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| 17 | <title>11.1 webbrowser -- Convenient Web-browser controller</title> |
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| 55 | <H1><A NAME="SECTION0013100000000000000000"> |
| 56 | 11.1 <tt class="module">webbrowser</tt> -- |
| 57 | Convenient Web-browser controller</A> |
| 58 | </H1> |
| 59 | |
| 60 | <P> |
| 61 | <A NAME="module-webbrowser"></A> |
| 62 | |
| 63 | <P> |
| 64 | The <tt class="module">webbrowser</tt> module provides a very high-level interface to |
| 65 | allow displaying Web-based documents to users. The controller objects |
| 66 | are easy to use and are platform-independent. Under most |
| 67 | circumstances, simply calling the <tt class="function">open()</tt> function from this |
| 68 | module will do the right thing. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | <P> |
| 71 | Under <span class="Unix">Unix</span>, graphical browsers are preferred under X11, but text-mode |
| 72 | browsers will be used if graphical browsers are not available or an X11 |
| 73 | display isn't available. If text-mode browsers are used, the calling |
| 74 | process will block until the user exits the browser. |
| 75 | |
| 76 | <P> |
| 77 | Under <span class="Unix">Unix</span>, if the environment variable <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3147' xml:id='l2h-3147'>BROWSER</a> exists, it |
| 78 | is interpreted to override the platform default list of browsers, as a |
| 79 | colon-separated list of browsers to try in order. When the value of |
| 80 | a list part contains the string <code>%s</code>, then it is interpreted as |
| 81 | a literal browser command line to be used with the argument URL |
| 82 | substituted for the <code>%s</code>; if the part does not contain |
| 83 | <code>%s</code>, it is simply interpreted as the name of the browser to |
| 84 | launch. |
| 85 | |
| 86 | <P> |
| 87 | For non-<span class="Unix">Unix</span> platforms, or when X11 browsers are available on |
| 88 | <span class="Unix">Unix</span>, the controlling process will not wait for the user to finish |
| 89 | with the browser, but allow the browser to maintain its own window on |
| 90 | the display. |
| 91 | |
| 92 | <P> |
| 93 | The following exception is defined: |
| 94 | |
| 95 | <P> |
| 96 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-3142' xml:id='l2h-3142' class="exception">Error</tt></b></dt> |
| 97 | <dd> |
| 98 | Exception raised when a browser control error occurs. |
| 99 | </dd></dl> |
| 100 | |
| 101 | <P> |
| 102 | The following functions are defined: |
| 103 | |
| 104 | <P> |
| 105 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 106 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3143' xml:id='l2h-3143' class="function">open</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 107 | <td><var>url</var><big>[</big><var>, new=0</var><big>]</big><var></var><big>[</big><var>, autoraise=1</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 108 | <dd> |
| 109 | Display <var>url</var> using the default browser. If <var>new</var> is true, |
| 110 | a new browser window is opened if possible. If <var>autoraise</var> is |
| 111 | true, the window is raised if possible (note that under many window |
| 112 | managers this will occur regardless of the setting of this variable). |
| 113 | </dl> |
| 114 | |
| 115 | <P> |
| 116 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 117 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3144' xml:id='l2h-3144' class="function">open_new</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 118 | <td><var>url</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 119 | <dd> |
| 120 | Open <var>url</var> in a new window of the default browser, if possible, |
| 121 | otherwise, open <var>url</var> in the only browser window. |
| 122 | </dl> |
| 123 | |
| 124 | <P> |
| 125 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 126 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3145' xml:id='l2h-3145' class="function">get</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 127 | <td><var></var><big>[</big><var>name</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 128 | <dd> |
| 129 | Return a controller object for the browser type <var>name</var>. If |
| 130 | <var>name</var> is empty, return a controller for a default browser |
| 131 | appropriate to the caller's environment. |
| 132 | </dl> |
| 133 | |
| 134 | <P> |
| 135 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 136 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3146' xml:id='l2h-3146' class="function">register</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 137 | <td><var>name, constructor</var><big>[</big><var>, instance</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 138 | <dd> |
| 139 | Register the browser type <var>name</var>. Once a browser type is |
| 140 | registered, the <tt class="function">get()</tt> function can return a controller |
