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==Overview==
==Overview==
Gears installs a browser extension that adds a [[JavaScript]] [[API]] that enables the browser scripts to access the local datastore. The extension requires [[Firefox]] or [[Internet Explorer]] or [[Maxthon]] and works on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Mac OS X]] and [[Linux]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=69201&topic=11629|title=What browsers and operating systems are supported by Google Gears?|accessdate=2007-05-31}}</ref> A version for [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] is now available to developers. Currently, [[Google Reader]] and [[Google Docs]] are the only Google applications supported, though other web applications such as [[Remember the Milk]], [[Zoho]], [[MySpace]] (for mail search), and [[Wordpress]] (currently in trunk and for speed increases rather than offline access) have added Gears functionality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gears.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=79873&ctx=sibling|title=General Info: About Google Gears|accessdate=2008-05-07}}</ref> The transition from online to offline mode and back has to be done manually in Google Reader because of the differences in data being transferred. Other applications, such as Remember the Milk, transition from online to offline mode and back seamlessly.
Gears installs a browser extension that adds a [[JavaScript]] [[API]] that enables the browser scripts to access the local datastore. The extension requires [[Firefox]] or [[Internet Explorer]] (or derivatives) and works on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Mac OS X]] and [[Linux]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=69201&topic=11629|title=What browsers and operating systems are supported by Google Gears?|accessdate=2007-05-31}}</ref> A version for [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] is now available to developers. Currently, [[Google Reader]] and [[Google Docs]] are the only Google applications supported, though other web applications such as [[Remember the Milk]], [[Zoho]], [[MySpace]] (for mail search), and [[Wordpress]] (currently in trunk and for speed increases rather than offline access) have added Gears functionality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gears.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=79873&ctx=sibling|title=General Info: About Google Gears|accessdate=2008-05-07}}</ref> The transition from online to offline mode and back has to be done manually in Google Reader because of the differences in data being transferred. Other applications, such as Remember the Milk, transition from online to offline mode and back seamlessly.


==Components==
==Components==

Revision as of 20:48, 11 June 2008

Gears
Developer(s)Google
Stable release0.5.36.0 (February 22, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-02-22)[1]) [±]
Operating systemWindows 2000, XP & Vista, Windows Mobile 5, Windows Mobile 6,Mac OS X, Linux
LicenseBSD
Websitehttp://gears.google.com/

Gears, formerly Google Gears[2], is beta software offered by Google to enable offline access to services that normally only are available online. It installs a database engine, based on SQLite, on the client system to cache the data locally. Gears-enabled pages use data from this local cache rather than from the online service. Using Gears, a web application may periodically synchronize the data in the local cache with the online service. If a network connection is not available, the synchronization is deferred until a network connection is established. Thus Gears enables web applications to work even though access to the network service is not present.

Released under the BSD license,[3] Gears is free and open source software.

Overview

Gears installs a browser extension that adds a JavaScript API that enables the browser scripts to access the local datastore. The extension requires Firefox or Internet Explorer (or derivatives) and works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.[4] A version for Safari is now available to developers. Currently, Google Reader and Google Docs are the only Google applications supported, though other web applications such as Remember the Milk, Zoho, MySpace (for mail search), and Wordpress (currently in trunk and for speed increases rather than offline access) have added Gears functionality.[5] The transition from online to offline mode and back has to be done manually in Google Reader because of the differences in data being transferred. Other applications, such as Remember the Milk, transition from online to offline mode and back seamlessly.

Components

There are three major API components to Gears

  • A local server that caches and serves application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc).[6]
  • A database (powered by SQLite) that stores the data offline.[7]
  • A worker thread pool that synchronizes data in the background.[8]

Support

Using a Greasemonkey script created by one of the Gears engineers, Gears can be enabled on sites where it is otherwise unsupported.

Opera ASA announced that the new Opera 9.5 will support Gears.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Revision: r3423
  2. ^ http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-birthday-google-gears.html
  3. ^ "Google Gears Google Code project". Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  4. ^ "What browsers and operating systems are supported by Google Gears?". Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  5. ^ "General Info: About Google Gears". Retrieved 2008-05-07.
  6. ^ "LocalServer Module API". Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  7. ^ "Database Module API". Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  8. ^ "WorkerPool Module API". Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  9. ^ "Opera extends Gears support". Opera Software. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
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