Anything similar to Squeak's ExternalWebBrowser available for VW?

In a vain interest in getting the Seaside Albatross extension package
that was written for Squeak to run on VW, I need a few things that
Squeak has and am hoping that they exist for VW in one way or another:

1) Squeak has the ExternalWebBrowser package which is able to launch
(and send URLs to) an external web browser.  Unfortunately I'm not too
sure if such a thing exists for VW or not.. I poked around the public
store and found some items that sounded interesting, but thought I'd ask
you all who likely know better than I.. In my case I am running on Linux
or perhaps OSX if that's easier.

2) Kom on Squeak can listen for requests on an incoming port -- can I
just use some form of the standard WebToolkit for that or would
something else be better? Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure how
they're plugging into this mechanism in Squeak..

Of course, if you've tried doing this already, I'd love to hear about
it.. MTIA!

At 08:17 AM 3/21/2007, Rick Flower wrote:
>2) Kom on Squeak can listen for requests on an incoming port -- can
>I just use some form of the standard WebToolkit for that or would
>something else be better? Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure how
>they're plugging into this mechanism in Squeak..

What do you mean by "listen for requests"? TCP? HTTP? ...?

If you want to build some kind of low-level server, you can use the
OpenTalk framework. If you want support for web services (WSDL,
SOAP), etc., there's a framework for that. If you want to handle HTTP
requests with query variables, form data, etc., then you can use the
Web Tookit. If the latter, a servlet is probably simplest. There are
some very simple hacks that use VisualWave, but keep in mind that we
will be replacing some of that code with OpenTalk in the future.

HTH,

M

> In a vain interest in getting the Seaside Albatross extension package
> that was written for Squeak to run on VW, I need a few things that
> Squeak has and am hoping that they exist for VW in one way or another:

> 1) Squeak has the ExternalWebBrowser package which is able to launch
> (and send URLs to) an external web browser.  Unfortunately I'm not too
> sure if such a thing exists for VW or not.. I poked around the public
> store and found some items that sounded interesting, but thought I'd ask
> you all who likely know better than I.. In my case I am running on Linux
> or perhaps OSX if that's easier.

James Robertson made Browsing-Assist in public store to do that. It
works on Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

Cheers,
Michael

It also works on Linux/Unix, so long as you provide a path to the
browser/script

At 09:20 PM 3/20/2007, you wrote:

<Talk Small and Carry a Big Class Library>
James Robertson, Product Manager, Cincom Smalltalk
http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/blog/blogView

Mark Roberts wrote: Frankly I've got no idea what its being used for by Albatross..  I'll
have to look at the code and see
what the context is.. Thanks for the info!

Thanks.. I'll check it out as well!

James Robertson wrote:

At 10:20 AM 3/21/2007, Michael Lucas-Smith wrote:
>James Robertson made Browsing-Assist in public store to do that. It
>works on Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

Sounds interesting, so I just tried this on Windows from the jan07.3 build.

Unfortunately, I got an MNU, below.

Also, I notice there is a bunch of platform-specific stuff in the api
protocol of BrowserLaunchService -- seems like most of these methods
should be elsewhere.


Unhandled exception: Message not understood: #controller
UndefinedObject(Object)>>doesNotUnderstand:
MinimalShellInterface class>>openFile:from:
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>win32AnyBrowser:
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>win32:
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>privateOpenBrowserOn:
optimized [] in BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
BlockClosure>>on:do:
optimized [] in Process class>>forBlock:priority:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
UndefinedObject(Object)>>doesNotUnderstand:
Receiver:
         an UndefinedObject
Arguments:
         aMessage = a Message with selector: #controller and arguments: #()
Temporaries:
         excpt = a MessageNotUnderstood
         resumeValue = nil
Context PC = 25

