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Update#3 to CPCB.

Started by rpalmer, 20:55, 26 June 13

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rpalmer

Hello all,

I have been very busy with the CPC web browser and have managed to get many of the functional areas cleaned up. This means that many of them are more stable. I have also been developing the Technical Manual detailing the internals of the program as well as a user manual.

The main improvement is visual and the application can now choose what sort of frames/borders the user wishes to see.
The screen handling is now done internally to the application meaning faster screen fresh. I still have quite some way to go so please bear with me while I get more of the browser up and running with more of the HTML being handled.

The browser also allows users to create applications such as games (limited to 16K). An example of the applications is "hello.exe" which simply shows "hello world", but those who look carefully see that this is a big step as more can be developed like I said games, utililities, etc.

Install the ROM image in slot 4.

To run the browser, type run "cpcb"

If the program were to run on a real CPC the full amount of  dk'tronics memory expansion is required.

As always, I appreciate any feedback while the development continues and any ideas for improvement. ;D

rpalmer

rpalmer

I also forgot to mention about how to select floppy drives :-[ (a new ehancement)

To get a catalog of files from the current device, simply just enter "file://" for the URL (or "file://\a0/" for drive A user 0, "file://\b0/" for Drive B user 0).

Press F to change to filter e.g *.htm to *.txt

Press D to re-enter a new device (i.e a floppy drive).

rpalmer

TFM

Great to see how this evolves!
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

rpalmer

hello,

I have now included color selection, so users can now make the browser appear as they want.  The border color is still fixed as the default on CPC reset, but will soon change to whatever the user desires.

Color selection is via the start up script and via menu options (see inks1.jpg/inks-2.jpg)
Options 'A' - requests the user to enter the Ink 0 value.
'B' - requests the user to enter the Ink 1 value.

The other improvement is to the HTML which now includes handling of definition list.

The update to the ROM and disc images will follow soon.

Rpalmer

TFM

Yes, a border Color selection would be fine, that schemes are not ... really... for my eyes.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Gryzor

Well, as I understand them they're not hardcoded but user-selectable...

copychr$

Hi rpalmer, I hope you are not too busy surfing to read this ;-)

These are simple HTML 4.01  pages that only contain Basic Code.
Formats are Mode 1 and 2 Listings.

[attachurl=2]

I did not get them up, and wonder if you can test them.
Showing basic code in a CPC web browser should satisfy the most rabid of purists.
And who isn't.

rpalmer

hello copychr$,

Thank you for your interest in the CPCB web browser.

I have quickly looked at the HTML file in notepad and see that they just use the <PRE>....</PRE> to display a basic listing.

The current developments in the browser is to manage style formatting. My current developed version is not yet ready for user testing, but is getting closer.

The use of the <PRE> by the browser simply just output the text between to start and end "AS IS", so the use of &quot; and the like will be displayed as text and not a quoted/double quote character.  This something i have yet to implement.

I will post a snapshots of one of the HTML files soon with a 'WRAP" control both on and off to show what the browser outputs.

rpalmer

copychr$

Ok, thanks for looking at the source.

Usually the code prints good without the escaped characters, but it is expected.
Even with the old <xmp> tag that was almost perfect.

I will fix a few pages with no style section and no text formatting.
Text would show in your browser's default mono spaced font.

copychr$

#9
Here is the same set of html files, but with all style elements and escaped characters removed.
All text lines are now at most 40 or 80 chars wide.

[attachurl=2]

If it is any use I could make up a batch of these and also add versions with complete code lines.

rpalmer

hello copychr$,

I have downloaded the first set of HTML files and tested them with the latest version of the browser.

The latest version does allow for styles, but since it was a major change to the browser source it has lead to some issues with scrolling and the handling of the icons for the scrolling of the frames. The styles themselves also has issues as it appears to not do them properly (just load style2.htm from B: to see the problems, but i am on all issues to get them fixed). I am also begining to run out of maim memory and have start to use banked memory and the unfortunate consequence has been a slow down of the application as it is always swapping in memory in and out. I am trying to find a way to minimize this, but it is a struggle.

I have included the latest version (which is not yet stable, but has most of the required function up and running).

The file I tested was fuzzy-m1.htm, this was simply copied into the dsk file from WinAPE (dont select to add headers as this will force the file to be binary). I tried it with not adding headers and find that the file was retained as ASCII text with no "garbage" at the end.

From the snapshot you can see the result of the test file you supplied. If you test file you will notice a delay before the contents are shown and this is due to handling of the style data and memory management as note earlier.

If people are going to test the browser with commands which exceed the keyboard buffer (128 bytes) the browser simply ignores the text after the 127 bytes til the end of the command, so there is a chance that some of the commands do not perform as expected. Previously it tried to copy all of the command and hence corrupt variables.

The current source code and documentation has nearly reached 4Mb (3.83 Mb). The user guide has on just begin to be typed up so people can see that this is going to be once huge archive of text when it finally get more stable and usable.

There will be more updates to follow....and more excitement from the world of the CPC web browser.

rpalmer

copychr$

#11
This looks great ...
I did not try the new version but hope to also get some pages up  :)

Did the "bare" pages from the 2nd zip do any better? (our posts crossed there)

I noticed a name change, from xx.m1.html to xx-m1.html
It would probably be good to fix that 2 dots in file name occurrence.
Not good for files that have to travel ...

Also, the apostrophes are not escaped any more.
IE8 on winXP showed them just like your browser.
So, that was bad practice. Likely not related to your work.

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