Web interface for c++ applications

Question

Our company has a set of 3d modeling softwares written in c++ with qt based gui. We are planning to offer these applications to customers to try them from a web browser. I mean to say, we need to create web interfaces for native c++ codes. Please suggest me which technology, languages should be used. If possible please give some links to some white papers or case studies for this kind of projects. I am totally clue less :)

Answer 1

Take a look at Native Client.

Answer 2

Ideally you would keep your c++ code on the server and use a mixture of HTML and Javascript on the browser. However since 3d modeling is so client centric you may have to run some c++ code directly in the browser.

There are a few options to look at:

• Emscripten
• Adobe Alchemy
• Google Native Client
• A Java Applet using NestedVM
• Netscape plugin API
• ActiveX

You could also run a few instances of your application on your server inside an XVnc session and let people use it through a VNC viewer applet. The simplest solution however is still to offer a downloadable demo of your application.

Answer 3

Soon you might be use WebGL to do 3D in the browser. But how long it will take for browsers to include it I do not know. But it might be good to look at it to not rule out using it in the future.

Answer 4

Have a look at Wt

Answer 5

If creating everything again is too expensive, always you can create a distributed application:

• One program running the main application in C++ and generating (for example) XML files.

• A web application reading the XML files generated by the C++ application and translating them into the web application language (for example Adobe Flex).

Good luck!