The simplest description of Aggreg8 (this is very high level) is that Aggreg8 is an easy way of keep track of all your favourite websites without visiting each of them individually. Now in more detail, Aggreg8 is a Mozilla based application which was developed as part of my (me = Philroche) final year project at DCU Computer Applications {Software Engineering}. It is an RSS (RDF site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) feed aggregator and was built on the Mozilla framework or XPFE (Cross Platform Front End). Aggreg8 uses XUL (XML user interface language), Javascript, RDF (Resource Description Framework), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), XPConnect (Cross Platform Connection to Components) and XPCOM (Cross Platform Component Object Model). The XPFE was designed to enable engineers to create one interface that would work on any operating system. And as Aggreg8 is built on this framework it too works on all OSs that Mozilla works on. The latest release is the first release (v 0.0.1) - Download Page. There are screenshots of the current version. As Aggreg8 is part of a university project it requires a heap of documentation that is not usually supplied with a mozilla add-ons. This documentation includes Functional Spec. (pre-Development) and Technical Spec., Usermanual, Installation Guide (post development). Information on RSS, XUL and XPCOM is given below. Progress throughout the continued development of the application will be posted on the Aggreg8 weblog If anybody has any ideas for Aggreg8, please contact me at . You can also submit bugs and ideas to Aggreg8's BugZilla. To find out more about me, Philip Roche, check out Philroche.net. Aggreg8.net is kindly hosted by Redbrick. You might ask : "why is it called Aggreg8?". Aggreg8 comes from the english word "aggregate" meaning to gather into a mass, sum, or whole.

RDF Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. snippet of rss Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site. Originally developed by Userland and Netscape . RSS has evolved into a popular means of sharing content between sites (including the BBC, CNET, Slashdot, Scripting News, Wired, Salon and many many many more). RSS solves a myriad of problems webmasters commonly face, such as increasing traffic, and gathering and distributing news. RSS can also be the basis for additional content distribution services. RSS specifications [ 1.0 ], [ 0.91 ], [ 2.0 ]. RSS is also known as "RDF Site Summary","Really Simple Syndiation" and "Rich Site Summary". A more detailed description of RSS can be found at http://backend.userland.com/rss.

XUL (pronounced "zool") is Mozilla's XML-based User interface Language that lets you build feature-rich cross platform applications that can run connected or disconnected from the Internet. These applications are easily customized with alternative text, graphics and layout so they can be readily branded or localized for various markets. The front end of Aggreg8 was built with XUL, the tables, tabboxes, text inputs, navigation trees. I have found XUL to be a very easy to use gui (graphical user interface) language. Combining powerful Javascript with XUL as I did in Aggreg8 can result in very powerful Mozilla Add-ons of independent applications. There are many brilliant Mozilla based applications hosted on Mozdev.org You can read the XUL specification here. A more detailed description of XUL can be found at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xul/joy-of-xul.html.

XPCOM (Cross Platform Component Object Model) and XPConnect (Cross Platform Connection to Components) are complementary technologies that enable the integration of external libraries with XUL applications. XPCOM, which stands for Cross Platform Component Object Model, is a framework for writing cross-platform, modular software. XPCOM components can be written in C, C++, and JavaScript, and they can be used from C, C++, JavaScript, Python, and with Perl extensions under development. XPConnect is a technology which enables simple interoperation between XPCOM and JavaScript. XPConnect allows JavaScript objects to transparently access and manipulate XPCOM objects. It also enables JavaScript objects to present XPCOM compliant interfaces to be called by XPCOM objects. Together, XPCOM and XPConnect enable developers to create XUL applications that require the raw processing power of compiled languages (C/C++) or access to the underlying operating system. The main feature of XPCOM and XPConnect that was used in Aggreg8 was the ability to manipulate an RDF (Resource Description Framework) file. This RDF file is used to store all the RSS Feeds that a user has subscribed to. XPCOM supplies a library of functions that allow to add/remove/edit elements in the RDF file and then save the altered data back to the file. Using XPCOM and XPConnect can get very tricky and there is not too much documentation out there to help you. You can read the XPCOM specification here. A more detailed description of XPConnect can be found at http://www.mozilla.org/scriptable/ . A more detailed description of XPCOM can be found at http://www.xulplanet.com/tutorials/xultu/xpcom.html .