RB Pain Point #4: Web Browser Control
In my continuing series talking about what the pain
points are in REALbasic, this week we’ll look at the
HTMLviewer control.
First, let’s point out that RS never said that the
HTMLviewer control was meant to be a web browser
control. It is, however, what a lot of us want to use
it as.
On Windows, the HTMLview uses Internet Explorer, on the Mac it uses webkit and on Linux it uses LibGTKHTML. While this makes a certain amount of sense for their respective platforms it doesn’t for cross-platform use because the differences are exasperating and difficult (if not impossible) to work around. What works great on Mac OS X causes OLE exceptions on Windows. What draws properly on Windows does not on the Mac and there seems to be some serious issues on Linux with handling modern HTML properly. I had to rewrite an application in Visual Basic 6 last fall because of constant crashes in the htmlviewer.
So is there a solution? Obviously RS has heard the complaints. Stability has improved but the cross-platform oddities continue. Perhaps the best way to solve the cross-platform problem is to use a cross-platform solution. Webkit (Safari and iTunes) and Gecko (Firefox) are both cross-platform and is being used by many developers.
It is my opinion that a true web browser control is a necessary (perhaps even critical) component in todays web-enabled world. The current htmlviewer isn’t good enough for most users and thus is an impediment rather than an asset to REALbasic.
How easy is this to add into REALbasic? I have no idea, but when I queried a few people that would know the answer they said it was possible to do so. It would, however, potentially add an additional 14 to 20 megabytes to a built application. That seems like a lot but for some developers having a stable web browser would be worth the additional size. For some it would not and I don’t know what to do to help those developers.
In June of 2008 I asked this same question in a post and even posed the possibility of helping fund the development of a true web browser plugin. No one took me up on it then.
If RS cannot do it, then perhaps it’s time for a 3rd party to do it. If you feel that this is an important addition to REALbasic what would you be willing to pay for a true stable, cross-platform web browser? Thoughts?
On Windows, the HTMLview uses Internet Explorer, on the Mac it uses webkit and on Linux it uses LibGTKHTML. While this makes a certain amount of sense for their respective platforms it doesn’t for cross-platform use because the differences are exasperating and difficult (if not impossible) to work around. What works great on Mac OS X causes OLE exceptions on Windows. What draws properly on Windows does not on the Mac and there seems to be some serious issues on Linux with handling modern HTML properly. I had to rewrite an application in Visual Basic 6 last fall because of constant crashes in the htmlviewer.
So is there a solution? Obviously RS has heard the complaints. Stability has improved but the cross-platform oddities continue. Perhaps the best way to solve the cross-platform problem is to use a cross-platform solution. Webkit (Safari and iTunes) and Gecko (Firefox) are both cross-platform and is being used by many developers.
It is my opinion that a true web browser control is a necessary (perhaps even critical) component in todays web-enabled world. The current htmlviewer isn’t good enough for most users and thus is an impediment rather than an asset to REALbasic.
How easy is this to add into REALbasic? I have no idea, but when I queried a few people that would know the answer they said it was possible to do so. It would, however, potentially add an additional 14 to 20 megabytes to a built application. That seems like a lot but for some developers having a stable web browser would be worth the additional size. For some it would not and I don’t know what to do to help those developers.
In June of 2008 I asked this same question in a post and even posed the possibility of helping fund the development of a true web browser plugin. No one took me up on it then.
If RS cannot do it, then perhaps it’s time for a 3rd party to do it. If you feel that this is an important addition to REALbasic what would you be willing to pay for a true stable, cross-platform web browser? Thoughts?