Dave's Redistricting App Screwed? (UPDATE: New DRA Link, v2.5)

[Adam Griffin]

As of tonight, whenever I go to the app, all I see is an "Install Microsoft Silverlight" button. I tried to install just to be sure there wasn't a newer version, but when I do, it says my version is newer than the one I'm trying to install. Can anyone else access the app?


UPDATE (11/29): As some of you probably heard, complete functionality of DRA was scheduled to end on 11/30. Dave (Bradlee) has been working to fix this problem and transfer the old data to a new source. There is now a new link below (DRA 2.5) that will serve as the future DRA app, although there are no plans to add new data post-2008 to it. There are still glitches and some lack of functionality, but he intends to fix this with time.

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[Adam Griffin]

After uninstalling/reinstalling Silverlight, restarting my browser and restarting my computer, I still get the same message (as do multiple others). I hope DRA isn't gone forever...I'll probably have a meltdown.

[JerryArkansas]

What browser are you using right now Griffin.  For some reason, it's not working on Chrome for me and working on Fire fox perfectly well.

[muon2]

Years ago when I first tried DRA (version 1?) I found problems with its compatibility on Firefox due to Silverlight. Since Silverlight is a Microsoft product I switched to IE for my DRA browser and I haven't had that problem since, including my test this morning. Over the years I have occasionally found other Silverlight apps that run best on IE, but those are rare.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm using Chrome and it works fine for me.

[Adam Griffin]

I'm using Chrome and it works fine for me.

Years ago when I first tried DRA (version 1?) I found problems with its compatibility on Firefox due to Silverlight. Since Silverlight is a Microsoft product I switched to IE for my DRA browser and I haven't had that problem since, including my test this morning. Over the years I have occasionally found other Silverlight apps that run best on IE, but those are rare.

What browser are you using right now Griffin.  For some reason, it's not working on Chrome for me and working on Fire fox perfectly well.

Very interesting! It works for me too on Firefox, but not on Chrome (which is what I was using). Kind of embarrassing that I didn't think to try a different browser despite all the process of elimination testing I tried.

[Adam Griffin]

I'm in touch with Dave Bradlee and he is now aware of the problem, for what it's worth.

Antonio, what operating system are you using?

[publicunofficial]

I have the same problem, it works with Firefox but not Chrome.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It looks like the problem is that DRA uses Silverlight and that Silverlight uses the old NPAPI plug in interface which Google has chosen to discontinue support for as they content it causes a variety of problems.  http://blog.chromium.org/2014/11/the-final-countdown-for-npapi.html The latest update to Chrome disabled the support by default tho for now you can still reenable it by manually reenabling it.  However, their plan is that in September they'll totally remove support for it.  Since Microsoft has also announced that they intend to end all support for Silverlight by 2021 and that current support is limited to patching the existing code, I doubt they'll be working on getting it to run on Chrome.  After all, it was no secret that Google was planning on discarding the NPAPI.

In short, until DRA is rewritten to use something other than Silverlight, it won't be working on Chrome.

[Adam Griffin]

It looks like the problem is that DRA uses Silverlight and that Silverlight uses the old NPAPI plug in interface which Google has chosen to discontinue support for as they content it causes a variety of problems.  http://blog.chromium.org/2014/11/the-final-countdown-for-npapi.html The latest update to Chrome disabled the support by default tho for now you can still reenable it by manually reenabling it.  However, their plan is that in September they'll totally remove support for it.  Since Microsoft has also announced that they intend to end all support for Silverlight by 2021 and that current support is limited to patching the existing code, I doubt they'll be working on getting it to run on Chrome.  After all, it was no secret that Google was planning on discarding the NPAPI.

In short, until DRA is rewritten to use something other than Silverlight, it won't be working on Chrome.

That was very helpful, thanks. I've forwarded your comments to him.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm in touch with Dave Bradlee and he is now aware of the problem, for what it's worth.

Antonio, what operating system are you using?

Windows 7.

[Gass3268]

Future of DRA from the source

[Miles]

Its only working for me on Internet Explorer, atm.

[muon2]

Future of DRA from the source

Currently no future after November 30, 2016.

[retromike22]

It has never worked for me on any browser and I have always wanted to try it out

[muon2]

It has never worked for me on any browser and I have always wanted to try it out

Try Internet Explorer with a small population state like NV, it seems to work most consistently. The size of state you can load sometimes depends on the speed of your internet connection. I find CA notoriously difficult to load and operate except on my most high-speed connections. Moving the opacity to 100% once a state loads also speeds operations.

[freepcrusher]

bump

is DRA still screwed come 11/30?

[Adam Griffin]

bump

is DRA still screwed come 11/30?

Got this from Dave the other day:

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[nclib]

What happens to saved 2.2 maps/data after Dec. 1? Can they still be viewed?

[they don't love you like i love you]

That new app is awful. I'd rather just use the 1.0 version which should always work. The 2.2 still works for me though.

[Figueira]

That new app is awful. I'd rather just use the 1.0 version which should always work. The 2.2 still works for me though.

What's wrong with the new one? I haven't used it yet.

[Chief Justice Keef]

Every time I try to open up 2.2 or 2.5, or any other version I'm asked to download Silverlight. I'm kinda confused since I thought Silverlight was phased out?

[White Trash]

Every time I try to open up 2.2 or 2.5, or any other version I'm asked to download Silverlight. I'm kinda confused since I thought Silverlight was phased out?

I'm having the same issue.

[Nyvin]

Someone should really just make a Google Earth addon for redistricting...

[morgieb]

Every time I try to open up 2.2 or 2.5, or any other version I'm asked to download Silverlight. I'm kinda confused since I thought Silverlight was phased out?

I'm having the same issue.

Had the same issue for Chrome. Works on Firefox though.