Request for using third-party libraries

[Lucria]

As stated above, will we be penalized if we use external packages for our projects/Duke? Some example of such a package will be a package that helps save objects into a JSON file.
The specific third-party package I'm looking at is GSON https://sites.google.com/site/gson/

[okkhoy]

Made this sticky and changed title.

[okkhoy]

Let us use this issue to request for third-party library usage.

Post your new requests as comments below.

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Library reuse guidelines

You are allowed to use third-party libraries subject to the constraints below:

• It should be an open-source project, STRICTLY NO FREEWARE binaries!
  • There may be some exceptions, decided on a case-to-case basis
• Either you or the users should not be required to pay for using the library
• The library should be released under a permissive license (MIT/Apache 2.0 are most preferred)
• You need to seek permission by listing the library here before you can use it.
• Once the library is approved for one team, it is approved for the entire class 😄 No need to ask permission again!
• You need to acknowledge the use of such libraries explicitly in your project documentation that is publicly visible

[okkhoy]

@Lucria wrt GSON : approved for use 👍

[namiwa]

Request to use module data from https://api.nusmods.com/v2/ referenced from #53.

[okkhoy]

@namiwa Do you want to use the data alone or the API to fetch the data?

[namiwa]

@okkhoy For the time being, we intend to use the API to fetch the data.

[okkhoy]

@namiwa Use of NUSMods API approved 👍

[shamussy]

Hi, do we need to request for permission to use libraries like the Natty Library? Or is it approved by default?

[okkhoy]

Anything that is not JDK provided should be requested.
Since you ask about Natty, using Natty is approved 👍 😄

[liujiajun]

Can I use Jackson?

[okkhoy]

@liujiajun Jackson, approved. However, for the benefit of others, please provide the link to the exact Jackson project you intend to use.

[liujiajun]

Thank you!
This is what I used: https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-databind

[Riyas97]

Hi. For my group project, it it okay to use 'The Movie Database API' https://www.themoviedb.org/documentation/api to extract information about movies for the app? Also is there any additional information that you want me to provide? Thanks.

[okkhoy]

@Riyas97 This is a part of the terms of use:

A TMDb user account is required to request an API key. Professional users are approved on a per-application basis.

Does this mean users should create an account as well? For the API, you need an account as stated.

Also, what is the mode of access? Do you use a library or do you make HTTP (or equivalent) request?

[Riyas97]

@okkhoy Firstly, the users don't have to create an account but I would have to create an account to generate the API key. The account is free and in fact, I already have an account and have even successfully tested out the API. As for mode of access, we need an API key to perform a http request to the database endpoint.

[okkhoy]

@Riyas97 Do take note of their terms of use. If for some reason, they block you (e.g., too many requests on the day of the testing session), you are on your own! You may be in trouble if the person testing your app doesn't get the required data.

[okkhoy]

Otherwise, TMDb approved. 👍
If you need to use any library bindings of TMDb you need to seek permission again as they have different license requirements, @Riyas97

[Riyas97]

@okkhoy Thank you so much. We will take your feedback seriously and develop a fallback mechanism in case anything happens on testing session.

[Lucria]

Hi Prof, would like to ask permission for using FreeTTS @ https://freetts.sourceforge.io/ and Apache Commons CSV @ https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-csv/download_csv.cgi

[okkhoy]

@Lucria please ensure that you don't violate any project constraints in using freetts.
Fretts - Approved 👍
Apache Commons CSV - Approved 👍

Again, with CSV, no dealing with data as column store (i.e., no treating it like SQL, no joins, etc.)

[Jefferson111]

Hi, are we allowed to use https://aws.amazon.com/lex/ for parsing of user input?

[okkhoy]

@Jefferson111 no. They require subscribing and (to my best knowledge) it is a paid service.

