Autodesk DWF Viewer

[#1]

Using the WHIP viewer I developed an internal web site which allows everyone in the company to
view our dwf files through Netscape. I just recently found out that the WHIP viewer is no longer
available on the Autodesk website. I've downloaded their Express Viewer but cannot get it to work
as a browser plug-in. Express viewer also states that it is for Internet Explorer. The API's do not show
any JavaScript coding as was available in the WHIP Viewer.

Viewing the Dwf's with the stand alone programes, Volo View or Express viewer is not an option.
I need a plug-in that will work with BOTH IE and Netscape.

I find it hard to believe that a company that is trying to portray themselves and their programs as cream
of the crop, would be so short sided as to not provide a viewer replacement that at least performs the
same basic tasks as the previous one before removing the older version from circulation.

Does Express Viewer work as a plug-in for both Netscape and Internet Explorer. If so, what do I need to
correct to get this viewer to work in place of my Whip Viewer. Reference coding below:



Nothing shows when this html file is run, but it works fine with the Whip viewer.
Both IE and Netscape browsers were tested.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[#2]

See if this coding attachment works?? Don't know why a cut and paste didn't work the first time.

[#3]

jmcfaddn

The netscape compatibility is a big issue and i think, dont quote me but i think i read in another posting they said that the next release will be compatible! Not sure though. The code examples are very vaque and when you add the reference in VB, all layer manipulation properties are non existant. Very disappointing autodesk! I have tried numerous ways to step through layers and have not figured it out yet. I now can turn ALL on or off and thats it. These hidden properties should be declared somewhere at the least!!

[#4]

I wear Nike basketball shoes. There are people I
meet who chide me for wearing Nike's because they have an axe to grind. They are
under the impression that Nike exploits workers in poor countries to produce the
shoes at a lower cost. I don't know if they do or not. All I know is that the
shoes seem to do the job and are priced reasonably.

The majority of the AutoCAD customer base use
Internet Explorer. I find that Internet Explorer seems to do the job and is
priced reasonably. I know there are people still have an axe to grind against
Microsoft, but I don't question Autodesk's motives. It makes little sense to
double your development costs by supporting both Internet Explorer and Netscape
Navigator. If you consider that AEV is free, it is even more obvious. Long ago
Autodesk asked Netscape to support ActiveX Controls directly, but they declined.
The NCompass product attempted to fill the void, but I am not sure if they are
still around.

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"jmcfaddn" <
href="mailto:jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com">jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com>
wrote in message
href="news:f13beaa.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f13beaa.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

I find it hard to believe that a company that is trying to portray
themselves and their programs as cream
of the crop, would be so short
sided as to not provide a viewer replacement that at least performs the

same basic tasks as the previous one before removing the older version
from circulation.

Does Express Viewer work as a plug-in for both Netscape and Internet
Explorer. If so, what do I need to
correct to get this viewer to work in
place of my Whip Viewer. Reference coding below:

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[#5]

I personally prefer IE to use and develop for. The
fact is that most of our Corporation is still on Netscape and would use this
functionality if they could. We are slowly getting rid of Netscape and making
everyone use IE... but the fact remains, in a large company it takes a long time
for this to happen. I think there is still a large enough user base using
Netscape to justify the compatibility (at least for now).

Andrew

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"Scott Sheppard" <
href="mailto:scott.sheppard@repro.oceusa.com">scott.sheppard@repro.oceusa.com>
wrote in message
href="news:C65FF71E72F059F673126DD289F28E2A@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:C65FF71E72F059F673126DD289F......

I wear Nike basketball shoes. There are people I
meet who chide me for wearing Nike's because they have an axe to grind. They
are under the impression that Nike exploits workers in poor countries to
produce the shoes at a lower cost. I don't know if they do or not. All I know
is that the shoes seem to do the job and are priced reasonably.

The majority of the AutoCAD customer base use
Internet Explorer. I find that Internet Explorer seems to do the job and is
priced reasonably. I know there are people still have an axe to grind against
Microsoft, but I don't question Autodesk's motives. It makes little sense to
double your development costs by supporting both Internet Explorer and
Netscape Navigator. If you consider that AEV is free, it is even more obvious.
Long ago Autodesk asked Netscape to support ActiveX Controls directly, but
they declined. The NCompass product attempted to fill the void, but I am not
sure if they are still around.

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"jmcfaddn" <
href="mailto:jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com">jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com>
wrote in message
href="news:f13beaa.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f13beaa.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

I find it hard to believe that a company that is trying to portray
themselves and their programs as cream
of the crop, would be so short
sided as to not provide a viewer replacement that at least performs the

same basic tasks as the previous one before removing the older version
from circulation.

Does Express Viewer work as a plug-in for both Netscape and Internet
Explorer. If so, what do I need to
correct to get this viewer to work in
place of my Whip Viewer. Reference coding below:

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[#6]

What are you trying to do with layers?  The
code examples that Ben posted here a little while ago show how turn turn them
all ON or OFF.  If you're doing this in VB, a slight modification to the
original code will allow you to get to a certain layer or set of layers. 
If this is what you want to do, I'll post some code for that.

