Using the code luanched from a button:
application.showURL(‘http://www.yahoo.com’)
on developer, the webpage will open in SAME window BUT on client, it will ALWAYS open a NEW window everytime the script is launched.
Suggestions to solutions?
I can confirm this behavior on XP with IE 6.0.xxxxx installed. But I have some observations to add here.
“sammyzheng” … if you do not wish to read through all of the below - if your users can switch to Firefox (which is a much safer alternative to I.E., from what I understand, and which has tabbed browsing – a very nice feature), the problem will be solved.
In case anyone is interested in a more “classic format” bug report and the results of some tests already run, see below.
kazar
SUMMARY:
When using Developer, a showURL opens the new page in the frontmost IE window. When using Client (on the same machine or from another machine that also uses I.E. as the browser), though, a showURL opens the new page in a new Explorer window every time. However, this problem does not manifest with every web-browser application when using Servoy Client - the behavior appears to depend upon browser preferences (if they are available in the browser application).
Further, the behavior of links sent to Internet Explorer from applications other than Servoy Client behave exactly the same as openURL from Servoy Client. Therefore this appears to very much be a browser-dependent behavior, and the fact that Servoy Developer opens new web pages in the most recent I.E. window (rather than a new window) appears to be where the anomaly is.
TESTS:
Using Internet Explorer with other (non-Web-browser) applications:
– Open a new Word document and type in two hyperlinks.
– Ctrl-click on one link and Explorer will open and display the page
– Ctrl-click on the other link, and Explorer behaves just like it
Using Mozilla Firefox (also on XP):
– launched Firefox and clicked “OK” to make it the default browser. Left all FireFox preferences set to default. Windows being Windows, I had to log out and log back in to make the default-browser change actually take effect.
– When using Developer, showURL behavior is the same as it is with Explorer (i.e., new links opened will load the new page into the frontmost browser window)
– When using Client, showURL behavior is different than with Explorer. It works just the way it does with Developer – showURL will open the new page within the frontmost browser window and will not open a new browser window.
NOTES RE BROWSER PREFERENCES:
Firefox is a “tabbed browser” and has preferences for how the user wishes new page-loads to be handled. In Firefox Options/Advanced/Tabbed Browsing, there is a setting for “Open links for other applications in…” and the choices are:
- A new window
- A new tab in the most recent window
- The most recent tab/window
By default, the final option, “the most recent tab/window”, is checked. If one changes the preference setting to, “A new window” or “A new tab”, the showURL call will respect the Firefox preference chosen. This is the case not only in Client, but works exactly the same in Developer as well.
Because Explorer is not a tabbed browser, it does not appear to have preference settings that give the user this fine-tuned control over browser behavior. At least I could not find any such preference settings, although perhaps there is something at a lower Window OS level that can be set. I’m not familiar enough with Windows to say for sure. But if it is there, they sure don’t make it easy to find!
CONCLUSIONS:
-
If Internet Explorer is the default web browser, showURL behaves differently if invoked from Developer than it does from Client. Developer will open a new page in the most recent browser window; Client will open a new page in a new browser window.
-
Servoy Client behaves the same with other non-browser applications, such as Microsoft Word, when it sends a URL to Internet Explorer.
-
If Firefox is the default web browser, showURL behaves the same in Developer and in Client (with the default Tabbed Browsing preferences left alone in Firefox). If non-default preferences are set in Firefox for handling links from other applications, they will be respected and will determine the outcome.
-
Opinion: If there is anything to be looked at here, it might not be the fact that Servoy Client opens a new window in I.E. for every showURL call. Instead, it appears it is the interaction of Servoy Developer with I.E. that is anomalous.
RECOMMENDATION:
Use Firefox.
I just:
– Ctrl-click on the other link, and Explorer behaves just like it
sorry that sentence was not finished:
–Ctrl-click on the other link, and Explorer behaves just like it does with Servoy Client.
sorry…
kazar
kazar:
I just:
– Ctrl-click on the other link, and Explorer behaves just like itsorry that sentence was not finished:
–Ctrl-click on the other link, and Explorer behaves just like it does with Servoy Client.
sorry…
kazar
Kazar,
Thanks very much for testing and confirming the issue and providing a solution. Although our company is a heavy Microsoft, I think for the sake of getting this project up and running, bending over to a superior browser(firefox) won’t be an issue.