What it does
Whiteboard provides an interface for two or more people to collaborate in drafting a project using a tree-like structure. Nodes can be created with notes, which can be connected to other nodes on the board in a way similar to essay outlining or UML diagrams. A chat feature is also included so participants can discuss the project as they visually lay it out.
A major desired feature for Whiteboard was integration with Google calendars to plan meetings or deadlines, but Hackathon time constraints made this infeasible.
How we built it
Whiteboard was built from scratch using basic Java and Swing API over the course of Hack Arizona 2016.
Challenges we ran into
Writing the GUI from scratch using Java's Swing library proved to be the most difficult (and ultimately insurmountable) obstacle to our project. Varied experience among our team members in Swing meant while we were able to create basic GUI functionality with some polish using a combination of Swing and Graphics2D, not every problem could be solved in the time we had.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
As the team's first Hackathon, the most important accomplishment was getting a finished product out at all! We feel we've learned an enormous amount across the board this weekend, from the nuts and bolts of Java to the complexities of managing a team project like this. In particular, Jeremy and Cynthia had not worked with Swing at all prior to this project and learned quickly enough to create and refine pieces of the GUI autonomously by the second day.
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