Add-on Components

After creating your customized browser package, you'll want to post it to sites where users can download it. You specify these sites in Stage 3 of the Internet Explorer Customization wizard. You can also specify where your users get any new components or component updates. These are called Add-on Components.

When the user clicks Tools and then clicks Windows Update in 32-bit versions of the browser, the browser opens the Add-on Component URL that you specify. This also happens when the user clicks Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, clicks Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Tools, clicks Add/Remove, and then selects Add a component.

Note

• The Add-on Component URL you specify should be the full path to Addon.htm (for example, http://myserver/addons/addon.htm).

Sample Add-on Components Web pages

The IEAK Toolkit contains a sample Add-on Components Web page, Addon.htm, which you can customize. This page is located in the \Program Files\IEAK\Toolkit\Addons\HTML folder. This page also links to the files Head.htm, Main.htm, and Info.htm.

The following is a description of the four sample files in the \Toolkit\Addons\HTML folder:

• Addon.htm: Frameset that references these two files:
• Head.htm: Header frame for title
• Main.htm: Main frame with install scripting and link to Info.htm
• Info.htm: Information about all of the available components

You'll be making most of your changes in Main.htm, which has three parts:

• Install scripting
• Table of check boxes, component names, and sizes
• Setup ActiveX control

Using the sample files

Copy all four sample files to your download location or to the location you specify, then edit them in a text editor or an HTML editor.

For the scripting to work properly, your files must be set up as follows:

• The IEcif.cab file should be on a Web server. In Main.htm, the L_cab_Address= entry in the <script LANGUAGE="VBScript"> section should point to the same folder location.
• The table in Main.htm should contain only the components you have downloaded from Microsoft and want to provide.

To add new components

1. Make sure you have downloaded the components during Automatic Version Synchronization (AVS).
2. Look up the correct name of the component in IESetup.cif.
3. Add a check box with that name to Addon.htm.

If you are an expert Web-page author, you may choose not to use the template provided in the IEAK.

Information for expert Web-page authors

Two scripting languages are used in Main.htm: JScript and VB Script. The JScript code contains the function Install(). This function is called when the user clicks the Install button at the bottom of the page. It controls the flow of the install process. The Install() function makes calls to several VB Script subroutines.

The scripts use the name property (part of the input tag) of the check boxes to read the IESetup.cif file. This file is contained in the IEcif.cab file and is opened by the Window_onLoad() subroutine.

Note

• There may be different names for Windows and Windows NT components. This information can be found in IESetup.cif.

To find out whether a component is already installed, you can use the IsComponentInstalled() VB Script subroutine. Use this syntax:

IsComponentInstalled(ComponentID):
Where ComponentID is the same as the check box name and the value in IESetup.cif.

Return:

• 0 = Component not installed
• 1 = Component already installed
• 2 = Component installed, but newer version available
• 3 = User security lockout: No status determined

When the first component is checked using this method, the ActiveX engine activates a security dialog box that requests permission to check the status of installed components on the user's computer. If the user chooses "No," then the return for all components is 3.