Webview is a special type of view of files and folders inside Windows Explorer [ See the screenshot ]. Webview can be enabled by checking the "View > as Web Page" option in Windows 98 or, by enabling "Web content in Folders" in Folder options, in Windows ME or Windows 2000. Webviews are in general a great way to enhance the windows explorer user interface.
All audio/video files can be previewed through explorer itself. select the file.(any audio/video file). preview should be available in the left pane.
Preview for image files and html files etc.(jpg, bmp, gif, htm etc etc yadda yadda)
Preview for text files!! . the contents of any text can be previewed by selecting a text file in the filelist. Check the feature out by trying it on any of the supported files like txt, ini , inf, htt, nfo, diz, css, log, js ,vbs,c , cpp.....and ofcourse , you could add your own. Textarea comes with word wrap and save feature.
Selecting a folder gives information regarding : name and type of folder (duh!), size in bytes.(it works for folders too and not just files.), attributes, a list of all subfolder and collapsible list of files with their respective sizes and a DHTML based explorer to navigate to subfolders.
Windows XP style "Task Panes" offer few quick links to navigate to Special and system folders and perform other functions like opening the display properties etc.
View contents of Zip, Cab, Rar, files and extract individual files from these archives.
Information content in the Vebwiev pane optionally fades in/out.
Vebview can be set to be the default webview for all folders in Windows Explorer. Use the buttons below to set it as the default webview or when you wish, to restore the original default webview.
Requirements :
Vebwiev works on Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Vebwiev requires Internet Explorer 5 or higher,although Internet Explorer 6 is strongly recommended.
It is also recommended to allow cookies (though not necessary), since Vebwiev uses cookies.
Hover over the buttons below to view what each button does. If you are using Windows XP, then the first 2 buttons will appear disabled. These options are unavailalble in Windows XP. Installing on Windows 2000 requires Administrator rights.
If you are upgrading from an earlier version, uninstall vebwiev by using the "Restore earlier webview" button.
Close all open Explorer Windows while Installing or setting as default. (Required to install the activex controls)
If a dialog box asking you whether "An ActiveX control is safe to run" pops up each time you refresh explorer, restart your computer. (Logging off and logging on again also seems to solve the problem) This should solve the problem. If this does not work, change the values of the following registry keys to 0 (zero).
If the problem persists even after this or you are not comfortable handling the registry, email me.
Even when Vebwiev has been succesfully Installed as the default vebwiev, when the user navigates to the next folder, vebwiev disappears. The user may have to select "View as web page" once again. To solve the problem, open up Folder options, on the 'General' tab, click the 'Settings' button. There select the option 'For all folders with HTML content'. Alternatively, open up any folder, set it to vebiwev through "View as Web page", hold down CTRL + SHIFT, close the window. The Settings should be saved now. Check q237865 from MSKB.
On some Computers the Zip File module may not work. This maybe because your regsvr32.exe is missing. Restore regsvr32.exe to the system directory. Else, write me.
If the Infobox is acting too erratic i.e. if the Infobox on/off state is not persisting, then go to the Windows Cookies directory and delete all cookies having the following format : username@somefolderpath.txt , where username is the name of the computer and somefolderpath represents a local directory on your hard disk.
Vebwiev is freeware. Feel free to modify / reverse engineer / do anything you like with it. If you do come up with great ideas, do tell me too!!
If you have any problems with the webview just drop me an email at and I'll be more than happy to answer your email. Just don't forget to mention your Operating system, Internet Explorer version, and Vebwiev version. Your feedback is very important for the further development of Vebwiev.