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"yogibearaz" <
href="mailto:ssmith@bigcenter.com">ssmith@bigcenter.com> wrote in
message
href="news:f13beaa.1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f13beaa.1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

jmcfaddn

The netscape compatibility is a big issue and i think, dont quote me but i
think i read in another posting they said that the next release will be
compatible! Not sure though. The code examples are very vaque and when you add
the reference in VB, all layer manipulation properties are non existant. Very
disappointing autodesk! I have tried numerous ways to step through layers and
have not figured it out yet. I now can turn ALL on or off and thats it. These
hidden properties should be declared somewhere at the
least!!

[#7]

What are you talking about Nike????

I prefer IE as a browser, it's what I use at the house. BUT my company standard is Netscape!!
Therefore I have to make sure that the applications work in Netscape.

My understanding from Autodesk's marketing is that Autodesk created DWF files explicity to be used for
the http://WWW platform. With that intent, at a minimum, you would think they'd at least make sure
their applications work with the two most popular browsers. Concentrating on just one is very short sided.

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Microsoft develop their products to be fairly universal (PC/MAC)?

[#8]

I might be mistaken here, but if NS supported
ActiveX then this wouldn't be an issue, right?  Considering that ActiveX is
a foundation Windows component technology, shouldn't it be NS'
responsibility to support ActiveX before this issue even *got* to
Autodesk?

I can't blame Autodesk for not supporting NS
any further.  Whether its a good browser or not is not the point. 
Their marketshare is next to nothing and dropping fast.  Can anyone say
Betamax?  NS makes it nearly impossible for Autodesk, or any other
developer for that matter, to support NS because: 1) NS doesn't bother to
implement Microsoft standards or even conform to W3C standards as
completely or quickly as they should, and 2)  It is NOT cost effective to
develop support for applications with little remaining marketshare, unless
you've got money to burn or are paranoid about competitors, like Microsoft,
which is why they port to MacOS.

There is no way around it.  It's an absolute,
like one day the sun will explode: At some point, your company will
*have* to go to IE or whatever the Microsoft equivalent is at that time. 
Until then, just add the Express Viewer to a growing list of applications that
your company will not be able to leverage.

As a developer, I can sympathize.  Your
company is being inflexible and making you support NS.  I would
hate to have to do that.  You should try to convince them that they are
hurting themselves from business standpoint by staying with NS.  Heck,
just point out that even AOL (NS' *parent* company) bundles IE
with their software. 

Best of luck,

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"jmcfaddn" <
href="mailto:jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com">jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com>
wrote in message
href="news:f13beaa.5@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f13beaa.5@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

What
are you talking about Nike????

I prefer IE as a browser, it's what I use at the house. BUT my company
standard is Netscape!!
Therefore I have to make sure that the applications
work in Netscape.

My understanding from Autodesk's marketing is that Autodesk created DWF
files explicity to be used for
the http://WWW
platform. With that intent, at a minimum, you would think they'd at least make
sure
their applications work with the two most popular browsers.
Concentrating on just one is very short sided.

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Microsoft develop their products to be
fairly universal (PC/MAC)?

[#9]

Very interesting points about the Active X. I'll check into that.

Thanks

[#10]

BTW, AOL does use Gecko now in their Compuserve
software.  There's also the option to use Gecko in the AOL software
too.  I have found that Netscape is more Standards compliant than IE. 
The problem is that everyone writes code for a browser instead of a
standard.  Also, Microsoft is loosing ground in browser share since the
introduction of NS7 and Opera's new browser althought it hasn't really been much
of a loss.

Robert

"Peter Lone" <
href="mailtolone@livingworkplace.com">plone@livingworkplace.com> wrote
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

I might be mistaken here, but if NS
supported ActiveX then this wouldn't be an issue, right?  Considering
that ActiveX is a foundation Windows component technology, shouldn't it
be NS' responsibility to support ActiveX before this issue even *got* to
Autodesk?

I can't blame Autodesk for not supporting NS
any further.  Whether its a good browser or not is not the point. 
Their marketshare is next to nothing and dropping fast.  Can anyone say
Betamax?  NS makes it nearly impossible for Autodesk, or any other
developer for that matter, to support NS because: 1) NS doesn't bother to
implement Microsoft standards or even conform to W3C standards as
completely or quickly as they should, and 2)  It is NOT cost effective to
develop support for applications with little remaining marketshare,
unless you've got money to burn or are paranoid about competitors, like
Microsoft, which is why they port to MacOS.

There is no way around it.  It's an
absolute, like one day the sun will explode: At some point, your
company will *have* to go to IE or whatever the Microsoft equivalent is
at that time.  Until then, just add the Express Viewer to a growing list
of applications that your company will not be able to leverage.

As a developer, I can sympathize.  Your
company is being inflexible and making you support NS.  I would
hate to have to do that.  You should try to convince them that they are
hurting themselves from business standpoint by staying with
NS.  Heck, just point out that even AOL (NS' *parent*
company) bundles IE with their software. 

Best of luck,

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"jmcfaddn" <
href="mailto:jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com">jody.mcfadden@alcatel.com>
wrote in message
href="news:f13beaa.5@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f13beaa.5@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

What
are you talking about Nike????

I prefer IE as a browser, it's what I use at the house. BUT my company
standard is Netscape!!
Therefore I have to make sure that the
applications work in Netscape.

My understanding from Autodesk's marketing is that Autodesk created DWF
files explicity to be used for
the http://WWW
platform. With that intent, at a minimum, you would think they'd at least
make sure
their applications work with the two most popular browsers.
Concentrating on just one is very short sided.

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Microsoft develop their products to
be fairly universal (PC/MAC)?