[Jefferson111]

Hi, are we allowed to use government backed data by the smart nation initiative?
https://www.smartnation.sg/resources/open-data-resources
https://www.mytransport.sg/content/mytransport/home/dataMall/dynamic-data.html
https://data.gov.sg/developer

[okkhoy]

@Jefferson111 Approved 👍
Do note that the user of your software shouldn't have to register for the access (doesn't seem so based on my quick look). If that is the case, I am afraid you need to talk to me to find a way out.

[Lucria]

Hi Prof! Are we allowed to use JaCoCo code coverage library?

[okkhoy]

@LongLeCE Approved 👍

[ChenChao19]

Hi prof, can we use https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.controlsfx/controlsfx/11.0.0 since it is under mavenCentral repos?

[okkhoy]

@ChenChao19 Approved 👍

[tessa-z]

Hi prof, can we use Apache POI?

[okkhoy]

@tessa-z Apache POI approved 👍

[Lucria]

Hi prof, can we use Coveralls maven plugin and Coveralls gradle plugin

[okkhoy]

@Lucria approved both 👍 (But I am curious why you need both?)

[Lucria]

Ah I actually didn't need both! During the time of posting I had yet consider a gradle plugin for Coveralls since the one suggested by Coveralls for Java was the maven plugin. But now, I was able to get the gradle plugin to work :)

[JokerYan]

Hi prof, can we use Outlook REST API to fetch emails? We will provide a local file fallback also.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/office/office-365-api/api/version-2.0/use-outlook-rest-api

[okkhoy]

@JokerYan you can! 👍
However, please note, users may be apprehensive to provide their username and password to test "unknown" applications. Hence you may have to provide a dummy user account details for testing purpose in the user/developer guide. Else there is big chance that anything related to email is not tested.

[Xdecosee]

Hi prof, can we use OpenCSV for our project ?

[okkhoy]

@Xdecosee approved 👍

[priyan-coder]

Hi Prof, are we allowed to use Yahoo Finance API online service for finding exchange rates ?

https://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter

[gowgos5]

Hi prof, can we use the JavaFX Material Design Library for our proj?

[okkhoy]

@priyan-coder looks like Yahoo finance API service is terminated? can you link to the actual library you need?

[okkhoy]

@gowgos5 JFoenix (no other implementations of Material Design Library) approved 👍

[chengweixuan]

https://github.com/hamcrest/JavaHamcrest
Hi prof, may we use this third-party library for testing exceptions?

[okkhoy]

@chengweixuan Hamcrest approved 👍

[priyan-coder]

Hi Prof, Apologies on the error earlier. Here's the functioning API, which i would like to request for approval :
https://ratesapi.io/documentation/

[kuromono]

Hi Prof, can I request to use the following libraries to parse CSV?
https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-dataformats-text

[okkhoy]

@priyan-coder Probably have to disappoint you. No.

the terms are non-conducive. I suppose your app will be requesting information, which can be construed as "bot"
in addition, to account for network outage you may have to save data locally that is forbidden.

[okkhoy]

@kuromono Jackson CSV approved. 👍

[priyan-coder]

Hi Prof, sure noted on guideline. I found an alternative :
https://exchangeratesapi.io/ for currency and https://www.metaweather.com/api/ for weather .

For your kind approval please.

[okkhoy]

@priyan-coder approved both 👍 (good job finding an open-source alternative!)

[TanYiXiang]

Hi prof, can we use https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.mnode.ical4j/ical4j/1.0.3 to parse iCalendar files?

[okkhoy]

@TanYiXiang yes you can!! Approved iCal4j 👍

[Riyas97]

Hi.. Just to confirm can I use JSON.simple 1.1.1 (https://code.google.com/archive/p/json-simple/) to handle JSON objects in my program?

[okkhoy]

@Riyas97 yes, you can. JSON Simple approved 👍

[jasperosy]

Hi prof, can we use https://github.com/fusesource/jansi for ANSI colours?

[okkhoy]

@jasperosy agreed 👍