IRIX 6.4 Development Libraries/SGI IRIX 6.4 Development Libraries.iso/docs6.4/relnotes/webviewer_dev/ch1.z/ch1

Text File | 1997-09-04 | 5.9 KB | 201 lines

                                  - 1 -



       1.  _I_n_t_r_o_d_u_c_t_i_o_n

       The power of the web is the seamlessness with which
       information is accessed across different computer platforms
       and across networks in every country, without the user
       having direct perception of where the information is coming
       from.  Viewing a list of interesting places and clicking
       might take our voyaging user from a computer in Silicon
       Valley to one in Boston in a fraction of a second.

       WebViewer is a set of C++ classes which make it simple for a
       programmer to add web functionality to an application.  The
       classes are based on ViewKit. The classes allow the
       programmer to create an application with web access
       directly,  without using a separate browser as an
       intermediary.

       The viewer can be viewed as an integrated component for
       viewing web information which is not a heavyweight browser.
       This component, for example, could be posted in a dialog box
       from every application. Each application can have an
       instance of the browser.  The applications can use the
       browser to display custom help information and create
       subclasses of the components to override link behavior.

       Some features which make general browsers rich such as
       NetNews, WAIS and Gopher are not present in this component.
       Other frills omitted are things like bookmarks (although an
       application could supply bookmarks on top of the supplied
       browser component).


       Note:  Packaged with your software is a separate sheet that
              contains the Software License Agreement.  This
              software is provided to you solely under the terms
              and conditions of the Software License Agreement.
              Please take a few moments to review the Agreement.


       1.1  _V_k_W_e_b_V_i_e_w_e_r__a_n_d__V_k_W_e_b_V_i_e_w_e_r_B_a_s_e

       The browser component consists of several individual parts.
       There is a widget which displays parsed HTML documents, a
       ViewKit component which combines the widget with a web
       access library and a prebuilt GUI for browsing, and a
       library for web access.

       The underlying widget is left undocumented,  by design.  The
       intent is for the user to always access this via the ViewKit
       component.  The web access library (libwio) is documented
       elsewhere.  See the Web support library release notes.











                                  - 2 -



       The ViewKit browser component provides all the glue for the
       web access to work.  The cache which was supplied by an
       earlier version is now provided by the webfetch and webcache
       library.  The subclass VkWebViewer provides navigation and
       history controls for the user.

       As of this release HTML 2 is supported as well as most of
       the interesting features in HTML 3.2,  including table and
       frame support,  and support for font faces and colors.  See
       the apropriate chapter for a complete list of tags and
       attributes.

       The browser attempts to load documents and subparts
       asyncronously.  There are,  unfortunately,  some network
       accesses which cannot be handled in an async fashion,  e.g.
       address lookup for a host.


       This document contains the following chapters:

         1.  Introduction

         2.  Installation Information

         3.  Supported Tags


       1.2  _R_e_l_e_a_s_e__I_d_e_n_t_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n__I_n_f_o_r_m_a_t_i_o_n

       Following is the release identification information for
       WebViewer:

                                      WebViewer library
       SSSSooooffffttttwwwwaaaarrrreeee PPPPrrrroooodddduuuucccctttt
                                      2.0
       VVVVeeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn
                                      (not assigned)
       PPPPrrrroooodddduuuucccctttt CCCCooooddddeeee
                                      IRIX 6.3
       SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm SSSSooooffffttttwwwwaaaarrrreeee RRRReeeeqqqquuuuiiiirrrreeeemmmmeeeennnnttttssss



       1.3  _O_n_l_i_n_e__R_e_l_e_a_s_e__N_o_t_e_s

       After you install the online release notes for a product
       (the _r_e_l_n_o_t_e_s subsystem), you can view the release notes on
       your screen.

       Note:  You can read the online release notes for most
              products before installing the software.  Refer to
              the booklet in your CD-ROM case for more information.












                                  - 3 -



       If you have a graphics system, select ``Release Notes'' from
       the Help submenu of the Toolchest. This displays the
       _g_r_e_l_n_o_t_e_s(1) graphical browser for the online release notes.

       Refer to the _g_r_e_l_n_o_t_e_s(1) man page for information on
       options to this command.

       If you do not have a graphics system, you can use the
       _r_e_l_n_o_t_e_s command.  Refer to the _r_e_l_n_o_t_e_s(1) man page for
       accessing the online release notes.

       1.4  _P_r_o_d_u_c_t__S_u_p_p_o_r_t

       Silicon Graphics, Inc., provides a comprehensive product
       support maintenance program for its products.

       If you are in the U.S. or Canada and would like support for
       your Silicon Graphics-supported products, contact the
       Technical Assistance Center at (800)800-4SGI.  If you are
       outside these areas, contact the Silicon Graphics subsidiary
       or authorized distributor in your country.