sam-t2/devtools/v8plus/html/python/lib/module-webbrowser.html

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<link rel="STYLESHEET" href="lib.css" type='text/css' />
<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="../icons/pyfav.png" type="image/png" />
<link rel='start' href='../index.html' title='Python Documentation Index' />
<link rel="first" href="lib.html" title='Python Library Reference' />
<link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" />
<link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index' />
<link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' />
<link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' />
<link rel="next" href="module-cgi.html" />
<link rel="prev" href="internet.html" />
<link rel="parent" href="internet.html" />
<link rel="next" href="browser-controllers.html" />
<meta name='aesop' content='information' />
<title>11.1 webbrowser -- Convenient Web-browser controller</title>
</head>
<body>
<DIV CLASS="navigation">
<div id='top-navigation-panel' xml:id='top-navigation-panel'>
<table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="11. Internet Protocols and"
  href="internet.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="11. Internet Protocols and"
  href="internet.html"><img src='../icons/up.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="11.1.1 Browser Controller Objects"
  href="browser-controllers.html"><img src='../icons/next.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td>
<td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"
  href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index"
  href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td>
</tr></table>
<div class='online-navigation'>
<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="internet.html">11. Internet Protocols and</A>
<b class="navlabel">Up:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="internet.html">11. Internet Protocols and</A>
<b class="navlabel">Next:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="next" href="browser-controllers.html">11.1.1 Browser Controller Objects</A>
</div>
<hr /></div>
</DIV>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->

<H1><A NAME="SECTION0013100000000000000000">
11.1 <tt class="module">webbrowser</tt> --
         Convenient Web-browser controller</A>
</H1>

<P>
<A NAME="module-webbrowser"></A>

<P>
The <tt class="module">webbrowser</tt> module provides a very high-level interface to
allow displaying Web-based documents to users.  The controller objects
are easy to use and are platform-independent.  Under most
circumstances, simply calling the <tt class="function">open()</tt> function from this
module will do the right thing.

<P>
Under <span class="Unix">Unix</span>, graphical browsers are preferred under X11, but text-mode
browsers will be used if graphical browsers are not available or an X11
display isn't available.  If text-mode browsers are used, the calling
process will block until the user exits the browser.

<P>
Under <span class="Unix">Unix</span>, if the environment variable <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3147' xml:id='l2h-3147'>BROWSER</a> exists, it
is interpreted to override the platform default list of browsers, as a
colon-separated list of browsers to try in order.  When the value of
a list part contains the string <code>%s</code>, then it is interpreted as
a literal browser command line to be used with the argument URL
substituted for the <code>%s</code>; if the part does not contain
<code>%s</code>, it is simply interpreted as the name of the browser to
launch.

<P>
For non-<span class="Unix">Unix</span> platforms, or when X11 browsers are available on
<span class="Unix">Unix</span>, the controlling process will not wait for the user to finish
with the browser, but allow the browser to maintain its own window on
the display.

<P>
The following exception is defined:

<P>
<dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span>&nbsp;<tt id='l2h-3142' xml:id='l2h-3142' class="exception">Error</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
  Exception raised when a browser control error occurs.
</dd></dl>

<P>
The following functions are defined:

<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3143' xml:id='l2h-3143' class="function">open</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <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>
<dd>
  Display <var>url</var> using the default browser.  If <var>new</var> is true,
  a new browser window is opened if possible.  If <var>autoraise</var> is
  true, the window is raised if possible (note that under many window
  managers this will occur regardless of the setting of this variable).
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3144' xml:id='l2h-3144' class="function">open_new</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>url</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
  Open <var>url</var> in a new window of the default browser, if possible,
  otherwise, open <var>url</var> in the only browser window.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3145' xml:id='l2h-3145' class="function">get</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var></var><big>[</big><var>name</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
  Return a controller object for the browser type <var>name</var>.  If
  <var>name</var> is empty, return a controller for a default browser
  appropriate to the caller's environment.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-3146' xml:id='l2h-3146' class="function">register</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>name, constructor</var><big>[</big><var>, instance</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
  Register the browser type <var>name</var>.  Once a browser type is
  registered, the <tt class="function">get()</tt> function can return a controller
  for that browser type.  If <var>instance</var> is not provided, or is
  <code>None</code>, <var>constructor</var> will be called without parameters to
  create an instance when needed.  If <var>instance</var> is provided,
  <var>constructor</var> will never be called, and may be <code>None</code>.

