Move/edit whiteboard objects

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 1599

Currently, when the presenter draws on the whiteboard, the object is fixed.  For example,
they can't move/resize the square after it is drawn, nor can they edit a text field.

Add editing of objects to the whiteboard.

Reported by ffdixon on 2013-07-28 14:24:37

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Also add selecting of objects for deletion (as opposed to delete clearing all objects).

Reported by ffdixon on 2014-02-12 21:34:00

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

When will "moving/resizing" feature to be included in BBB?

Reported by mika.k.martikainen on 2014-02-27 21:01:45

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

When developing whiteboard features further, please benchmark e.g. against http://idroo.com/
which is praised by some math tutors. E.g. moving objects on whiteboard, writing text
can start with single mouse click vs. BBB's drawing an area for writing first, possibility
to choose different empty "whiteboard", etc. 

Reported by mika.k.martikainen on 2014-02-27 21:24:53

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Hi Mika,

Thanks for sharing the information on idroo.com!  

Reported by ffdixon on 2014-02-27 22:43:34

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Another tools to benchmark with is www.wiziq.com. They have a very well functioning
whiteboard.

Reported by mika.k.martikainen on 2014-08-11 11:49:16

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Hi Mika,

Thanks for the comments.  You can expect some more enhancements to the whiteboard in
future iterations of BigBlueButton (beyond 0.9.0).

Reported by ffdixon on 2014-08-11 12:03:45

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Is there any tentative time by when this functionality will be available?

Reported by shahforam14 on 2014-09-18 21:22:20

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Hi, 

No plans yet -- we're focused on finishing 0.9.0 at the moment.  Once we're done, we'll
look at the list of features for the next release and prioritize them.  For details
on how we do this, see

  https://code.google.com/p/bigbluebutton/wiki/FAQ#When_will_feature_X_be_implemented

Reported by ffdixon on 2014-09-18 23:29:54

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Reported by ffdixon on 2014-09-24 12:43:01

[bigbluebutton-issue-import]

Issue 1801 has been merged into this issue.

Reported by ffdixon on 2014-09-24 12:44:37

[nordby]

maybe now something has changed?

[ffdixon]

We saw your similar comment in #7036. We'll update this issue when we have more details on the what is planned for the next release of BigBlueButton, which will be version 2.3.

[fiq]

+1 for this feature. I've just had some feedback that not being able to move an object is seen as a limitation when delivering collaborative exercises such as sorting/grouping. It would also be useful for the whiteboard to be fist class as opposed to an object which depends on being overlayed over a white slide. We're measuring it against google-jamboard which is quite similar except that it's slide-independent and allows you to move content.

[lukas71]

+1 for that. And more the possibility of clip-art and pre-configured image to import...

[iSamof]

Friends - the enhancements you mention are great BUT google-jamboard cannot do half the stuff that BBB is doing. And BBB cannot be all things to everyone, all at the same time.

Drawing and manipulating objects can be done in a variety of tools including Power Point on a shared screen - the presenter would have to move the objects around.

From my business viewpoint, BBB is a first class teaching and conferencing tool and needs to build on that. There is so much to be done that focus has to be maintained. The white boarding works for us ... and if BBB upgrade it to vector objects then great.

But I'd prefer energy and focus to be devoted to what makes BBB unique and not diluted to include tools that others already provide. I get it, those others are not integrated.

Just my 2 cents worth ;-)

[poetslipvis]

We have over 100 instructors using BBB and the very limited whiteboard functions have not gone unnoticed. The fact you can't drop and drag or edit is quite basic.

[ProfMarte]

Hi,
do you know https://github.com/OpenBoard-org/OpenBoard ?
May be you can share code from there to integrate in BBB. OpenBoard is one of the greatest Whiteboard tools and it is open source. May be it is possible to cooperate.
That's just I think: Don't try to invent the wheel new.
My workaround is to share the screen by working in OpenBoard, but then it is no colaboration possible. On the other hand: WIthout the possibility to delete selectable objects (at least having a rubber tool like in paint) and without the possibility to move objets, colaborative use is very very limited and unthinkable while teaching.
May be this idea helps.
Regards
Marte

[Beiri22]

We also suffer from the limited capabilities of the whiteboard. Is there any way to reactivate this issue; and increase its priority?

[ferdinandSoethe]

+1 for that

[matiasilva]

Hi guys. If you are or know any developers, then pull requests are really helpful. Time is limited and it takes time to test and develop features. The community can't just switch priorities when certain users demand a feature. If you really want to see a feature, you can either reach out to the companies providing commercial support for BigBlueButton or start a discussion in the developers group about how to go implementing it. Certainly more useful than stating what's wrong with the current implementation and expecting others to magically develop the feature.

As for my opinion on this, I agree with @iSamof. For the time being, I find using Google JAMboard and sharing my screen for cases where I need extra functionality works just fine.

[ferdinandSoethe]

As a former committer to Apache projects I can see your point, @matiasilva. However if you are a teacher at a German University you are not allowed to use Google or other external solutions because of Data Protections laws. And using screen sharing with a larger number of users quickly becomes a performance issue als well. So improving the well designed presentation system makes sense and might be yet another step towards making BBB the best system there is.

[amishbhavsar]

Hi,
This is absolutely fantastic. @MW360, wish you all the best!

[hiroshisuga]

I have missed the post by @MW360 , but I have almost done it independently... Should I continue working on it?

[MW360]

Hi @hiroshisuga,
do you plan to implement anything other than the delete function on the whiteboard?
Would be good to know for my further planning.

So I would implement movement with react movable components, scaling of the objects, rotation, moving from background to foreground, etc.
I also plan to make the text boxes editable.

