IShell
Encyclopedia
iShell is a traditional multimedia authoring environment, similar in many ways to Macromedia Director. A descendant of the Apple Media Tool
, iShell is designed to be easy to use, but powerful enough to grow as a user's skill set increases. iShell was first released by Tribeworks in 1999. In July 2006, tribalmedia acquired all rights to iShell. The current version of iShell is 4.5r7.
iShell uses the Key programming language, which is based on Eiffel
. This language was previously known as the Apple Media Language (AML) which was part of the Apple Media Tool
. Both iShell and the Apple Media Tool were developed by Patrick Soquet, one of the founders of Tribeworks. The two tools share many design features in common.
iShell differs in its distribution model from similar applications, allowing users access to the source code.
model to build commercial plugins for the software. tribalmedia acts as a reseller for many of these third-party developers.
Apple Media Tool
The Apple Media Tool was a multimedia authoring tool and associated programming environment sold by Apple in the late 1990s. It was primarily aimed at producing multimedia presentations for distribution on CD-ROM and was aimed at graphic designers who did not have programming experience...
, iShell is designed to be easy to use, but powerful enough to grow as a user's skill set increases. iShell was first released by Tribeworks in 1999. In July 2006, tribalmedia acquired all rights to iShell. The current version of iShell is 4.5r7.
iShell uses the Key programming language, which is based on Eiffel
Eiffel (programming language)
Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method...
. This language was previously known as the Apple Media Language (AML) which was part of the Apple Media Tool
Apple Media Tool
The Apple Media Tool was a multimedia authoring tool and associated programming environment sold by Apple in the late 1990s. It was primarily aimed at producing multimedia presentations for distribution on CD-ROM and was aimed at graphic designers who did not have programming experience...
. Both iShell and the Apple Media Tool were developed by Patrick Soquet, one of the founders of Tribeworks. The two tools share many design features in common.
iShell differs in its distribution model from similar applications, allowing users access to the source code.
Features
- Cross-platformCross-platformIn computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
creation and delivery (Macintosh and Windows) - Graphical reusable object and event based programming and design environment
- Support and use of the QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
media framework - Text support via basic RTFRich Text FormatThe Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....
and HTML, and common styled input fields - Pluggable architecture for the addition of external third-party plugins and scripts
- Access local and remote media assets
- XML creation and parsing through DOMDocument Object ModelThe Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use...
and SAXSimple API for XMLSAX is an event-based sequential access parser API developed by the XML-DEV mailing list for XML documents. SAX provides a mechanism for reading data from an XML document that is an alternative to that provided by the Document Object Model... - Flat file text database support
- Common programming functions and logic for strings, numbers, etc. without the need for scripting
Third-party plugins
Numerous developers have taken advantage of iShell's community-sourceCommunity source
Community Source is a term that has different meanings based on context and the community where it is used.-Community Source as a Type of Open Source Community:...
model to build commercial plugins for the software. tribalmedia acts as a reseller for many of these third-party developers.
- Kromo: Adds several features to iShell, including database integration and filesystem functions.
- Spunk: A companion program to Kromo, allows developer to incorporate web-based content into iShell projects.
- ImageLayer: Full integration of Photoshop files.
- ZebraSpeak: Adds text-to-speech and advanced keyboard interaction to iShell.
- ZebraTools: Adds numerous new features to iShell.
- OpenTribe plugins: iSQUALE, DiSx, iStorm, iGDIP, iDream