OpenVisualizer JSON Interface

This interface will provide an easier and more convenient way for users to send and receive data to and from virtual motes.

Current communication with OpenVisualizer motes involves CoAP over IPv6. This can be difficult for less sophisticated machines that do not have IPv6 enabled, such as the Raspberry Pi. Interacting over CoAP is not very intuitive even for users with IPv6. The easiest way is to download a Firefox add-on called CoPPER, a CoAP user agent, and play around with that. JSON-based communication through a RESTful API, on the other hand, is much easier to use. Since this project is trying to expand its audience, usability improvements are very important.

Since the primary concern is getting and changing data, our first priority will be getting access to all mote-related data structures within OpenVisualizer (if they exist). My group is currently in the process of looking for said data and writing functions to change it. The first interface will be through a REST Client (such as POSTman for Chrome). A simple, OpenVisualizer-specific REST client may be implemented in the future if desired.

In the future and as we implement functionality, this space will contain instructions for how to use the interface from a variety of platforms. This text is currently a placeholder for those instructions. Since we are still relatively new to the code base, any tips related to the issues I addressed above would be appreciated. Feel free to post them here or send them to my email address. Hopefully a progress update will come soon!