howsoft.com - Free Software

THE ESSENTIALS

The howsoft IEPack for Rebol simulates the inclusion of a tailor-made browser in a full-screen Rebol window. Essentially, the pack consists of the following files:

_execute_this.exe, browser.exe, LocationAndSize.txt, navigate.txt, prog_killer.exe, prog_to_kill.txt

If you want to show your tailor-made browser in the Rebol window provided (called "_execute_this.exe", the first file in the pack) then you need to utilize all these 6 files together.

The six files (plus any complementary files needed) can be copied together to any folder of your choice on the HD and run from there, executing the program "_execute_this.exe".

If you specialize the pack manually to indicate the position and size of the browser required within the Rebol window, it is very easy. However, for your convenience, you have been provided with a pack manager known as the "IEPack Copy Utility" to make the job even easier. This will be dealt with in a minute. For now, here's how you can do the specialization manually:

1. Change the name ("_execute_this.exe") of the full-screen Rebol window to any name you like (e.g. "my_rebol_window.exe").

2. Specify the location and size of the browser required within the Rebol window by specifying 2 pairs of X-Y coordinates (each coordinate on a separate line - 4 lines in all) in the file "LocationAndSize.txt".

3.Provide the URL needed for the browser's navigation in "navigate.txt" (e.g. "http://www.howsoft.com")

That's all!

The functions of the buttons shown at the bottom are as follows:

DEMO 1: Shows you an example of a Rebol window where the browser navigates to a local file on your HD (an animated SVG).

DEMO 2: Shows you an example of a Rebol window where the browser navigates to a remote URL on the Internet.

NEW: Based on a set of files similar to those demonstrated in DEMO2 (i.e. the 6 files constituting the "pack"), allows you to begin specializing your own pack. To do the specialization, just click on the file names "_execute_this.exe", "LocationAndSize" and "navigate.txt" and fill in the boxes appearing in the middle "CurrentSettings" column.

ADD FILES: This is where you can provide one or more files to be included with the pack when it is exported in its specialized form to another place on your HD. For example, DEMO1 exports an SVG file.

TEST: Use this button to demonstrate the running of the pack (DEMO1, DEMO2, or your NEW pack).

Here is an example of TEST applied to DEMO1:

SAVE NEW TO... Click this to export the whole pack to a chosen place on your HD.

INTERNET HELP: Navigates to howsoft.com in a separate browser so that you can access these very notes from the program itself.

EXIT: Exits the program.

THE REBOL WINDOW (_execute_this.exe)

You have been provided with an empty, full-screen Rebol window. The browser is independent and is simply laid on top of the window in the appropriate position. This should be useful for many things. However, if you want to provide a window with other sophistications, creating a new executable program to replace the one provided, you will require the REBOL SDK. If you are interested in the details of the SDK or are interested in buying it, click on the big "R" icon at the top of this page to visit the Rebol website.

Here is the original script used for _execute_this.exe:

REBOL [
Title: "Example"
Encap: [title "Browser"]
]

#include %mezz.r
#include %prot.r
#include %view.r

;--create the event handler
evt-close: func [face event][
either event/type = 'close [

call "prog_killer.exe"
quit

none
][
; allow other events to pass through
event

]
]

; insert the handler
insert-event-func :evt-close

call "browser.exe"

view/options/offset layout [
size system/view/screen-face/size ;This should be full screen size
origin 650x500
]

[]0x22 ;This is the offset which allows for the title height