An open source alternative to proprietary website monitoring software and services such as WebSite-Watcher or the various online monitoring services that are either proprietary or web-based (which send the update information via email.). A simple program that will detect changes in website content using header information if available and more complex methods when required, import/export bookmarks for common web browsers, and open a browser to display content. The program will be written in Java and use already existing open-source libraries such as BeanShell, and Apache's regexp to provide the backbone of the Swing GUI based application. Website and configuration information will be initially stored in XML. Command line and web-based interfaces are also a possibility - but initially emphasis will be on the change monitoring engine and the a simple GUI interface. Eventually I hope to make the system expandable by using BeanShell to allow for the addition of simple scripts to check the pages. I have done some testing of this, but for the moment at least it is in the distant future.
It is designed to meet my own need for a program that:
There is a 'working' version in CVS, but it has VERY limited functionality, and there may still be changes that will render the current preferences and save file formats incompatible with future releases. Currently only works with sites that report 'last modified' information in the http header. The first binary release will be made available for download once the GUI is complete.
