MSIE engine

Project will move to github. Find this wiki page at the new address: https://github.com/cztomczak/phpdesktop/wiki/MSIEengine

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MSIE engine

Information on the Internet Explorer (MSIE) engine embedded in PHP Desktop.

Version

The minimum version of Internet Explorer installed on end-user's machine must be at least 6.0 SP2 (released on August 25, 2004). It might work with older versions, but it was not tested.

Context menu

Internet Explorer context menu has been disabled, but you are still able to Copy and Paste by using keyboard shortcuts (ctrl+c, ctrl+v). You can add a context menu with Copy/Paste/Cut operations by adding javascript code, take a look at example code here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/200194/623622

Restrictions on running scripts

There are no restrictions when running scripts (javascript, wscript, vbscript, java, activex) inside your application's window. Scripts have full access to system resources, so be carefully not to run some third party website in an iframe, as it might put a dangerous activex control that will have access to read/write any files on user's computer. This had to be done this way, so that you have a reliable control in your application, no matter what type of restrictions have been put on Local Intranet or other security zones in Internet Explorer settings. Your application scripts will always work. This approach might be revised if there is a demand to control these settings.

Keyboard shortcuts

Many of Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts have been disabled: F5 (refresh), Backspace (back in history) and others (ctrl+p, ctrl+n, etc), so that it feels like native application and not a browser. Only one shortcut is remaining: Ctrl+F (find on a page), as it might be useful.

Window size & position

If you need to manipulate window's positon or size you have two functions available: window.resizeTo and window.moveTo. Other methods like window.resizeBy and window.moveBy have not yet been implemented.

How to use a newer version of IE engine

The default version of IE engine embedded is IE 7.0. Even if you have IE 11 installed on Windows 7, then still the embedded version will be IE 7. To force it to be IE 10 for example you have to add the registry keys below. These registry keys could be added by your application's installer.

32 bits: [(HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION]
64 bits: [(HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)\Software\wow6432node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION]
 "phpdesktop-msie.exe" = dword 10000 (Hex: 0x2710)

See these articles for reference:

• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee330730(v=vs.85).aspx#browser_emulation
• https://support.askia.com/hc/en-us/articles/200011472-Change-the-version-of-Internet-Explorer-in-askiadesign-s-web-test-mode
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2009/03/10/more-ie8-extensibility-improvements.aspx

When Issue 150 gets fixed there will be an option in settings.json to set IE version more easily.