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revBrowserOpen

Type

function

Summary

Opens and initialises a new browser

Syntax

revBrowserOpen(<windowId> [, <url> ] )
XBrowser_Open <windowId> [, <url>]

Description

The revBrowserOpen function opens a new browser in the window with the given windowId. If a url is given, the new browser immediately navigates to this url.

note

The url must be a standards-compliant URL. In particular, file: URLs must be of the form file://absolute path, and the path should be URL-encoded.

Cross-platform note

On Windows systems, the Internet Explorer browser is used by the revBrowserOpen function while on OS X Systems the Safari browser is used. To ensure cross-platform compatibility, don't use features that are not supported by both browsers, eg "ftp://" urls, which are only supported by Internet Explorer.

It is no longer necessary to initialise the Browser using XBrowser_Init, and this command now does nothing, but is still included to prevent legacy code causing script errors.

There is a sample stack for revBrowser at the following location in the LiveCode folder: Resources/Examples/Browser Sampler.rev. This stack demonstrates, with many examples, how to use browser objects in an application.

General Notes on Using the Browser Library

The older XBrowser forms of all Browser library commands, functions and messages have been retained for backwards compatiblity and these are documented as synonyms. The XBrowser functions are deprecated, this means that they should not normally be used in new code except for the maintainance of older applications that depend on them.

The syntax of these older functions differs slightly from that documented and used in the new functions.

The revBrowser functions (with the exception of revBrowserOpen) all require a browser id, which tells LiveCode which browser object to act upon. This id is returned by the revBrowserOpen function and should be saved in the calling application. The browser id is always the first parameter given to any revBrowser function and always the first parameter passed to any browser callback.

The deprecated XBrowser functions can optionally take a browser id parameter. If the browser id is not given, then the last browser created by the XBrowser_Open command is used. The browser id is always the last parameter passed to an XBrowser function.

Do not mix the revBrowser and XBrowser functions in an application. The two sets of functions have not been designed to be compatible with each other and mixing them will almost certainly cause unexpected results.

The default rect of a new browser instance is 0,0,0,0. To change this, set the "rect" property using the revBrowserSet command.

The callbacks sent by the browser depend on whether the browser was opened using revBrowserOpen or XBrowser_Open. If revBrowserOpen was used, the callbacks prefixed with "browser" are used, otherwise, those prefixed by "XBrowser_" are used.

It is currently possible to cancel browser operations by setting the browserCancel global variable to true. If using the XBrowser functions, then the global variable XBrowserCancel should be used instead.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription

windowId

The operating system's ID for a stack window as given in the windowID property.

url

Any url that can be accessed by the browser object in use.

Examples

local tBrowserId
put revBrowserOpen(the windowId \
of this stack, "http://www.livecode.com" ) into tBrowserId
if tBrowserId is not an integer then
answer "Failed to open browser"
end if

-- Using the old XBrowser syntax
XBrowser_Open the windowId of this stack, "http://www.livecode.com"
put the result into tBrowserId

control structure: try

function: result

glossary: message

message: browserOver, browserNewInstance, browserNewUrlWindow, browserDownloadRequest, errorDialog, browserNavigateCompleteFrame

command: revBrowserStop, revBrowserPrint, revBrowserSet, revBrowserMakeTextBigger, revBrowserNavigate, XBrowser_Init, XBrowser_Focus, revBrowserClose

Compatibility and Support

Introduced

LiveCode 2.8.1

OS

mac

windows

Platforms

desktop

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