<P>
This entry point is only useful if you plan to either set the
  <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3148' xml:id='l2h-3148'>BROWSER</a> variable or call <tt class="function">get</tt> with a nonempty
  argument matching the name of a handler you declare.
</dl>

<P>
A number of browser types are predefined.  This table gives the type
names that may be passed to the <tt class="function">get()</tt> function and the
corresponding instantiations for the controller classes, all defined
in this module.

<P>
<div class="center"><table class="realtable">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th class="left"  >Type Name</th>
      <th class="left"  >Class Name</th>
      <th class="center">Notes</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'mozilla'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">Netscape('mozilla')</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'netscape'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">Netscape('netscape')</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'mosaic'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('mosaic %s &amp;')</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'kfm'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">Konqueror()</tt></td>
        <td class="center">(1)</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'grail'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">Grail()</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'links'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('links %s')</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'lynx'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('lynx %s')</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'w3m'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">GenericBrowser('w3m %s')</tt></td>
        <td class="center"></td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'windows-default'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">WindowsDefault</tt></td>
        <td class="center">(2)</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="left"   valign="baseline"><code>'internet-config'</code></td>
        <td class="left"  ><tt class="class">InternetConfig</tt></td>
        <td class="center">(3)</td></tr></tbody>
</table></div>

<P>
Notes:

<P>
<DL>
<DT><STRONG>(1)</STRONG></DT>
<DD>``Konqueror'' is the file manager for the KDE desktop environment for
UNIX, and only makes sense to use if KDE is running.  Some way of
reliably detecting KDE would be nice; the <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3149' xml:id='l2h-3149'>KDEDIR</a> variable is
not sufficient.  Note also that the name ``kfm'' is used even when
using the <b class="program">konqueror</b> command with KDE 2 -- the
implementation selects the best strategy for running Konqueror.

<P>
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>(2)</STRONG></DT>
<DD>Only on Windows platforms; requires the common
extension modules <tt class="module">win32api</tt> and <tt class="module">win32con</tt>.

<P>
</DD>
<DT><STRONG>(3)</STRONG></DT>
<DD>Only on MacOS platforms; requires the standard MacPython <tt class="module">ic</tt>
module, described in the <em class="citetitle"><a
 href="../mac/module-ic.html"
 title="Macintosh
Library Modules"
 >Macintosh
Library Modules</a></em> manual.
</DD>
</DL>

<P>

<p><br /></p><hr class='online-navigation' />
<div class='online-navigation'>
<!--Table of Child-Links-->
<A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></a>

<UL CLASS="ChildLinks">
<LI><A href="browser-controllers.html">11.1.1 Browser Controller Objects</a>
</ul>
<!--End of Table of Child-Links-->
</div>

<DIV CLASS="navigation">
<div class='online-navigation'>
<p></p><hr />
<table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="11. Internet Protocols and"
  href="internet.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="11. Internet Protocols and"
  href="internet.html"><img src='../icons/up.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="11.1.1 Browser Controller Objects"
  href="browser-controllers.html"><img src='../icons/next.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td>
<td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"
  href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index"
  href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td>
</tr></table>
<div class='online-navigation'>
<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="internet.html">11. Internet Protocols and</A>
<b class="navlabel">Up:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="internet.html">11. Internet Protocols and</A>
<b class="navlabel">Next:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="next" href="browser-controllers.html">11.1.1 Browser Controller Objects</A>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<span class="release-info">Release 2.4.2, documentation updated on 28 September 2005.</span>
</DIV>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->
<ADDRESS>
See <i><a href="about.html">About this document...</a></i> for information on suggesting changes.
</ADDRESS>
</BODY>
</HTML>