For the latest Updates, check Vebwiev's Homepage. Thanks go to Scrow for the Glyphs, Jan Herman Scheffer for the BrowseForFolder Script, Takashi Shoda for his permission to use the unzip32.dll, unlha32.dll, unrar32.dll, cab32.dll libraries, Taka for the TransLha ActiveX wrapper for these libraries, Erik Christiansson for his ID3 Component, Michael Elfial for the ImageFile Object, Steve McMahon from vbaccelerator for the Icon selector control and extensive Vebwiev testers Parash and Cyber-Man. The Crystal icons have been used with permission from Everaldo. Please visit his site at http://www.everaldo.com.
moved large part of code to an external file called include.js. include.js is not loaded in memory while merely exploring. It contains function that are executed when file(s) is/are selected. Similarly, functions such as running the add/remove programs applet from the vebwiev pane moved to another js file named defer.js which is a deferred (duh!) script file. This brings the size of vbwvfunc.js to 12.2k.
fixed cant create folder at root bug.
upgraded "blue" skin to longhorn influenced blue skin.
upgraded to sawzip control version 3.0.0.2. switched to unzip32.dll onApril 14.
added support for inline viewing of foll. formats : cab, rar, lzh (optional)
wrote foldericon change (j)script (beta)
Changed skinning routines.
Added SVG based Piechart control (Requires the Adobe SVG viewer available here.)
Bugs removed : a) buttons not being disabled on Windows XP b) "folder on different partition" weird error. c) made task panes to open up closed by default if cookie is lost. d) File execute bug in subfiles list when a folder is selected("Unable to execute file" bug). e) at 'my computer' level. f) text file with read-only + other attributes not being saved. g) margin-left: in subfolderlist(). h) the enable/disable preview confusion, once and for all. i) id3 tag editing. j) Zip activex control not registering; returning error. h) fixed tiny bug with text files>64k(20/11).
Cut almost @20k from the JScript File. rewrote some functions, modified some. adapted recursive subfolder function (cut in size).
Readme file inside zip inflated only upto 1024 bytes by default. change value of kb in vbwvfunc.js to increase.
Vebwiev is now under Start Menu > Programs.(During Installation)
made Skinning functions and installer functions generic.
Removed global scope for WScript.Shell Object.(Speed?)
Added functionalities : a) Image dimensions b) Mp3 tag Information (revised 26/8) c) ability to turn off watermark image. d) added alert about missing regsvr32.exe!! e) folder icon can be switched on or off.
touched up tab.active.png, changed node images, applied gradients to all buttons.
thumbnail object now handles only html files. rest are directly inserted into html using .innerHTML and viewed as thumbnails. removed thumbnail object from the htt file. it is loaded only when required. (speed)
Integrated 'Information' and 'Preview' tab. Checkbox to allow/disallow preview rather than button. Information content when file selected now optionally fades in/out.
pngs disaplyed using AlphaImageLoader filter.(ie6)
Developed "Crystal" skin based on Everaldo's Crystal Theme.(obtained permission)
Debugged the ImageSlideShow,minor bug removals triggered by user feedback, OS detector added.
added preview for (a) Pdf(disabled by default; change value of bPdfView to toggle, only for out-of-this-world high end machines, don't say i didn't warn you!!) (b) Excel files (disabled by default; change value of bXlsView to toggle) [features a and b removed in version 2] (c) Real player files (d) Flash movies. Requires respective applications to be installed. Added option to export XLS files to HTML format.
Checked up with Windows XP. Disabled functions that do not work in Windows XP.
zip file extraction integrated into vebwiev!!
Lots of code revision.
chucked : foldericon fadein/out, image slide show (crap), Date related File Information.
Made vebwiev work at the 'My Computer' level (almost done). Added code to handle drives and Namespace folders.
added another 'task' pane to vebwiev, which carries out function like cut copy paste, delete and new folder etc. used scrow's glyphs for that.
made gif files to be viewed as embedded images in vebwiev rather than let the activex control handle it. Advantage : gif files 'play'.disadvantage : cant control size of the image in vebwiev( fixed in v2).
minor things include : Running the selected item from vebwiev using InvokeVerb(), dropshadow to FolderIcon, added function to detect if selecteditem is a system folder (DUN, Printers etc), fixed onverbInvoked() function code.
vebwiev almost works in win98 . still some problems with the thumbnail etc. changed CLSIDs of FolderIcon and Thumbnail control, using CLSIDs from the win98, they work both in 98 and ME. Added code to remove the "Should the activeX control be allowed to run" dialog box.
Made a HTML / JScript based installation for vebwiev.