions performed, at which point you will be presented by your browser with an opportunity to choose which of the sites you've installed as a handler for the action your browser should invoke to handle the action.

      They are not proposing a mechanism that will allow websites to pull your data from other websites.

    4. Re:Let me know if I'm wrong... by DragonWriter · · Score: 2

      Sounds like ARexx brought to the Web (an expanded Rexx implementation on the Amiga from the '80s) but standardized.

      Its really not all that similar: ARexx was essentially a scripting language integrated into the Amiga platform and to which many Amiga apps provided an interface allowing automation.

      Web Intents isn't a new language that sits external to web apps and allows you to automate them.

      Discovery is done through one markup tag which advertises that service can handle a particular "intent" (an action), and consumption is done through either a form tag attribute in markup referencing the intent (not the specific service) or a dirt simple javascript API for specifying the intent and the content against which to apply it.

  3. Re:Great by neokushan · · Score: 2

    I don't see anything here that permits Google to track you any more than they already do.

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    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
  4. The one API by Qatz · · Score: 4, Funny

    One API to rule them all, One API to find them, One API to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them.

  5. Reinventing the Web Services Wheel? by animeshpathak · · Score: 2

    I might be missing something, but how is it significantly different from the work on languages such as WSDL used to describe Web Services? Is this just a JavaScript/REST version of the same?

    Thanks,
    -A

    --
    "- What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
    "- You ask a glass of water."[from h2g2]
    1. Re:Reinventing the Web Services Wheel? by curunir · · Score: 2

      From the sound of it, it decouples the service call from the service end point and allows the user to select which end point they'd like to use. Rather than making a call to a specific service provider, the page simply registers that it'd like some intent to be completed and then dispatches it. The user then gets to pick from the list of sites/apps that have registered their ability to handle that type of intent.

      --
      "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
    2. Re:Reinventing the Web Services Wheel? by bberens · · Score: 2

      One example I would use is mapping/directions. Let's say Bing Maps, Google Maps, and Mapquest have asked to be registered as mapping suppliers and you've allowed all three. Now on my website rather than linking to a particular mapping provider I call an api that tells your browser to provide a map to my local store using your preferred mapping provider. So you'll be prompted whether you'd like the map provided by Bing, Google, or Mapquest. Or if you have it configured it'll just automagically go to your preferred provider. That's only the simplest example and the sorts of things that currently exist on the phones, I'm sure someone more creative than me will come up with better ideas.

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  6. Re:Great by Desler · · Score: 3

    The C ABI is not even remotely analogous to what Google is doing here.

  7. Re:Great by iluvcapra · · Score: 2

    And if Google's C ABI required submitting all function arguments to Google...

    Google works very hard to make submitting things to them very easy, to the point where you dont even realize any submission is happening, this just greases the rails a little more.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  8. Re:Great by Chrisq · · Score: 2

    Exactly. My "Intents" are that Google pisses the fuck off.

    Your intents are making you rather intense

  9. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    He seems to be incensed, as evidenced by his intense intents

  10. Re:Can anyone explain that in English? by robmv · · Score: 2

    Something like this, your web based applications will in some way register in your browser an API, another web application can call an that API, allowing a local web application be able to pass and receive data from another local web applications, from local I mean web applications that are running on your browser, without the server from application A know about server of application B and the data is trasferred to both applications locally. This solve the problem two problems, currently web applications must be coded to access specific thirdparty applications if they want to communicate, second, it hides the applications involved so application A do not know you are using applications B to edit a photo inside application A. The same way Android applications can call each other without knowing each other, only the Intents (or API). An "Inter process" communication between web pages in your browser

  11. If you have Android, choose "Share" by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Intents is one of the best and most powerful parts of the Android platform, and one that is often overlooked when comparing to iOS.

    In pretty much any Android application under the sun, you can hit "Share" from a menu or button somewhere. When you do that, whatever data you have in that app posts a message to android saying "Hey, I want to share this (image/jpg or text/xml or application/octet-stream)... and any other application on the system that is registered to handle that intent's mime type will show up as something to share to.

    This is what lets you share videos from anywhere on the phone not only to YouTube, but also to Picassa, DropBox, SMB, Email, or any other app that says they can handle videos or binary files.

    It's a really powerful and flexable application cross-commnication system, that makes all kinds of otherwise disconnected third-party applications work together seemlessly for the user. For example, I can "Share" my PhotoStich images with my Dropbox, directly inside the application.... and none of the PhotoStitch or Dropbox developers had to talk to each other to make that happen.

  12. Re:Intents by bberens · · Score: 2

    Sometimes I want my fat email client to get the duty of sending an e-mail when I click a mailto link. Other times I want to use gmail, other times hotmail. If I could register those different providers for that type of click then it'd make my life a little easier. When I go to [insert store here]'s website to find a local store it could show the directions using my pre-configured mapping solutions provider. If you prefer Bing over Google Maps you would get that automatically, or vice-versa. I don't envision it being "rock my world" type stuff, but it could improve the quality of your web browsing in ways that are not obvious to you at all.

    --
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  13. Re:API aka tie in by aztracker1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ROFLMAO.... Funny, I've written a handful of jQuery extensions, just to work around certain issues, and knowing about the nasty implementation details was necessary. It's generally a good idea to understand what goes on underneath. I've had several times where understanding threading, and pointers has helped even when working on improving the performance of C# based applications. Developers who don't understand under the covers make stupid choices in ignorance. I don't like working close to the metal, I'm not that good with C, assembly, C++ etc... though having at least a general understanding helps a lot in developing applications in higher level languages.

    The same is very true with JavaScript, and especially with platforms like NodeJS and MongoDB gaining in popularity (yeah, I'm a fan). Not understanding that string concatenation is far slower in most cases than array joins can be a huge difference (not as much in V8, as it does a better job in compilation, but still).

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    Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
  14. Re:Great by tolkienfan · · Score: 2

    Yes it is.

  15. Re:Great by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2

    How so?