FH and Crossover - Lookup Missing Census Facts plugin

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 03 Jun 2014 17:27

NB: In Crossover>Configure>Manage Bottles>Advanced Select "Use Native Web Browser by Default". My default/native browser is Safari.

Plugin runs but uses Internet Explorer instead of Safari. The browser window displays the results but then crashes. The Plugin can still be terminated successfully.

Plugin appears to ignore the default browser setting in Crossover (FH DOES use the default browser - Safari in this case). Can there be an option to select preferred browser for this and/or all plugins rather than just to use the default browser? Is this something for Calico Pie?

Post by **tatewise** » 03 Jun 2014 18:43

This Plugin does not explicitly choose the browser to display the Lookup Web Page.
What it does is create an HTML file, and then uses a standard function to execute the file.
This should be similar to double-clicking an HTML file, which will invoke the default browser.

It sounds like some incompatibility in the FH - LUA - Crossover interfaces that may need fixing by Calico Pie &/or the Crossover team.

What happens if the Manage Bottles option is set to say Internet Explorer or perhaps Firefox?

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 03 Jun 2014 19:02

There is no option to select a specific browser, only to use the Native Web Browser. Clicking that button doesn't bring up any other options but appears to have the effect of telling Applications and Programs to use Safari, as that is my default OSX Mavericks browser. The message doesn't seem to be getting through to plugins, however.

: Screen Shot 2014-06-03 at 19.56.34.png (119.17 KiB) Viewed 8779 times

Post by **tatewise** » 03 Jun 2014 20:23

Can you undo the Use Native Web Browser by Default button?
If so, what happens when the Plugin creates the Lookup Web Page?

As an experiment please try the following to see which browser opens an HTML file by default.

1) In the Win XP Bottle create a plain text HTML file with filename example.html containing the following code:

Code: Select all

<html>
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Example</p>
</body>
</html>

2) In the Win XP Bottle double-click this example.html file to see which browser it opens.
It should open a browser tab titled Example and display the word Example in the pane below.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 03 Jun 2014 21:04

Doesn't seem to be anyway to "undo" the Use Native Web Browser by Default button. It doesn't have a toggle - at least there is no indication to show that the selection is toggled.

Can you clarify where in the Crossover file system I should put this html file, please and how? Do you mean in my Family Historian bottle or a new bottle called Win XP? I can't see how to add the file using Crossover (tried loading the folder containing the file but Crossover wouldn't load it) or should I just copy it into the Bottle folder using Finder?

Post by **tatewise** » 03 Jun 2014 22:02

BTW: There is no need to quote everything in my Reply, as it is always immediately visible above your Reply.

I am sorry but I am unfamiliar with Mac and Bottle terminology.
You can put the HTML file anywhere in the file system as long as it is visible within your usual Win XP FH Bottle.
It can go in the Family Historian Projects folder or any Project's Public folder.
After a Google search it seems Finder is like Windows Explorer and only creates folders but does not create files.

In Windows the Notepad editor would be used to create a plain text HTML file.

I believe TextEdit is the Mavericks plain text editor to create a plain text HTML file.

I think the Crossover Win XP FH Bottle can use Microsoft Rich Edit 2.0 or maybe Notepad to create plain text files.
Try right-clicking on the Crossover icon in the Dock to get a menu of Windows software that might list Notepad.exe.
Or try the Run Command and enter notepad.exe in the Command box.

In Windows to open the HTML file and invoke the default browser I would double-click the HTML file, or right-click and choose Open.
Similarly, if I double-click a GEDCOM .ged file then that would invoke Family Historian.
I presume in a Win XP Bottle the file double-click should work the same.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 04 Jun 2014 07:19

I had already created the html file but wasn't sure where to put it. After some experimentation I copied it to the virtual C drive that Crossover creates and then used the Crossover>Programs>Run Command...

This brings up a Finder window to allow me to Browse to the file and then Open it in the Run Command window. Clicking Run then opens the file in Internet Explorer.

I double checked that I had selected the Native browser and repeated the procedure but the file still opened in IE.

Post by **tatewise** » 04 Jun 2014 09:19

The Crossover documentation says:

Use Native Web Browser by Default. Often when a web browser is installed in a bottle, URLs are automatically opened by the browser in the bottle. Click this button to redirect those URLs to your standard system browser instead.

So this is only redirecting URLs (Web Address Hyperlinks) to your default browser. It says nothing about HTML files.

In Windows the default browser not only opens URL Web Address Hyperlinks but also opens HTML files by default.

Perhaps that should be reported to the Crossover team as the Use Native Web Browser by Default button is not Windows compatible.