Best regards!

[hiroshisuga]

Hi @MW360 , I am now trying to drag and move the drawings, and probably later, scale them. Your solution looks fantastic! I would probably implement the moving function just for fun and post a PR for those who prefer a simple implementation... So please go ahead and propose a PR!

One question: would you expect that the recording function be easily compatible with that React Movable Component?

[MW360]

Hi @hiroshisuga,
I am not completely sure about that, as I am in an early stage of development.
But I expect that there are changes to the recording functionality required.

[MW360]

Hi everyone,
I want to give you a small preliminary roadmap that shows my time table for these features.
Until the end of November I plan to implement the delete functionality of annotations with react moveable.
After that I want to add new features like moving, scaling, etc. every one or two weeks depending on how challenging the task is.

[iSamof]

Thank you Maximilian. This is great work, in addition to Hiroshi's great work.

[hiroshisuga]

So far so good. Still needs some work.

[Gigate]

@MW360 Hi I'm currently working on an advanced eraser implementation with server side clipping based on the work of @hiroshisuga (#13634). I was also planning on adding object manipulation and so on later. It would be great to talk to you to. I'm a computer science student at Ulm University Germany. If you like hit me up via Mail tim-3.schneider@uni-ulm.de

[hiroshisuga]

Hi @Gigate , Hi @MW360, great to have multiple projects for WB enhancement (after a long time of no progress)!
My interest is to make BBB more comfortable for teachers and students, not to re-invent Adobe Illustrator;-). I am pretty sure you guys are the same.

So I wonder how we proceed. Ideally, we may collaborate to publish one PR. But my project seems to have already proceeded so much that merging it with yours might be difficult. In addition, the time difference between Germany and Japan will not be ignorable. Thus I decided to post my PR, accepting feedbacks from users including you. Needless to say, this does not mean that I am competing with your projects. In fact I am very keen to see your solution!

For coding, I would

1. keep the eraser (Eraser on whiteboard #11018) and marker (Marker pen on whiteboard #11021) functions that I posted already, as using a rectangle with background picture would still be useful to precisely erase a part of drawing.
2. implement the selecting annotation function, inspired from the PR by @Gigate , to move, remove, and bring back and forward the drawings; combining with the function in 1, the teachers should basically be able to do whatever they want. For selecting an annotation, I would like to do it by precisely clicking the drawing, not by clicking the area of a bounding box.
3. not implement scaling and rotating functions, as they are not so useful for the learning activities (in my opinion) as the others; if you want to scale a drawing, you can delete it and redraw a new one.
4. develop the recording function simultaneously, otherwise I may need to massively change the code later (whiteboard recording/playback function is working in a bit different way as the html5 client, and the backward compatibility has always been an issue)
5. not use (if possible) a 3rd party modules or software to avoid a conflict and maintenance effort for core developers. In my experience, a simple code (and compatible with the present code) is preferred by this community. On the other hand I am pretty impressed with the React Movable Component that @MW360 proposed - it seems reliable enough.
6. not like keeping the PR up with the BBB's updates forever. So I will post a preliminary PR and see if there is a possibility to be merged into the main code. So if your PR is chosen, I will not push mine more.

For 3, implementing rotation and scaling is not so difficult as long as we use keyboard shortcuts. But if we want e.g. a corner point to snap the bounding box, it would be more difficult and they can be even error-prone. I also think such fancy user interface always makes other issues derived from a personal taste (I experienced it when I proposed the animated effect (#11297) for choosing random user;-). But as always I want to hear from the users and core developers.

[christianzz]

@hiroshisuga is there any way we can support (e.g. financially) to make this happen? This is something we are urgently looking for!

[hiroshisuga]

Hi @christianzz , I have already submitted the PR (#13769). Feel free to merge it to your local server.

[antobinary]

Hi @christianzz
A couple of the core BBB developers have met with the authors of #13634 (which is building upon @hiroshisuga 's great work) - @Gigate etc - and we hope to see the result of this work land in as part of BBB 2.5.

We can say exactly the same about @MW360 's upcoming work.

Although there is plenty left to implement, we endorse the approach taken in both areas.

[czange]

Hi Anton, thanks for letting me know - sounds promising. We experience, that the BBB whiteboard is neglected and declined by our customers, because it is simply not able to compete with what is out there (MIRO, MURAL etc.) I understand that competing with such specialised offers is difficult - but making things movable might go a long way. We will try to get in touch with those developers ...

[pascoual]

As I understand, there is no way to import picture in whiteboard. The goal is to make a simple MURAL, MIRO alternative all in one in BBB for climate sensitization with https://climatefresk.org & https://digitalcollage.org. It need picture (ko) with hidden/shown associated text (ko) and arrow (ok).
If someone as a WIP, please tell me :).

[amishbhavsar]

Is this scheduled for BBB 2.5?

[hiroshisuga]

@amishbhavsar , I don't think it will be fully deployed in 2.5 (maybe partially), although my latest PR #14540 is compatible to v2.4.x . You can locally deploy it on your server.

[amishbhavsar]

Thanks @hiroshisuga .
Can you guide me on how to install this on my instance of BBB?

[hiroshisuga]

Hi @amishbhavsar , it's nicely written here: https://docs.bigbluebutton.org/2.4/dev.html
You make your own branch from the PR (or simply download mine, which is https://github.com/hiroshisuga/bigbluebutton/tree/dev2.4.4_selectableAnnotations) , then following the steps above, you deploy both HTML5 client and Akka-Apps.

[ramonlsouza]

closed by #14994 (moving/editing object possible in BBB 2.6)