Public Web Browser version 2 (PWB v2) configuration
Please see the License document for license information.
PWB is a highly configurable web browser, based on Microsoft Internet Explorer, for use in public areas where a web presence is desired. There are a number of settings for PWB, this document addresses them.
PWB uses an “INI” file for configuration. We have tried to make the configuration of multiple installations of PWB easy by utilizing an INI file. Once a satisfactory configuration has been created, the INI file can be propagated to multiple computers with ease. PWB also supports the use of command line options to specify INI files that can be located on the computers hard drive or as a shared INI on a network server. Using a network server housing the INI files for multiple configurations creates a centrally located place to upgrade and configure multiple installs of PWB.
The unregistered version of PWB v2 has two limitations. A hard coded 10 minute Activity timer with Exit action and “” appears in the title bar. Please refer to the licensing web page for license information.
The registration license number will only be good for the length of time you have purchased, once this time expires PWB will revert back to unregistered and a new license number will need to be obtained.
First things to change in the INI file:
The first step that should be taken after installing PWB is to edit the INI file. The following settings are recommended to be changed when you first install PWB.
HomePage=Library
Set the home page to the web page you want PWB to display when it is started.
The PWB command line:
The PWB command line can have several configurations, from a simple web address to an Internet shortcut with a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) INI file path. If an INI file is not specified on the command line PWB looks for PWB.INI in the folder where the PWB.EXE file resides. The following are several examples with explanations.
Standard open
…\PWB.exe
Starts PWB with default INI and opens home page.
Simple web address (URL)
…\PWB.exe www.teamsoftwaresolutions.com
Starts PWB with default INI and browses to the TeamSoftware Solutions web site.
Internet shortcut
…\PWB.exe teamsoftware.url
Starts PWB with default INI and uses the teamsoftware Internet shortcut to open web site.
Alternate INI
…\PWB.exe /INI=”Other.ini” or PWB /INI”=C:\PWB\Other.INI”
Starts PWB with INI specified in the /INI= argument.
The path must be in quotes, with no space between the = and “.
Alternate INI with web address
…\PWB.exe www.teamsoftwaresolutions.com /INI=”C:\PWB\Other.INI”
Starts PWB with Other.INI and browses to the TeamSoftware Solutions web site.
Alternate INI from server with UNC path
…\PWB.exe /INI=\\Server\Share\Folder\Other.INI
Starts PWB with Other.INI located in a folder on a server share.
INI files opened this way make it easy to share centrally located INI files among several computers.
Alternate INI from Web Server
…\PWB.exe /INI=”Other.INI” /URLINI=http://www.web.com/PWB.INI
Downloads “PWB.INI” from web server to “Other.INI”, and then starts PWB using the “Other.INI” file.
When using the URLINI, both the /INI and /URLINI must be used.
Running PWB from a server:
Not only can you share an INI file on a server among multiple copies of PWB running from several computers, but you can also share the executable (EXE) file. In fact, PWB was written with this in mind. By creating a short cut on a computer that points to a UNC path to the PWB executable, you can have a single point of entry for running PWB.
A few things you should be aware of when running PWB from a server. If you are using the PWB URL or IP filters, for each web page PWB navigates to it needs to parse the URL or IP filter file to check for access. When PWB starts it needs to read through the Favorites and Shellbar folder. Large filter files can cause the navigation to lag, and large Favorites folders can cause a slow start, on a slow or congested network. If you are using the PWB filters, or have a large Favorites folder, you may want to consider running PWB from the server but housing the filter, and Favorites, files on the local computer.
Steps to run PWB from a server:
In the command (Target) line of the shortcut, enter an UNC path to PWB.
\\Server\Share\Folder\PWB
\\Server\Share\Folder\PWB www.teamsoftwaresolutions.com
\\Server\Share\Folder\PWB /INI=\\Server\Share\Folder\Other.INI
In the Start in line, enter the UNC path where the EXE is located.
\\Server\Share\Folder
The menu items and buttons are linked, for each button there is a corresponding menu item. The buttons follow the menu item settings, for instance if you set a menu item to false, and leave the button set to true, the button will show but be disabled. It is possible to hide the entire menu by setting show menu to false and the buttons will still work.
The shortcut keys, such as Ctrl-N, Ctrl-O, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V, all correspond to menu and button items. By disabling both the menu item and button the shortcut key corresponds to, the shortcut key will be disabled. PWB assumes if either the menu item or the button is enabled it should enable the shortcut key. The shortcut key is independent of whether the menu or toolbar is showing and should be disabled in the menu items and buttons section of the INI file.
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