Does LeapJS still work?
LeapJS no longer works on our latest hand tracking version, Gemini V5, but is effective on the 3.2.1 and Orion V4 software.
How can I use LeapJS with Orion V4?
Whilst the legacy APIs were deprecated in V4, so it doesn't have Javascript support, it is possible to use Orion V4 with LeapJS if you enable the AllowWeb Apps option from within the Leap Motion Control Panel as this is not active by default and it doesn't always persist through a system restart. Once enabled though you can access the websocket API with LeapJS. You can test this by installing our Orion V4 software and checking out this getting started tutorial here.
What's the story with LeapJS?
LeapJS is the Leap Motion JavaScript API, which consists of a client-side library and a WebSocket server created by the Leap Motion software. LeapJS works on v4 of the core software and while some things like the Confidence API and gestures have been removed, the basic examples are still workable. However, the library hasn't been updated in 4 years because there hasn't been a pressing need. Making JavaScript work in XR is hard for performance reasons; making it work on desktop is trivial.
With the version 4 software, we stripped out support for all the legacy APIs. In a C++ application a developer could easily just implement a new wrapper on LeapC (using LeapCxx) and still be able to program in C++. But since JS has to run in a browser, there needs to be some native application passing the Leap Motion data along. Historically the Leap Service has handled this by setting up a WebSocket server through which the hand tracking data is delivered.
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