I am trying to detect if the user of a web application has hit command + (say if they are on a Mac) or otherwise instructed their browser to enlarge the view in their browser.
Is there a standard way to do this with JavaScript?
Okay having reviewed the various options it seems that by using a combination of the browser's onResize() event and Tom Bigelajzen's fork of Yonathan Randolph's 'detect zoom' script does what I need.
Related
I am developing a cross-browser MVC web app with a javascript browser extension that uses a background script, is it possible to hide the address bar/navigation, the browser window menus, side bar and other toolbars?
The only thing I really want to keep is the tabs, though I would like to hide the add tab button as well.
This web app will run by itself a browser window, I have already got the extension doing that, so it won't affect other website functionality.
Question: Is this possible, if so, how and what api's should I focus on?
There are two ways to hide a browser's UI:
1) In any environment, you can popup a 'chomeless window' popup, which is discussed here: How do I create a chromeless window?
2) In a mobile environment, primarily Android, you can develop a Progressive Web App which will be able to open the mobile browser without the UI. See: Create a PWA in under 5 min's
Given your use case, it sounds like option 1 is your best bet, but likely it won't satisfy all your requirements.
I have a website which contains links to external websites, for example amazon product links. The links work just fine, but when I test my website on mobile (iOS in this case), I noticed that clicking the links in the mobile browsers would force open the Amazon app rather than just opening a new tab.
The links in my html are as follows:
I want to have these links open in the browser only, not in their respective apps. Is there any way in to prevent this behavior using html / javascript? Thanks!
No, you can't.
The reason is: you should not be able to impose your choice on the user. Maybe the user prefers the app? That's why iOS 9 introduced the app switcher on the top left hand corner if you switch apps.
Also, let's look from the other side of things if you are the app developer: If you go so far as to build an app and allow universal links (or generally deep links), you obviously would like the user to use that feature and rather open the site in the app. But again, you cannot force the user into opening that link in the app. That's a good thing, because it all depends on what the user wants to do and how he wants to do it.
Having the user choose is the best way to handle this from a UX point of view.
The gist: What's the best way to escape a Flash object's focus on a webpage?
Context:
I have a hotkey listener (an AutoHotKey script) running in my tray. If the script detects the command Alt+Shift+F6 while I am clicked into a Flash object on a webpage, it activates and sends key combinations to Flash to pull certain data logs. After this process completes, I want to call up a JavaScript file on that same browser tab that requests additional information from the user - basically, a tiny UI with additional text fields available in a third-party bug tracker. To do this, I want to send a javascript: command to the address bar using Ctrl+L and having AutoHotKey paste in the full call to the JS file.
A visualization of a possible environment:
The problem:
I need the user to be clicked INTO Flash in order to pull the data logs. However, I need the user to be clicked OUT of Flash for Ctrl+L to actually work - Flash appears to eat all keystrokes at the browser-level when one of its objects has focus.
A possible solution: The easiest way to go about this would be to simulate clicking on the stage, which borders my Flash object on every side. This should work, but I must assume the stupidest possible user. Such a user would somehow limit their current browser window to only be as big as the Flash object (if not smaller), click into it, and attempt to use the hotkey. In this case...I have no idea where I should click, because it could be outside the browser. Further, I don't believe I can assume that all browser address bars are similar amounts of pixels south from the top of the window.
Additional complicating factors:
I want this to work for the user's default browser. (IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari are my big targets.)
AHK does not provide any native DOM or COM hooks to anything except IE.
Ctrl+Tab and Alt+Tab shenanigans do not appear to work. That can get me to other tabs/windows, but returning to the tab/window with the Flash object still causes Flash to 'eat' further keyboard input.
While I'd be open to using another scripting language than AHK if it could overcome this Flash focus hurdle, I do not know how to create a keylistener that sits in the users tray until activated by a hotkey.
I have no access to the Flash object's code, and it contains no logic to interpret a key combination as a way to break focus or launch a script.
Would it be possible to use WinMaximize to maximize the size of the window? If you do that it should be easier to set up the script to avoid clicking outside the browser.
