Versions overview

 

Overview over the different BrowserBob versions, each higher version adds functionality to lower versions and does contain all functions of the lower versions. The highest version is BrowserBob Professional edition, which includes all available functionality.

 

BrowserBob SE (Special Edition):

Contains basic functionality for customizing a simple user interface with your own design and behaviours, and make it a standalone application in your design. A vast variety of pre-defined button actions for standard application functionality is included for convenient selection.

Contains all basic BrowserBob objects for creating your own application:

Main Dialog object the user interface of your application, where other objects are placed. The Main Dialog is the main window, the platform for other objects and also the object that represents the whole application (browser/weblication), it's the basis for your project.

 

Main Web object : the content window of your app', where web content is displayed and processed. This window "understands" all file types & technology of the web, like a browser window.  Here you specify a general startpage for your application, a possible custom user agent and general behaviour of new windows requested by the application.

 

Button object A button or push-button is a graphical item, that can invoke a certain action by clicking. It's used for browser functionality (back, forward, etc.), as link button, image button etc.. You can place unlimited numbers of buttons on your application and trigger any BrowserBob functionality using buttons. Button functionality is conveniently selected via a menu with predefined behaviours (actions).

Edit object
An edit object is an editable text field. Depending on assigned properties it can serve as addressbar for web objects, as well as for standard text input and processing.
 

Label object A label object is a text field that can display the title of a web page, the applications (browser-) status messages, or customized text, which can be predefined or retrieved from variables.

 

Contained tools:

Objects library: The library provides functionality for saving BrowserBob objects including their properties for Drag & Drop use. You can save complete objects including their properties (e.g. a "back button" or your branded setup panel including all setup buttons).

 

Additional files: Manage additional files, which will be included with the finished application during the Build process. Here you add, organize and delete files and folders, which you want to ship with your application (offline content, multimedia files, documents and more...). All files included here can be conveniently linked to via the parameter selection.

 

Output (build) method:

Using the build functionality you create an application which is executable as a standalone application on every Windows system, fully independently from the BrowserBob developing environment.

 

Executable: Packs all files into a single executable file, which you can publish or distribute easily. Use this method for web-publishing or for sending your application to colleagues & friends. You can add your own program icon to the file. The application will launch like any other application after double-clicking the yourprogram.exe file, and needs no installation, it does just launch the program.

 

BrowserBob Basic Edition:

Adds the following to the SE Edition:

 

Web objects: Add additional web objects to your interface, with separate startpages, for display of additional content, banners, videos, any web media, or for the creation of web based navigation for your MainWeb window. Additional web objects give you more html windows to place on the MainDialog or on Panels. You can display and process any web content or web logic there.

 

Panel objects: Panel objects are graphical windows which serve as aggregational fundament for other objects like buttons, web objects and so on. Basically you can place every object on a panel, that can be used on the MainDialog. Panels can be defined as "free" (independent) or having a relative position towards the MainDialog of the program. Panels can also be used as drop down menus activated via actions. Additionally they serve as user interface for custom setups you create using the setup build option.

 

Additional output (build) methods:

Setup: custom-setup-wrapper for your application. Create a real branded setup, with custom interface (based on a panel object), your desktop icon, licence info and more. Decide if program should be installed for all users or active user only, which makes installations on limited user accounts easier.

 

 

BrowserBob Developer Edition:

Adds the following to the Basic Edition:

 

Content: Manage your content with browse sequences and additional button functions, for use with eBooks, Presentations, ... Structure online and offline content.
 

Scanning: Scan for strings in URLs, Status messages, page titles, and react with any BrowserBob action. Block access to certain URL's or file types, change the user interface depending on media accessed and much more. Content triggered program functionality. Add smart logic to your program.
 

States: Define different instances of your application. A BrowserBob application can change the whole user interface including functionality on the fly. Using States, multiple applications can be created in a single one. Additionally you can define a special state for Popup windows.

 

Script extensions: Trigger application behaviour out of your html-pages, send commands to the BrowserBob application, change interfaces, read info from the application in order to process it further via a script, use all BrowserBob functionality triggered from the code of your webpage with BrowserBob's HTML - Script extension.
 

Additional output (build) methods:

Raw files: create all files into a special folder for CD/DVD deployment, to create setups with 3rd party setup makers or to integrate your application into other application structures.

 

 

BrowserBob Professional Edition:

Adds the following to the Developer Edition:

Action Lists:
Create batch lists of any BrowserBob functionality, to be launched by a single trigger. Action lists are sorted lists of actions. In an action list, you can add unlimited different actions on different target objects with parameters. An action list is triggered in the same way as a standard action of any object. Using action lists you can execute many actions one after the other, triggered by a single user input, scanning process, click of a button, script extension, event, ...

 

Events: .Adds mouse events and others to any object, to trigger any functionality. All BrowserBob objects provide several events, which can be used to trigger application behaviour. An event is a trigger, which is fired by the application when certain criteria are fulfilled.

Example: the event On Left Mouse Button Down is fired when the left mouse button is clicked over the respective owner object of the event. An example for an owner object is a button.

 

Error handling: Scanning for and specific reaction to navigation errors. Scans for specific navigation errors fired by the operating system. Allows you to react specifically to 404's and all other navigation errors. This is useful for checking if the application is on- or offline and gives you full control over appropriate reaction to any navigation error.

 

Global Variables: .Create you own variables, open for 3rd party tuning. Global variables are user defined variables. Global variables can be created for any value you would like to reuse regularly in your project. They can be entered in parameter fields, as part of URL parameters, ... Additionally, global variables can be open for 3rd party customization - values can be changed in the finished application.

 

BrowserBob Tuner: Change values of global variables in finished applications, 3rd party tuning. The external tool, which allows you to exchange the values of these variables in finished applications is the BrowserBob Tuner.  It can edit a finished BrowserBob application by reading all the public global variables and exchange their values.

 

Additional output (build) methods:

Screensaver: Turn your program into an interactive Screensaver.
ActiveX Control (SQuid player):
Launch your application via weblinks, for immediate launch from the internet.
 

 

 

Related topics:
Find these versions online on the BrowserBob website