Latest release: SashXB 1.1.0. -- download it today! Debian packages also available!

Overview

SashXB is an open source application environment that exposes native functionality to JavaScript. It's ideal for web developers with HTML and JS skills who want to write full-featured native applications, as well as experienced programmers who'd appreciate the convenience of rapid application development. It uses a host of other open source projects, including Mozilla, GNOME, Glade, Gdome, and OpenLDAP.

SashXB programs are called "weblications" and can be installed and uninstalled locally or from the web. SashXB also handles recursive dependency checking (with an online locator service for installing necessary components) and a user-customizable security model.

SashXB's functionality is fully extensible. Components can be added easily (and installed as simply as a weblication would be) to support any desired native OS functionality. For instance, SashXB weblications can currently run in a simple window, in a Glade-designed UI, in a GNOME panel, or even in a console-based scripting environment. Future locations might include ScreenSaver, Nautilus, and an embeddable Bonobo component. We have also written extensions to access the native filesystem, play Vorbis files, parse and construct XML documents, communicate with other machines using the Jabber protocol, use FTP, and interact with the UI using GTK and Glade, among other things.

Sample weblications you can use include Newsbar (a scrolling customizable news headline ticker), SashPad (a simple graphical text editor), SashFTP (a full-featured graphical FTP client), WebBlazer (a simple web browser), and Checkers (a networked, multiplayer game). All of these weblications are written in less than 1k lines of code, and most are around 100 lines.

We've also provided a variety of tools that make it easy to write and publish weblications and extensions.

Please join the discussion group (see right) or contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

This version of SashXB is released in conjunction with Mozilla 1.1. View the release notes.

Examples

Take a look at the online tour for a visual introduction to SashXB.

Here is some code to query the user for a filename and place the contents of that file in a text-editing window:

var edit = new Sash.GTK.GtkText();
var filename = Sash.GladeApp.FileDialog("*.txt");
var file = new Sash.FileSystem.TextStream(filename);
edit.text = file.ReadAll();
file.Close();
         

Here's another example -- this time let's send a Jabber message:

var jabber = new Sash.Jabber.Session();
var message = new Sash.Jabber.Message();
message.To = "djg@us.ibm.com";
message.Body = "Hey Dave!";
jabber.SendMessage(message);
         

Now, we'll play a Vorbis sound file.

Sash.Vorbis.setCurrent(
    new Sash.Vorbis.VorbisFile("myfile.ogg")
);
Sash.Vorbis.play();
         

Finally, we'll show how easy it is to register callbacks. This snippet of panel application code tells Sash which function to call when the GNOME panel has been resized, and also adds a Quit button to its context menu.

Sash.PanelApp.OnSizeChange = Resize;
function Resize(a) { 
    document.write("My size is now " + a); 
}

Sash.PanelApp.AddMenuItem("Quit me", Quit);
function Quit() { 
    Sash.PanelApp.QuitApp(); 
}
         

Also see archives of the mailing list.

Sash for Windows: