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Acorn Browse Plug-In Handling Description |
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Distribution: | General Release |
Title: | Acorn Browse Plug-In Handling Description |
Drawing Number: | 1216,210/T |
Issue: | 1 |
Author(s): | Andrew Hodgkinson |
Date: | 19/06/98 |
Revision: | 1.00 |
Change Number: | N/A |
Last Issue: | N/A |
OBJECT
handler
Issue 1 | (General release) | |
1.00 | 19/06/98 | Created in response to several queries regarding the behaviour of Browse when handling plug-ins. |
When Browse fetches data, it passes it through the HTML parsing library. The
HTML parser returns structures Browse can better deal with before they
actually get formatted into a displayable form. Image fetches, frames layout
and so-on all happen at this early stage; so does dealing with EMBED
, OBJECT
or APPLET
elements. This is a description of what Browse does when it encounters those
elements.
First, the preprocessor - the thing that comes after the HTML parsing but
before the page layout - examines the parser data and discovers an EMBED
or
OBJECT
tag. It passes it to the generic OBJECT
handler. This is possible
because of the way the parser organises the data for us:
OBJECTs
, it thinks of the DATA
attribute as 'data'. It thinks of
TYPE
as 'type', 'CODETYPE
' as 'codetype' and CODEBASE
as 'codebase'.
If there's a CLASSID
specifier it notes this too, but not immediately
(see below). All PARAM
elements are converted to individual internal
structures.
EMBED
s, there is no TYPE
, CODETYPE
, CODEBASE
or CLASSID
.
It thinks of the SRC
attribute as 'data', and all other attributes are each
converted into name/value pairs that look like PARAM
elements.
APPLET
s, there is no TYPE
or CODETYPE
. It thinks of the CODE
attribute as 'CLASSID
' and the CODEBASE
as 'codebase'. All PARAM
elements are converted to individual internal structures.
EMBED
and APPLET
look like OBJECT
plus PARAM
elements
using the mapping described above. In the description below, the names 'data',
'type' etc. will be used; the mappings just given tell you what actual HTML
attributes these values refer to.
Note:
IMG
elements are never considered to lead to plug-ins. So, if you were
to try and put a Shockwave movie on a page with an IMG
tag, say, the movie
would be passed to the image processing library which would not recognise
the data - a placeholder would be displayed. To embed data that Browse
doesn't understand, you must use EMBED
or preferably OBJECT
(after all,
the W3C don't currently recognise EMBED
as an HTML element).
OBJECT
handler
Browse first examines 'data' and 'type'. If 'data' is set, if looks at 'type',
and tries to get a filetype from this using the MimeMap file. It'll default to
FileType_DATA if it can't find anything. If 'type' is not set, it'll look for
a filename extension on the 'data' attribute and again tries to get a filetype
from the MimeMap file, defaulting to FileType_DATA if nothing is found (hence
this route would always be taken for <EMBED SRC="...">
).
Then, it checks for:
OBJECT
or OBJECT
-like elements exits here and the browser image handling code
takes over.
Note:
If 'data' is not set, Browse now sets 'data' to the value of the CLASSID
attribute (which may also not be set of course, for example in EMBED
s -
even if there were a CLASSID
attribute specified for some reason, it'll
have been made to look like a PARAM
tag by the HTML parser as only the
SRC
attribute is considered "part of" the actual EMBED
).
By this point, then, the item will be not handled as an inline image because
'data' wasn't set, in which case the CLASSID
attribute's value is read into
'data', or because the filetype deduced as described above did not match one
that Browse knows about.
We now check again - is 'data' set? (Remember, Browse could be checking for
DATA
, CLASSID
, or SRC
attributes on OBJECT
or EMBED
elements by now). If it
is, a special case of 'clsid:
' - an Active-X component - is checked for; if
this is present, the item is marked not handleable. Otherwise, look at
'codetype'. If unset, try and find a filename extension on 'data'. If Browse
can't find either, the item is marked not handleable. Otherwise, it tries to
get a filetype from the MimeMap file and 'codetype' or the extension on 'data'
(in that order). Should it find a filetype in the file, it'll construct a
system variable name Alias$@PlugInType_XXX
where 'XXX' is the hex equivalent
of the found filetype. If however it cannot get a filetype from the MimeMap
file, the item is again marked not handleable.
