Web Browser: Customize On-The-Fly

[Osler]

I was playing with it last night and there are some issues with the x/y positioning of the browser window on the screen that I will attemt to fix. Additionally, scroll left, right, up, and down seem to stop working if you link away from the original page that was loaded via hypertext. I will try to fix this as well. As a work around, you can set the property Scrollbars to True so that you have the system scrollbars displayed while you are playing with it.

I will upload a device import that will provide you with the properties you need tonight, as even I had trouble remembering what they all were when I went to look at it last night.

Osler

[Osler]

Browser device attached. Import into HouseBot.

Osler

[PServais]

Thanks!!! I tried it this evening and after a few minutes it worked like a charm!!!
Keep up the great work!

[edgar]

Hello All,

I am a newbie to HB, but an oldie at HA. I am a prior ECS user and am seriously thinking about the switch to HB. Just curious about this thread. Is there a web interface available for HB. It looks like there is, or was. I don't see it in the trial (which I like alot BTW).

Thanks,

Kevin

aka

edgar (Electronic Data Gathering and Automation Resource)

[Osler]

There is no web browser to interface and control HB. This is an add-on not supported by HB that allows you to integrate a browser window easily into a software remote to display web-based content on your touchscreen in conjunction with your other controls.

Osler

[ScottBot]

Hello All,

... Is there a web interface available for HB. It looks like there is, or was. I don't see it in the trial (which I like alot BTW).
...

You can use a Software Remote to connect to the server across the Internet and control/monitor anything you want with your own custom UI. They only run on Windows/WinCE/Windows Mobile platforms and are not html based.

If you really want an HTML interface, you can build one with the external control plugin and ActiveX control using a markup language that supports importing com objects (like ASP).

It's also possible to use the External Control device with template files (for the HTML layout) that runs as a CGI application for a wider variety of web servers. Either way, you have to install a 3rd party web server on the HouseBot server. But there are many free web servers that support CGI. Depending on your version of Windows, IIS may even be included/installed already.

[o_sobolev]

Osler,

Seems that last package doesn't have a readme file. Could you please upload it? Thanks.

[Osler]

I don't know that I ever wrote one. I will put one together, but the details on how to use it can be found by reading through the thread. I am rewriting this in VS2008 to make it a bit more stable and get around some of the issues with following hyperlinks. This will be posted in a week or so.

Osler

[Osler]

Better late than never. See the first post for the latest version recoded in VS 2008. This should solve most of the issues with the prior version and also improve compatibility with newer web-based applications (i.e., SlimServer). Post any questions/comments/problems.

Osler

[o_sobolev]

Osler,

This thing is great! Thanks a lot! Now we can control cameras & squeezebox multiroom from HB :)

One question: in Squeezebox web interface there are links that open in popup window, so your plugin opens explorer window, which goes under the plugin window (as it is "OnTop"). Is there a way to force plugin to open popup links in its main window?

[Osler]

Hmm...I will have to look at it. I hadn't anticipated using it to spawn additional windows. Are the pop-ups needed (i.e., could I force them to display within the current browser window) or do you need both windows available for control?

Osler

[Osler]

This doesn't look like it's going to be easy to do because the NewWindow event that is called for a popup doesn't appear to pass any information about the URL to allow me to direct it back to the main browser.

I will continue to look at this, as I am sure the IE-type popus you are getting aren't all that sexy. As a work-around, make a transparent cut-out on the panel background that you are using in the SW remote to display the browser. Make the cut-out the same size and position you want the browser to be on the panel. Now when you open the browser on panel entry, have it positioned so that it can show through the cut-out in the panel background. Since it can show through, set the browser OnTop property to "False". Your popups should now appear on top of the browser window instead of behind it....though they will still be fugly.

Osler

[o_sobolev]

Popups are not needed (it would be enough if a popup link would open as a regular link in the main window). I thought about the following: since the plugin uses IE-core, we could possibly find some value in registry, or some other hack, which is in charge of popup windows behavior. And if it would be changed in IE, it would affect the plugin too.

[Osler]

I think I have the browser doing what you have requested now. It required some additional code, but it appears to work.

Now when a popup event occurs, the browser will cancel it and redirect the popup to display in the main browser window.

Give it a go and see if this is what you wanted.

See first post for new download.

Osler

[o_sobolev]

Osler,

Thanks, that is exactly what I wanted! The only small issue is that the browser behaves badly if a web page is trying to close the active window. But I think I could fix it by editing the page itself.