Perhaps look at ControlFocus and/or ControlSend (using the "edit1" control in IE and FF -- unfortunately, Chrome doesn't expose the "address bar" as a "control" this way but if you test for Chrome first, you can implement your "click outside the Flash box" method for that case).
Preface
First of all, I am very well aware that webapps should not fiddle with window size or position. Been through a lot of similar SO questions and forum posts.
But this is a special case, where the browser is just a platform to run an app on several specific machines in a controlled environment.
Task
The app should manage windows across several displays. (up to 5)
What I've tried until now
Searched for methods for gaining information about the host system display information, but the window.screen object only reports properties of the display the window is currently on (or considered to be on, if it is halfway on one)
Tried window.moveTo and window.open with flags "left=123,top=123" but they are always limited to the current display
Tried window.resize and window.open with flags "height=123,width=123" but just as with the moveTo they are limited to the current display.
Question
What could I do to make my application use (without manual window positioning) all the available space in a multi display environment?
Scenario
Think of it like I have two projectors correctly aligned, and would like to make it possible for:
each project to project different things (each projector projecting its own browser window)
project an app seamlessly across both projectors (possibly fullscreen)
There could/should be a window running the master window layout logic
Note
I can use any flags, app or kiosk mode, as again: we deploy the app to the target environment.
The browser options are Chrome(preferred), Chromium, and Firefox on a Windows platform (because of the special video card we will be using for 5 displays).
Fallback solution
Manually stretch a window across available displays and run the apps in iframes within this master window.
Drawback: A single process is running everything, so should an app break within a frame it breaks everything.
Afterword
Also a solution to this question would be a great help as well: Windows / Chrome / ATI / Browser fullscreen across multiple monitors
Go with a chrome/firefox extension that has access to window/tabs specific APIs.
Either embed your whole application in the extension or communicate with the extension through messages (chrome, there's an equivalent on firefox).
Support in Chrome is experimental.
You can use window.moveTo(-1000,100) to move a pop up to a second monitor in IE if you check the permission "allow script-initiated windows without size or position constraints" under Internet Options/Security/custom level.
If you only have a single monitor connected, it will move the window to the edge of the primary display. I have not found a way to do it in Chrome though, it doesn't appear to have the same security option.
Try using the chrome.windows API to interact with browser windows. You can use this API to create, modify, and rearrange windows in the browser.
https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/windows
It even works with nightwatch.
Another possible solution is to use the win32 to size & position the window.
As seen in the solution of question: Chrome Packaged App and Dual Monitors (no code there, this is just for reference)
I don't think it's possible.
Browser really limit JavaScript in its permissions for security reasons.
Maybe you can manually(in JavaScript of course) set the x and y position far outside of the screen so it appears on another screen but that's not a neat way to do it.
As far as I can think of, you have two options:
Create different pages for every screen and open them separately every time.
Create all the windows with a button and make the user drag them to the corresponding screen. When the user clicks the button open the window in full screen/kiosk mode and load the content. However I don't know what will happen if you activate another screen while your in fullscreenmode somewhere. It might invalidate and close the fullscreenmode.
This is the only way you can have distinct windows in your browsers as far as I know.
I made a html5 video gallery that is going to be used as a kiosk. I now need it to be viewed in complete full screen mode with no tool bars, similar to when a flash site is in full screen. Is there a way to do this with javascript or jQuery? I was also thinking of calling it from a iframe inside a full screen flash site but dont know if this is possible. Any suggestions will help.
Thanks in advance.
At this time no there is not without having the user press f11. But there is an API in the works that is supposed to make this happen. https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Gecko:FullScreenAPI
Edit (Other options):
If you are wanting to work in kiosk mode then possibly John Kurlak's comment will help if you want to work in IE. Also, you can use add-ons such as https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/r-kiosk/?src=search. This way you can turn the browser into a kiosk and not worry about users getting back out.
I do not believe a website can force a page to go fullscreen. You can however have the browser start fullscreened and as long as you do not open a separate window it will remain fullscreened.
Could you not create it in a new window using window.open(), passing in fullscreen=true?