Should Browse have constructed the system variable as described, it checks to
see if it exists. If the system variable does not exist, Browse assumes that
no plug-in is available for the data type the OBJECT
or EMBED element is
specifying and marks the item as not handleable.
By now, we'll either have identified what plug-in to use or marked the item
not handleable - in this latter case, Browse will see if there is an stream of
alternative HTML that it can display. OBJECT
elements allow this, for example.
If there is, this HTML is shown. Otherwise, a simple placeholder will be
displayed. Note that there are various parser limitations in the depth of
alternative HTML that is allowed; for example, partial form construction
through such HTML is unlikely to succeed. No pages have yet been found where
this causes a problem, and for the time being, there are no plans to address
this minor deficiency.
Note:
From here on, we will assume that Browse did not handle the EMBED
or
OBJECT
element as an in-line image, and that it did find a suitable
plug-in to deal with the data.
Depending on the configuration options, Browse could wait until the redraw engine has to show the placeholder for the plug-in before attempting to launch it (Start When Viewed); or it could try to launch the plug-in immediately (Start As Soon As Possible). In this latter case, the data structures that describe where the plug-in should be on the displayed page and how large it is have not yet been created, so Browse opens the plug-in at some arbitrary size and position off the visible area of the page.
The generic OBJECT
handling code will now either wait (until the redraw engine
gets back to it), or call the plug-in queue functions to add the plug-in to
the queue of waiting plug-ins.
Several plug-ins may exist on a page, but you can't start attempting to fire up a hundred and one tasks at once - a 'one at a time' approach makes life very much simpler. Whenever Browse decides to fire off a plug-in, it simply tells the plug-in code to add the item to its queue. The plug-in code does so, and if there is only one item in the queue (the one it just added), it starts the plug-in launch process.
BASE
element in
the document specifies otherwise. In version 2.06 or later, the BASE
element is looked at, then the display URL is used, and if nothing is
being displayed yet the current fetching URL is used instead.
Browse also fills in the optional BGCOLOR entry to the background colour of the entire page (if the plug-in lies inside a coloured table cell Browse 2.06 and earlier do not notice and still give the page background).
If the CLASSID
attribute is present, Browse writes a CLASSID entry with
a leafname taken from the CLASSID
attribute and the value of the CODETYPE
attribute. If CODEBASE
is specified, Browse will also write a CODEBASE
entry.
If the CLASSID
attribute is not present, Browse checks for the DATA
attribute and if there writes a DATA entry specifying the DATA
and TYPE
attribute values.
Finally, it writes the more generic entries 'STANDBY' (if STANDBY
is
specified) and 'HEIGHT', then 'WIDTH' using whatever sizes the browser
has thus far decided the plug-in should initially take.
Having done, effectively, the header entries, Browse goes on to output any required PARAM entries giving a value and type for each, depending on what is available in the HTML source.
CODETYPE
; if unset,
TYPE
; if neither is set,
CLASSID
; if all three unset,
DATA
.
First, the case of the message bouncing. If the reference is recognised, the
browser sees if it has already attempted to open this plug-in once before. If
so, the parameters file is deleted, the RMA space claimed for the filename is
freed, and the plug-in is removed from the queue, allowing the next item, if
there is one, to be launched. If not, though, a system variable name of
Alias$@PlugInType_XXX
is created with XXX
holding the hex equivalent of the
filetype stored in the bounced message. If the variable exists, it is executed
via. Wimp_StartTask
. If this is successful, Browse gets ready to do another
message broadcast.
By the time the message bounce arrived and Wimp_StartTask
had been called and
returned, the page may have reformatted itself etc. so the plug-in may have
moved. Browse checks the position and resets the relevant details in the
message body. It then broadcasts Message_PlugIn_Open a second time. If this
second attempt bounces, then as described above, the plug-in launch is
abandoned and any pending next launch started.
Note:
From here on in, we'll assume that the Message_PlugIn_Open gets a reply rather than bounces.