----------------------------------------------------------------------
MinimalShellInterface class>>openFile:from:
Receiver:
         a MinimalShellInterface class
Instance Variables:
         superclass = Win32SystemSupport
         methodDict = a MethodDictionary[48]
         format = 16384
         subclasses = nil
         instanceVariables = an Array[0]
         organization = ('types' #GUID #HDROP #HICON #HINSTANCE #HWND
#LPCSTR #LPCTSTR #LPPOINT #LPSHELLEXECUTEINFO #LPTSTR #LPWORD
#NOTIFYICONDATA #PNOTIFYICONDATA #POINT #PVOID #TCHAR #UINT)
('structs' #tagPOINT #_NOTIFYICONDATA)
('defines' #NIF_ICON #NIF_MESSAGE #NIF_TIP #NIM_ADD #NIM_DELETE
#NIM_MODIFY #QUERY_NUM_OF_FILES #SW_SHOWNORMAL #WM_DROPFILES)
('API' #filesDroppedFromExternalEvent: #registerWindowForDrop:
#unregisterWindowForDrop: #winDropObjectFrom:)
('procedures' #CreateIcon:with:with:with:with:with:with:
#DragAcceptFiles:with: #DragFinish: #DragQueryFile:with:with:with:
#DragQueryPoint:with: #DragQueryPointer:with:
#ExtractAssociatedIcon:with:with: #ExtractIcon:with:with:
#FindExecutable:with:with: #ShellAbout:with:with:with:
#ShellExecute:with:with:with:with:with:
#ShellExecuteA:with:with:with:with:with: #ShellExecuteEx:
#Shell_NotifyIcon:with:)
('private' #extractFileAtIndex:fromDropHandle: #numOfFilesDroppedFrom:)

         name = #MinimalShellInterface
         classPool = a NameSpaceOfClass[0]
         environment = a NameSpace[114]
         includeFiles = an OrderedCollection[0]
         includeDirectories = a LinkedOrderedCollection[0]
         libraryFiles = a LinkedOrderedCollection[1]
         libraryDirectories = a LinkedOrderedCollection[0]
         virtual = false
         optimizationLevel = #full
Arguments:
         aFilename = 'http://www.smalltalk-central.com/'
         aWindow = nil
Temporaries:
         xif = a MinimalShellInterface
         hwnd = nil
Context PC = 10

----------------------------------------------------------------------
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>win32AnyBrowser:
Receiver:
         a BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService
Instance Variables:
         activeWindow = nil
         launchNewWindow = false
         currentExternalBrowser = nil
Arguments:
         link = 'http://www.smalltalk-central.com/'
Temporaries:
         shellInterface = MinimalShellInterface
Context PC = 12

----------------------------------------------------------------------
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>win32:
Receiver:
         a BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService
Instance Variables:
         activeWindow = nil
         launchNewWindow = false
         currentExternalBrowser = nil
Arguments:
         link = 'http://www.smalltalk-central.com/'
Context PC = 15

----------------------------------------------------------------------
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>privateOpenBrowserOn:
Receiver:
         a BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService
Instance Variables:
         activeWindow = nil
         launchNewWindow = false
         currentExternalBrowser = nil
Arguments:
         link = 'http://www.smalltalk-central.com/'
Temporaries:
         platform = nil
         method = nil
         cur = nil
Context PC = 27

----------------------------------------------------------------------
optimized [] in BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
Receiver:
         an UndefinedObject
Temporaries:
         .self = a BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService
         .link = 'http://www.smalltalk-central.com/'
Context PC = 7

----------------------------------------------------------------------
BlockClosure>>on:do:
Receiver:
         a BlockClosure
Instance Variables:
         method = CompiledBlock [] in
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
         outerContext = nil
         copiedValues = an Array[2]
Arguments:
         anExceptionSelector = TerminateException
         handlerBlock = BlockClosure [] in [] in Process
class>>forBlock:priority:
Context PC = 18

----------------------------------------------------------------------
optimized [] in Process class>>forBlock:priority:
Receiver:
         an UndefinedObject
Temporaries:
         .aBlock = BlockClosure [] in
BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
Context PC = 9

> At 10:20 AM 3/21/2007, Michael Lucas-Smith wrote:
>>James Robertson made Browsing-Assist in public store to do that. It
>>works on Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

> Sounds interesting, so I just tried this on Windows from the jan07.3 build.

