Processing, Kinect, Manually installed-libraries, School Internet

Question

Hello!

My predicament is as follows:

I am a student at a project-based learning high school, we are trying to create interactive art using Processing and Kinect, but the school internet is restrictive and does not let me use Processing's built in library downloader.

My question is as follows:

How do I manually install libraries, and how exactly do libraries work? Are they global as in once installed I can use those libraries for any other project on this computer or must they be re-installed for every file?

Also, bonus question -- which kinect libraries need to be downloaded to get it to work on a 64 bit Dell laptop running Windows 7?

Answer 1

Your best bet is to contact an admin at your school and ask them to install the library for you. That being said, I'll try to answer your questions:

How do I manually install libraries

You can manually install a library using the steps listed here. Basically you just need to obey the library directory structure.

What I would do if I were you is install the library at home, then look in the Processing directory on your computer, and then use a flash drive to copy those files onto the school computer.

Are they global as in once installed I can use those libraries for any other project on this computer or must they be re-installed for every file?

You're talking about two steps. First you have to download the library onto your computer (see above). Then when you start a new sketch, you still have to "install" that library into that sketch (which really just copies the library into your sketch's directory).

This might also depend on how your school computer is set up. You might have a different directory then somebody else with a different account, or the computer might be set to rollback to a previous state every night. Like I said, your best bet is to contact an admin.