Internal web browser

Wed Dec 22 15:10:21 EST 2004

Frank D. Engel, Jr. wrote:
> On Dec 22, 2004, at 11:54 AM, Derek Bump wrote:
>
>>> I would like to know how to make a card that will let me have an
>>> internal browser for a web site, where I want it to show my web
>>> site with the click of a button.
>>
>> Purchase altBrowser from RunRev.  $99.
>
> Depending on the complexity of the site:
>
> on mouseUp
>   set the htmlText of field "Web Display" to \
>      URL "http://www.google.com"
> end mouseUp
>
> With the obvious substitution.  However, Rev's fields can only handle
> a tiny subset of HTML, so it is more likely than not that your site
> will display poorly this way.  It's included with Rev though, and easy
> to work with, if your site is simple enough.

For choosing the best option it may be helpful to refine the question:
  does your app need to provide access to Web pages specifically, or is
the goal to provide content to your customers.

If you're looking for a true browser object you can't beat Altuit's
altBrowser.  It's very reasonably priced, you can go anywhere on the web
and have it render nicely, and you get Altuit's excellent support when
needed.

But if the goal is to deliver content to your installed base, keep in
mind that those customers are a specialized subset of the general public
who would visit your site, giving you an opportunity to deliver content
aimed at such an audience while also delivering portions of pages from
your public web site.

I'm in the process of adding a variant of RevNet (see GoRevNet in your
Development->Plugins menu) to all of my apps, under the name
"InfoCenter". Like RevNet, it lets me keep that stack on the server
where I can update it at any time, and also like RevNet it can pull
pages from my web site and display only the relevant portion within its
window.

RevNet pulls data from many sources as needed on the fly.  One of those
is the list of Rev sites I maintain at
<http://www.fourthworld.com/rev/links.html>.  If you look at the source
for that page you'll find HTML comments "" and
"" surrounding the main portion of the page.

When you go to the "Links" card in RevNet, it downloads the HTML from
that URL, parses out the content between those comments, and sticks
that into a field as htmlText.  We do a similar thing with Ken Ray's
Tips and Tricks archive index on RevNet's "Tips" card (that one's a bit
more complex given the hierarchical nature of the data -- thank you Ken
for taking the time to write that parser for RevNet).

In the InfoCenter window I'm adding to my consumer apps we'll do the
same thing, so I can provide public content to those users without
replicating the effort -- we post once to the web, and it also shows up
in our InfoCenter instantly with no additional effort.

But the advantage of InfoCenter is that we can also provide content for
that specific audience, like special upgrade offers, support options, etc.

And because we have Transcript driving that content, we can also check
for updates and provide options for automatically downloading the latest
version when new ones becomes available.

And like RevNet the InfoCenter provides feedback forms for support
requests and bug reports.  Those forms are separate stackfiles on my
server so they only get downloaded as needed, keeping the main window
download as small as possible.

With Transcript's systemVersion, screenRect, qtVersion, and other such
functions we can have a system profile automatically included with those
submissions -- try getting reliable system info from users in email and
you'll appreciate this tremendously. ;)  We get better information from
customers, and they get a more convenient experience than dealing with a
separate email app. (see the Gestalt utility stack in RevNet for an
example of how to grab system info).

If you go this route and build something like an InfoCenter, here's a
productivity tip:  do yourself the favor of taking a moment to craft a
simple palette that can upload your latest copy to your server in one
click.  Investing a few minutes to set that up will pay for itself mny
times over, since you'll no longer need to go to your FTP client,
navigate to the right folder, and copy it by hand.  Best of all, with
Rev's libURL it's only one line:

   libUrlFtpUploadFile "/disk/infocenter.rev", \
    "ftp://user:password@ftp.domain.com/stacks/infocenter.rev"

The ease will encourage you to update it often, and regular updates will
keep your customers coming back to that window for more of your
marketing messages.  Your current customer is your most highly-qualified
prospect, and if catered to will also be your sales assistant.  It
almost always pays off to find ways to deliver custom content tailored
specifically for them.  An InfoCenter lets you maintain the post-sale
dialog with the customer more conveniently for both of you than more
intrusive options like email newsletters -- and with AOL-like rich-media
content, all from within your app, and all in native Transcript.

And if you add Altuit's browser control to the mix you can have it all. :)

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  __________________________________________________
  Rev tools and more: http://www.fourthworld.com/rev