The behaviour you have demonstrated explains why the Plugin HTML Lookup Web Page opens in Internet Explorer.

Why IE crashes is another matter. The Plugin runs OK on my Windows XP PC with Internet Explorer 8 without crashing.

Perhaps the following should be performed in a new Win XP Bottle to avoid upsetting your working Bottle.
Try removing Internet Explorer 7 to see if FH and the Plugin will then use your Safari browser.
You also need to check that Plugin Help and Advice pages still work OK.
If there are problems with that then try installing Internet Explorer 8 via its CrossTie http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibilit ... pp_id=4225.
In Crossover v10.0 there were problems with IE 8 but v12.5 & v13.0 & v13.1 have Silver ratings, so it should be OK
You may also need to install Java 7 via its CrossTie http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibilit ... pp_id=9679 which has Silver ratings in v13.0.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 04 Jun 2014 19:07

Mike,

This is the report I propose to post on Codeweavers under the title: "Family Historian - Lua Plugin Issues". Can you let me have any comments, additions or corrections, please:

"Crossover>Configure>Manage Bottles>Advanced has an option to "Use Native Web Browser by Default". Presumably this is intended to re-direct both URLs ( Web Address Hyperlinks) and HTML files to open in the default browser, usually Safari on a Mac unless the user has elected to use an alternative.

Experimentation shows that if, after clicking on the "Use Native Web Browser by Default", the Crossover>Programs>Run Command... is used to "Run" an HTML file in a Bottle the file opens in IE not in the native web browser. Similarly, requests from Lua Plugins (in Family Historian) to open a web browser by sending a URL are also opened in IE and not the native browser.

In contrast, requests from Family Historian itself do open in the native web browser.

IE7 has also been noted to freeze/crash when opened in this way. Whether this is a related issue is not known.

A further point to note is that the "Use Native Web Browser by Default" button does not indicate whether or not the option is selected and it is unclear to the user whether this is a toggle button or a one-time option."

I'll also try the further experiment and let you know the outcome.

Post by **tatewise** » 04 Jun 2014 20:55

In the middle the sentence:
Similarly, requests from Lua Plugins (in Family Historian) to open a web browser by sending a URL are also opened in IE and not the native browser.
Should read:
Similarly, when Lua Plugins (in Family Historian) run any HTML file they also open in IE and not the native browser.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 05 Jun 2014 17:22

Amended report submitted to Codeweavers. Thanks for you help, Mike.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 06 Jun 2014 14:07

tatewise wrote:Perhaps the following should be performed in a new Win XP Bottle to avoid upsetting your working Bottle.
Try removing Internet Explorer 7 to see if FH and the Plugin will then use your Safari browser.
You also need to check that Plugin Help and Advice pages still work OK.
If there are problems with that then try installing Internet Explorer 8 via its CrossTie http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibilit ... pp_id=4225.
In Crossover v10.0 there were problems with IE 8 but v12.5 & v13.0 & v13.1 have Silver ratings, so it should be OK
You may also need to install Java 7 via its CrossTie http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibilit ... pp_id=9679 which has Silver ratings in v13.0.

Have now carried out this experiment in a copy of my Family Historian Bottle from which IE7 has been deleted and then with IE8 added.

With IE7 deleted the plugin Help pages do not display and produce the following error:

: Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 09.19.49.png (57.27 KiB) Viewed 8683 times

The search for census entries also fails with a similar error message.

As a check I also ran the Show Project Statistics plugin. Again the Help screens would not display but the plugin did run and display the statistics.

I then installed IE8. The Help screens now displayed and the search for census entries also ran and displayed. However, IE8 was unstable and tended to crash but without any error messages being displayed.

Post by **tatewise** » 06 Jun 2014 20:04

OK, Gerry, it looks like IE 7 is the best option.
If CodeWeavers cannot resolve the browser opened when running an HTML file then we need to look at why IE 7 won't run the Census HTML Lookup Web Page.
That Web Page not only uses HTML but also Java Script to display the sortable table of details.
I suspect that it is using some features of HTML &/or Java that are not supported by such an old version of IE.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 09 Jun 2014 20:43

Mike,

Having raised the issue at Codeweaver support it doesn't look as if the browser selection problem can be resolved so I will need to stick with IE7 for the time being, as you suggest.

Also I am unsure whether it would be worthwhile raising the Tooltip problem as the support at Codeweaver is only using the trial version of FH and say they can't run plugins on this version.

Family Historian User Group

* FH and Crossover - Lookup Missing Census Facts plugin

FH and Crossover - Lookup Missing Census Facts plugin

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