> Unfortunately, I got an MNU, below.

> Also, I notice there is a bunch of platform-specific stuff in the api
> protocol of BrowserLaunchService -- seems like most of these methods
> should be elsewhere.

Ahh that stupid bug. YOu can change the cod ein that method to not
need a window. The window pointer the function expects is allowed to
be null and it works just fine.


> Unhandled exception: Message not understood: #controller
> UndefinedObject(Object)>>doesNotUnderstand:
> MinimalShellInterface class>>openFile:from:
> BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>win32AnyBrowser:
> BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>win32:
> BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>privateOpenBrowserOn:
> optimized [] in BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
BlockClosure>>>on:do:
> optimized [] in Process class>>forBlock:priority:

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> optimized [] in BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
> Receiver:
>          an UndefinedObject
> Temporaries:
>          .self = a BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService
>          .link = 'http://www.smalltalk-central.com/'
> Context PC = 7

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
BlockClosure>>>on:do: class>>>forBlock:priority:
> Context PC = 18

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> optimized [] in Process class>>forBlock:priority:
> Receiver:
>          an UndefinedObject
> Temporaries:
>          .aBlock = BlockClosure [] in
> BrowserService.BrowserLaunchService>>openBrowserOn:
> Context PC = 9

At 12:25 PM 3/22/2007, Michael Lucas-Smith wrote:
OK, that problem is in Windows Goodies, not Browser-Assist. I fixed
it and it seems to work.

I did some minor cleanup and republished Browser-Assist.

Only tested it on Windows, but the API for opening new vs. existing
browsers doesn't look cross-platform.

Also, the code includes references to these undeclared classes:
#MacAEManager #SystemInterfaceModel.

Overall impression: could be useful, but needs work/cleanup before it
can be production code.

M

> I did some minor cleanup and republished Browser-Assist.

I've just published ExternalWebBrowser to public store. This is a
cleanup done by David Price of Browser-Assist.

We tested it on Windows, Linux and MacOSX. All the BottomFeederisms
are removed and there are no dependencies beyond itself.

Cheers,
Michael

I tried loading the latest Browsing-Assist from the public store, but when I
try to use it I get a DNU.

Seems that SystemInterfaceModel is nil in the following method.

BrowserLaunchService>>getDefaultBrowserPathFor: url
 "try two different tacks to get the default browser"
 | app paramIndex |
 app := SystemInterfaceModel
   getWinKey: ''
   using: #('http' 'shell' 'open' 'command')
   andRoot: #HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.
 app isNil
  ifTrue: [app := SystemInterfaceModel
    getWinKey: ''
    using: #('htmlfile' 'shell' 'open' 'command')
    andRoot: #HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT].
 app isNil
  ifTrue: [^nil].
 paramIndex := app indexOfSubCollection: '%1' startingAt: 1.
 ^ paramIndex > 0
  ifTrue: [ app copyReplaceFrom: paramIndex to: paramIndex + 1 with: url ]
  ifFalse: [ app, ' ', url]

What do I need to load?

Thanks,

-Carl

Okay, I found it.  I needed to load RSS-Persistence.  Now it works.  :-)

Thanks for this stuff, James.

-Carl Gundel, author of Liberty BASIC
http://www.libertybasic.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Gundel" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 7:18 PM
Subject: [7.4.1]Problem with Browsing-Assist

Carl Gundel wrote:
> Okay, I found it.  I needed to load RSS-Persistence.  Now it works.  :-)
>
>  
Might also be worth having a look at the ExternalWebBrowser package,
which is based on Browsing-Assist, but with various clean ups and other
fixes.

David