Web Dialog Help and Debugging Thread

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:21

How do I change the browser used for Web Dialogs?

I thought this was easy. Whatever is your default internet browser will be used for web dialogs. Wrong! I searched for the answer in the Google groups for SketchUp and noticed that many other users had this problem but I could not find the answer anywhere! I am trying to test my dialogs using FF but SketchUp keeps launching IE!

EDIT: changed the name of the thread. Anyone is welcome post Q&A here regarding web dialogs.

tbd · 31 Dec 2007, 23:22

because WebDialogs are not using the default browser installed on the user machine, but instead a Internet Explorer shell (the same that you see when viewing .chm files for example) on Windows version.

there is no option to use other browser engine for displaying WebDialogs.

btw, why do you need another one ?

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:22

Thanks, TBD, but that leaves me with some more questions:

Does the MAC version of SU also use the Internet Explorer Shell?
What if you don't have Internet Explorer installed on your machine?
Is it possible that the javascript inside a Web Dialog can be blocked by a security feature of Windows Vista or Internet Explorer? If so, how would you change this? (My dialogs have been released for testing and the javascript seems to not be working on a particular user's machine - running Windows Vista Home Premium 32) <-the same OS that I created and tested the dialogs on.

Thanks again,

Whaat

Gaieus · 31 Dec 2007, 23:23

Whaat,

see the hardware / software requirements on the SU pages here:
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=36208&topic=9028

Mac works with Safari.

SchreiberBike · 31 Dec 2007, 23:23

Bummer. That explains why each time I access the 3D warehouse through SU, Explorer picks up my cookie.

At home, I use FF and my wife uses Explorer. If I don't remember to fix it, this confuses her.

It would be great if their were another approach.

Gaieus · 31 Dec 2007, 23:24

For downloads only, you can use FF too (I never use the "get model" button so it's kind of dusty already).

Yet for uploads, certainly you need it.
I regularly clean up all my cookies in IE (and in FF I only keep that I need) so not too much problem with me and IE.

tbd · 31 Dec 2007, 23:25

1) Does the MAC version of SU also use the Internet Explorer Shell?

as Gaieus said on Mac there is Safari shell

2) What if you don't have Internet Explorer installed on your machine?

a form of IE is inside every Windows, mshtml.dll, that is used by other components and IE as well.

3) Is it possible that the javascript inside a Web Dialog can be blocked by a security feature of Windows Vista or Internet Explorer?

usually the javascript is allowed on files on the computer but can be disabled via registry

also check for antivirus/firewalls that can disable/change scripting

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:25

Thanks a lot for your help, TBD.

I'm starting to get somewhere...

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:26

One of my testers is getting this error using Vista home premium x32 bit. It seems like none of the dialogs will not even appear. I think it is related to firewall or security settings (maybe even spyware). I was just wondering if any one of the Ruby pros have seen this message before and can tell me exactly what the problem is.
Image link broken

On other note, I would love help with testing and debugging my SkIndigo web dialogs. They seem to work perfect for me on Vista home premium but some other users are having some problems. They should work on a MAC running bootcamp. You need to install Indigo 1.0.1 for everything to work correctly. If you are interested, here are the links.

http://www.indigorenderer.com/joomla/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2834&start=0
http://www.indigorenderer.com/joomla/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2947&start=0

Please ignore my sloppy coding! I'm still learning!

ilay7k · 31 Dec 2007, 23:27

Whatt thank you!

windows xp sp2(32 bit)
Indigo 1.0.1
Error messages displayed in the Ruby Console Window:
When i try to touch any in dialog

@unknownuser said:

/Plugins/SkIndigo_1_0_1.rb:5080: warning: string pattern instead of regexp; metacharacters no longer effective

And i have sun(java) jdk 1.6.0.02 and jre 1.5.0_06 too(no problem with dialogs)

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:38

@unknownuser said:

/Plugins/SkIndigo_1_0_1.rb:5080: warning: string pattern instead of regexp; metacharacters no longer effective

Not a bug...just sloppy programming. I will eventually get around to cleaning up my programming. :esmile:
Thanks for testing!

tbd · 31 Dec 2007, 23:39

wow Whaat, how long it took to write 62954821 lines of code ?

you should add some error checking when you getElementById, maybe the DOM didnt finished rendering the HTML code when you are running the JS code. best way is to have a function that does getElementById and error check and then returns the object back if it is valid.

also ask the user to open the HTML in IE and see if it gives the same error (maybe a better line address as it is not in the shell anymore)

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:39

TBD,
The thing is, the error does not seem to be caused by my dialogs. Look at the URL. res://ieframe.dll/dnserrordiagoff_webOC.htm. Whenever there is an error with my web dialogs I get the URL file:///C:/Program%20Files/Google/Google%20SketchUp%206/Plugins/SkIndigo/Dialogs/MaterialEditor.html

I googled this error message and I got linked to some interesting threads. These errors seem to be related to firewalls because many people were able to fix this problem by disabling their firewall.

tbd · 31 Dec 2007, 23:40

lot of problems with these firewalls ... I had the same problem inside SketchUp but I was able to debug it and saw who was the culprit

did he tried to run the dialog outside SketchUp to see if it works ?

ilay7k · 31 Dec 2007, 23:41

So i haven't problems with webdialogs.
I have AVG(antivir) 7.5 Server Ed. and when i work with 3D(any) i turn off it(it also happens with Nod32, Kaspersky....).

I try to open html by opera(9), nothing; only some errors with preview.
So it is normally with IE6(and i use html lister-plugin for total commander too...it's normal)

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:42

@ilay7k said:

So i haven't problems with webdialogs.
I have AVG(antivir) 7.5 Server Ed. and when i work with 3D(any) i turn off it(it also happens with Nod32, Kaspersky....).

I try to open html by opera(9), nothing; only some errors with preview.
So it is normally with IE6(and i use html lister-plugin for total commander too...it's normal)

Thanks ilay7k. I think I figured out the problems that people have been having with the dialogs. I will post later once I know for sure.

Whaat · 31 Dec 2007, 23:42

OK,

It seems like the IE error messages were caused because of improper SkIndigo installation. The directory structure got messed up when the users were unzipping the plugin. This isn't the first time I have heard of this happening so be aware of this!

Another user is having a strange problem. I am not 100% sure, but I think that any javascript that is called from Ruby using (for example):

dlg.execute_script("my_js")

has no effect. Does anybody have any ideas why this would happen? He is using Vista Home Premium which seems to be working for everyone else (including me).

I thought it was caused by some sort of security software but apparently, he has none installed except for Windows Defender. Please Help!

tbd · 31 Dec 2007, 23:43

hmm, I think it is enough (see this post)
these kind of situations are very hard to debug

lefty514 · 23 Feb 2008, 02:59

@unknownuser said:

because WebDialogs are not using the default browser installed on the user machine, but instead a Internet Explorer shell (the same that you see when viewing .chm files for example) on Windows version.

there is no option to use other browser engine for displaying WebDialogs.

btw, why do you need another one ?

Just another point on this issue since this was the only thread I could find that was related somewhat to my problem. I was using the get models button to access 3d warehouse for the longest time, no prob. Then one day the model images would not appear in the popup browser and I couldn't download them to my sketchup model. I tried restarting SU, rebooting the computer and eating some chicken soup...all to no avail.

Since I use FF as my default browser I assumed that SU was using it in some weird form as the get model popup. I now know that it uses IE, and was able to solve the problem by locating my deleted version of IE and purging all the cookies and caches. Too bad we can't choose to have FF used as the default dialog. Would be less confusing in certain instances.

cheers...