| 141 | for that browser type. If <var>instance</var> is not provided, or is |
| 142 | <code>None</code>, <var>constructor</var> will be called without parameters to |
| 143 | create an instance when needed. If <var>instance</var> is provided, |
| 144 | <var>constructor</var> will never be called, and may be <code>None</code>. |
| 145 | |
| 146 | <P> |
| 147 | This entry point is only useful if you plan to either set the |
| 148 | <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3148' xml:id='l2h-3148'>BROWSER</a> variable or call <tt class="function">get</tt> with a nonempty |
| 149 | argument matching the name of a handler you declare. |
| 150 | </dl> |
| 151 | |
| 152 | <P> |
| 153 | A number of browser types are predefined. This table gives the type |
| 154 | names that may be passed to the <tt class="function">get()</tt> function and the |
| 155 | corresponding instantiations for the controller classes, all defined |
| 156 | in this module. |
| 157 | |
| 158 | <P> |
| 159 | <div class="center"><table class="realtable"> |
| 160 | <thead> |
| 161 | <tr> |
| 162 | <th class="left" >Type Name</th> |
| 163 | <th class="left" >Class Name</th> |
| 164 | <th class="center">Notes</th> |
| 165 | </tr> |
| 166 | </thead> |
| 167 | <tbody> |
| 168 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'mozilla'</code></td> |
| 169 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">Netscape('mozilla')</tt></td> |
| 170 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 171 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'netscape'</code></td> |
| 172 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">Netscape('netscape')</tt></td> |
| 173 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 174 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'mosaic'</code></td> |
| 175 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('mosaic %s &')</tt></td> |
| 176 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 177 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'kfm'</code></td> |
| 178 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">Konqueror()</tt></td> |
| 179 | <td class="center">(1)</td></tr> |
| 180 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'grail'</code></td> |
| 181 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">Grail()</tt></td> |
| 182 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 183 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'links'</code></td> |
| 184 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('links %s')</tt></td> |
| 185 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 186 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'lynx'</code></td> |
| 187 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('lynx %s')</tt></td> |
| 188 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 189 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'w3m'</code></td> |
| 190 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('w3m %s')</tt></td> |
| 191 | <td class="center"></td></tr> |
| 192 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'windows-default'</code></td> |
| 193 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">WindowsDefault</tt></td> |
| 194 | <td class="center">(2)</td></tr> |
| 195 | <tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>'internet-config'</code></td> |
| 196 | <td class="left" ><tt class="class">InternetConfig</tt></td> |
| 197 | <td class="center">(3)</td></tr></tbody> |
| 198 | </table></div> |
| 199 | |
| 200 | <P> |
| 201 | Notes: |
| 202 | |
| 203 | <P> |
| 204 | <DL> |
| 205 | <DT><STRONG>(1)</STRONG></DT> |
| 206 | <DD>``Konqueror'' is the file manager for the KDE desktop environment for |
| 207 | UNIX, and only makes sense to use if KDE is running. Some way of |
| 208 | reliably detecting KDE would be nice; the <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3149' xml:id='l2h-3149'>KDEDIR</a> variable is |
| 209 | not sufficient. Note also that the name ``kfm'' is used even when |
| 210 | using the <b class="program">konqueror</b> command with KDE 2 -- the |
| 211 | implementation selects the best strategy for running Konqueror. |
| 212 | |
| 213 | <P> |
| 214 | </DD> |
| 215 | <DT><STRONG>(2)</STRONG></DT> |
| 216 | <DD>Only on Windows platforms; requires the common |
| 217 | extension modules <tt class="module">win32api</tt> and <tt class="module">win32con</tt>. |
| 218 | |
| 219 | <P> |
| 220 | </DD> |
| 221 | <DT><STRONG>(3)</STRONG></DT> |
| 222 | <DD>Only on MacOS platforms; requires the standard MacPython <tt class="module">ic</tt> |
| 223 | module, described in the <em class="citetitle"><a |
| 224 | href="../mac/module-ic.html" |
| 225 | title="Macintosh |
| 226 | Library Modules" |
| 227 | >Macintosh |
| 228 | Library Modules</a></em> manual. |
| 229 | </DD> |
| 230 | </DL> |
| 231 | |
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