[jdev] as a new one for jabber, how can i do?

[Tijl Houtbeckers]

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:22:54 +0800, jazzy.liu <liuhy at jite.net> wrote:

> i want to implement a jabber client by myself with SWT. but i never  
> touch xmpp/jabber before . i want to finish my job step by step. how can  
> i do? i need your advice. which kind of Code Libraries is the best?  
> thanks !

If you want to get really close to the protocol itself I'd recommend JSO  
(http://jso.jabberstudio.org/). This handles Jabber right down at the  
packet level (of XML streams that is). This means you can do really  
powerfull things (XPath queries on your stream etc.) and you'll have a  
very extendible base to work with. However this would mean however you'd  
have to get a pretty good understanding of how Jabber/XMPP works, so you'd  
have to read all the docs like the IETF specs thoroughly, look closely at  
other clients, etc.

An alternative is Smack (http://www.jivesoftware.com/xmpp/smack/). This is  
a much more simple API, but less powerfull. You're pretty much dependant  
on whatever features Smack itself implements. Those are quite a few but  
Smack just isn't as nicely extendible as JSO. But if you're new to Jabber,  
you can start quickly with it, and learn more about Jabber that way. Smack  
is pretty much a client but just without a UI. That is why I would  
recommend at least starting with Smack. That way you can focus on making  
your client as good as possible.

Also, both Smack and JSO are activly maintained. As far as I know there is  
no java/SWT client yet, so good luck.