Re: Q: How to integrate a VRML with Netscape

Mike Heck ([email protected])
Mon, 9 Oct 95 09:32:11 -0700

Holger Grahn wrote:
> I'am working on a NT/95 OpenGL based 3D Viewer and VRML Browser.
> Most scenes are currently loading quite good. (Fighting with all the
> non-standard Inventor Nodes.)
>
> One main problem left is browser integration:
> Netscapes sends me a VRML url as a temporary file, so I can not resolve
> relative inlines
> automatically. (Loading of WWW-URL`s is integrated in my browser.)
>
> The other problem is, passing a WWWAnchor's HTML url to Netscape, without
> spawning a second copy of Netscape.
>
> Has anybody solved this problems using the Netscape DDE or OLE interfaces,
> eventually with sample code ?

The WIN32 version of WebSpace (available from http://www.tgs.com) handles
these problems. It currently uses the DDE protocol because this also works
with Spyglass Mosaic, NCSA Mosaic and others. WebSpace will soon support
other interfaces (OLE, plug-in, etc) to Netscape, but the DDE interface
works very smoothly today.

Sorry, it is not possible to make the source available. If you decide to
implement DDE support yourself you may want to check out our browser IPC
testbed for validating your work. It's fesely available on our web site
"http://www.tgs.com". The VRML files involved are trivial, but it tests
all the important issues including initial URL, fetching new VRML files
(WWWAnchor), fetching inline files (WWWInline), fetching texture files,
fetching gzip'd files and so on.

> Some other questions left:
>
> What texture file formats should be supported ?

There seems to be general agreement that GIF and JPEG are the minimum
level of support. Presumably PNG will be added to this list soon.

-Mike

  • Next message: Colin Dooley: "Re: LANG: VRML Transforms (fwd)"
  • Previous message: Jeff Sonstein: "Re: LANG: VRML Transforms (fwd)"
  • Maybe in reply to: Holger Grahn: "Q: How to integrate a VRML with Netscape"
  • Next in thesad: Bernie Roehl: "Re: Q: How to integrate a VRML with Netscape"