VRML - Workaround on world navigation with Anchor and browswer address bar

Author

Workaround on world navigation with Anchor and browswer address bar

PrisNo6

2003-12-24, 8:28 pm

I am working on a world that has two wrls (a main page, a map legend)
and one worldinfo html page. When I pass from one wrl to another wrl
using an anchor, the address bar in the browser does not update (like
frames in an html page).

For consistent user navigation, and leverage off the existing
browser's back and forward buttons, is there anyway to force the
browser to update the url address box?

I am using Cortona and MS IE 6.0.

P.S. - Initially, I developed my world using Anchors that had
"_target=new" parameters. This opened new browser instances and
navigation was intitutive. It then occured to me that if I post this
world on the web, that many users will have "popup disabled" in their
OSs (due to commercial advertiser abuse of the web). Therefore, I
started to covert my world to a single browser window MDI. This
created the above navigation headache.

Thanks - Kurt

Bill Angel

2003-12-25, 11:28 pm

Hi:

The following illustrates a roundabout way to navigate
between two VRML worlds via Anchor nodes, and have the
Address line in the Browser window properly reflect the Document
currently being displayed.

The following code goes into a document
called "FirstWorld.html"

<html>
<head>
<title>
First World HTML Test Page
</title>
</head>
<body>
<EMBED WIDTH=280 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FirstWorld.wrl" >
</body>
</html>

The following code goes into the document
called "FirstWorld.wrl"

#VRML V2.0 utf8

Anchor {
description "First World"
url "SecondWorld.html"
children
Shape {
appearance Appearance {
material Material {
diffuseColor 0 0 .5
}
}
geometry Box {size 1 1 1}
}
}

The following code goes into the document
called "SecondWorld.html"

<html>
<head>
<title>
Second World HTML Test Page
</title>
</head>
<body>
<EMBED WIDTH=280 HEIGHT=200 SRC="SecondWorld.wrl" >
</body>
</html>

The following code goes into the document
called "SecondWorld.wrl"

#VRML V2.0 utf8

Anchor {
description "Second World"
url "FirstWorld.html"
children
Shape {
appearance Appearance {
material Material {
diffuseColor .5 0 0
}
}
geometry Box {size 1 1 1}
}
}

If you load the Browser with "FirstWorld.html" and then click on the
Blue Box, the Anchor Node will load the HTML Browser with
SecondWorld.html and the Box will now be Red. Note that the URL
Address displayed by the HTML Browser has also changed. Clicking on
the Red Box will load the document "FirstWorld.html", and the HTML
Browser URL address will change to 'FirstWorld.html".

Hope this helps,

--- Bill Angel

fisherka@csolutions.net (PrisNo6) wrote in message news:<9865fa0b.0312241550.e762ee4@posting.google.com>...

quote:

> I am working on a world that has two wrls (a main page, a map legend)
> and one worldinfo html page. When I pass from one wrl to another wrl
> using an anchor, the address bar in the browser does not update (like
> frames in an html page).
>

PrisNo6

2003-12-28, 10:28 pm

wtangel@shell.cais.net (Bill Angel) wrote in message news:<c4ba4731.0312251857.1f01f4fb@posting.google.com>...

quote:

> The following illustrates a roundabout way to navigate
> between two VRML worlds via Anchor nodes, and have the
> Address line in the Browser window properly reflect the Document
> currently being displayed.

<snip>

Bill, again. Thanks. - Kurt