On reception of Message_PlugIn_Opening from the plug-in handling application, Browse checks the flag saying the plug-in will delete the parameters file itself, and if unset, removes the file. In any case, any RMA space claimed for the filename is released.
If the plug-in wants the data resource fetched, Browse will start a fetch for it, initiating the streaming protocol once enough data to determine the type has come in.
Note:
The plug-in is removed from the queue allowing any others to be launched, and any pending error message is then reported (NB in Browse 2.05 and earlier, there's a bug where any error would be reported and the item would not be removed from the queue, causing odd effects thereafter).
Browse currently supports streams as files only. The plug-in code will open a fetch window for the relevant data. It may be the case that data has already been fetched for this URL - Browse implements a local 'mini cache' for the duration of a browsing session - in which case, the Message_PlugIn_Stream_New is sent to the plug-in straight away. Otherwise, data has to start to fetch before this is sent. The Message_PlugIn_Stream_New is sent at the same point that a Save dialogue box would normally open, were you to be downloading the object manually.
Again, in both cases, RMA space is used to hold the filename and a pointer to this placed in the outgoing message block. The message is sent UserMessageRecorded, and if it bounces, any fetch in progress for the data is immediately shut down (Message_PlugIn_Stream_Destroy with a reason code of "error" will be sent out). No attempt to restart the fetch is made.
If the message does not bounce, the plug-in should have replied with the same message type. Browse checks that the message reference is known, and if it is, will proceed to check the stream type. Should the stream type not be one it can deal with - i.e. currently, as file only - Message_PlugIn_Stream_Destroy is sent back with an "error" reason code to abort the transfer. Otherwise, Browse flags that the transfer is OK and lets the fetcher continue getting the data.
At any time, if the fetch is aborted, the temporary file Browse was writing is removed and Message_PlugIn_Stream_Destroy with a "due to user intervention" reason code is sent to the plug-in.
Should the fetch complete successfully, Browse sends the plug-in Message_PlugIn_Stream_As_File. This is where things get a little dicey for a moment. Browse has been, all this time, sending messages pointing to RMA data which it has claimed. There's an issue with the plug-in protocol regarding just when data may be freed, and who may free it. When Browse has completed the fetch, it installs a null event handler. This handler should only be called after all the message passing and related events have died away, and so it gives the plug-in "time" to respond to the Stream_As_File message - though this means it must take local copies of any relevant data immediately. Browse sends out Message_PlugIn_Stream_Destroy with a 'success' reason code to warn the plug-in that any RMA pointers it took from messages are now invalid, adds a reference to the file it created to its 'mini cache', and closes the window that was responsible for the fetching. The null handler deregisters itself.
Browse also supports the Busy, Status and URL_Access messages (the latter including relative and absolute targetted and non-targetted forms). Browse will send out Message_PlugIn_Reshape if it wants the plug-in to move, and will attempt to satisfy ResizeRequest messages from the plug-in (it assumes that the width and height specified are in OS units).
For each plug-in it wants to shut down, Browse will send Message_PlugIn_Close. Browse 2.06 and later will also close down any relevant streams, sending out Message_PlugIn_Stream_Destroy as required. Nothing should be assumed about the order in which these will be received or the length of delay (if any) between them (a plug-in should ignore the stream related messages if it has closed down the instance already as it will not recognise the handles quoted in the message anymore).
Browse 2.05 and earlier do not shut down fetches for plug-ins when the plug- ins are closed; this is a bug, and can lead to unpredictable behaviour thereafter (multiple copies of the same data in the 'mini cache', files left behind after browser shutdown, attempts to write to the same file simultaneously and other such nasties). This only happens if a new page is visited or a window is closed when the browser was in the middle of fetching data for any plug-is in the old page.
In addition, Browse 2.05 or earlier, when closing a page which still has queued plug-ins on it, may not correctly flush the first queued item out of the queue. This can lead to unexpected launch of plug-ins later on. In Browse 2.06 onwards, this bug is fixed.
The following references may be of interest:
Last updated 12 November 1998
© Acorn Computers Limited, 1997 |
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