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So far, we learned about generating HTML code from DataWindows. However, if you have graphical elements such as graphs, HTML can't handle it. In this situation, you need to choose between Netscape plug-ins and Internet Explorer ActiveX controls. In this method, you need to save the DataWindow as a Powersoft report and then load it on the web server. Later, you can refer to the Powersoft report file in the HTML file using the
EMBED tag that was used for the plug-in. For example, the following script in the HTML file will display "d_products_maint" DataWindow in the browser.// File: dw-Plug-in.html
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Product Listing using DW
Plug-in</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><CENTER><H1>Products Listing</H1>
<LEFT>
<EMBED SRC=products.psr WIDTH = 650 HEIGHT = 150>
</BODY></HTML>
When a DataWindow is displayed in the browser window, the user can save the DataWindow in different formats. He can also print the DataWindow. If the DataWindow contains any bitmaps, or external graphs, you need to make sure that the end-user has all those external images on his computer in the PATH. The user can’t change the data in the DataWindow and apply the changes to the database. You can’t deploy a RichText presentation style DataWindow on the net. In the following picture, on the left side, you can see the right-click popup menu. When the edit style for a field is defined as a DropDownDataWindow, you can see the DDDW in the browser also (see the DDDW for the "
product_measuring_unit" field).
Figure 1 "d_products_maint" DataWindow as a Plug-in in the NetScape Browser.
The user should have a "
npdwe050.DLL" (npdwe60.dll for version 6.0) in the Netscape plug-in directory and also, (s)he needs to configure his/her browser. Basically, (s)he needs to add a MIME type psr to the browser by selecting Options/General Preferences from the menu in the Netscape Navigator. (S)He can then add the MIME type from the Helpers tab page. If there is any problem in adding the MIME type in the above described procedure, you can edit the registry as well.Add the following entry to the "
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Netscape/Netscape Navigator/Viewers" key:application/x-report npdwe050.dll
Add the following to the "
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Netscape/Netscape Navigator/Suffixes" key: application/x-report psr
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