Autodesk DWF Viewer

[#1]

Is there any way to make the Express Viewer capable of viewing Classic DWF
files embedded in web pages? We have numerous web pages containing thousands
of embedded Classic DWF files that have really become a problem with Volo
View Express and the Express Viewer. They were originally set up for using
the Whip viewer. When using VVE, the embedded DWF files show up, but we've
then lost the option to go to Full View, which for some reason was left out
of VVE. And the new Express Viewer won't show the embedded Classic DWF files
at all - just blank windows with a red X. When we have the Whip Driver
installed alongside the Express Viewer, the embedded DWF files show up using
Whip, then the Full View option will open them full size in Express Viewer.
But we'd really like the Express Viewer alone to show the embedded Classic
DWF files, plus give a Full View option.

Is there ANY way to do this? Will the next version of Express Viewer give us
this capability?

Thanks,

John Schmidt
CSW/Stuber-Stroeh Engineering

[#2]

It sounds like you havn't edited your html files to use the Express Viewer
control. EV can view classic dwf. Try running the program standalone (from
Start Menu>Programs) and open a dwf. Does this work?

--
Ed
--

"John Schmidt" wrote in message
news:B71829B80AC764557291D203F5DDA845@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Is there any way to make the Express Viewer capable of viewing Classic DWF
> files embedded in web pages? We have numerous web pages containing
thousands
> of embedded Classic DWF files that have really become a problem with Volo
> View Express and the Express Viewer. They were originally set up for using
> the Whip viewer. When using VVE, the embedded DWF files show up, but we've
> then lost the option to go to Full View, which for some reason was left
out
> of VVE. And the new Express Viewer won't show the embedded Classic DWF
files
> at all - just blank windows with a red X. When we have the Whip Driver
> installed alongside the Express Viewer, the embedded DWF files show up
using
> Whip, then the Full View option will open them full size in Express
Viewer.
> But we'd really like the Express Viewer alone to show the embedded Classic
> DWF files, plus give a Full View option.
>
> Is there ANY way to do this? Will the next version of Express Viewer give
us
> this capability?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Schmidt
> CSW/Stuber-Stroeh Engineering
>
>

[#3]

Opening the files in I.E. brings up the DWFs just fine in Express Viewer.
Viewing HTML pages with embedded DWF files works fine in I.E with the Whip 4
viewer - but they just show up as red Xs if there's no Whip and only Express
Viewer instead. It's really not practical to go back and change the coding
for these html pages - there are references to well over 1000 DWF files!

If we were to recreate the pages so the Express Viewer would view the
embedded DWF files in their respective windows, does it give the "Full View"
option like Whip 4 has? We really need this so when a user looks at the
small embedded DWFs, he can then choose to open it full size by clicking on
Full View or something similar.

John


"Ed Jobe" wrote in message
news:C86F27F4BFA05064CF722A44C9F7AF71@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> It sounds like you havn't edited your html files to use the Express Viewer
> control. EV can view classic dwf. Try running the program standalone (from
> Start Menu>Programs) and open a dwf. Does this work?
>
> --
> Ed
> --
>
> "John Schmidt" wrote in message
> news:B71829B80AC764557291D203F5DDA845@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Is there any way to make the Express Viewer capable of viewing Classic
DWF
> > files embedded in web pages? We have numerous web pages containing
> thousands
> > of embedded Classic DWF files that have really become a problem with
Volo
> > View Express and the Express Viewer. They were originally set up for
using
> > the Whip viewer. When using VVE, the embedded DWF files show up, but
we've
> > then lost the option to go to Full View, which for some reason was left
> out
> > of VVE. And the new Express Viewer won't show the embedded Classic DWF
> files
> > at all - just blank windows with a red X. When we have the Whip Driver
> > installed alongside the Express Viewer, the embedded DWF files show up
> using
> > Whip, then the Full View option will open them full size in Express
> Viewer.
> > But we'd really like the Express Viewer alone to show the embedded
Classic
> > DWF files, plus give a Full View option.
> >
> > Is there ANY way to do this? Will the next version of Express Viewer
give
> us
> > this capability?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > John Schmidt
> > CSW/Stuber-Stroeh Engineering
> >
> >
>
>

[#4]

The problem is not 'how many dwf's you have' but 'how many htm's you have'.
You don't need to edit the

[#5]

The lack of Full View is the biggest problem. (I did determine EV will view
embedded DWFs, but it means recreating all the HTM files in our case.) Whip4 was
so perfect for all our needs - we could have a small, (200x200) embedded DWF in
the html pages, (without all the Express menus taking up space), then go to Full
View for detailed viewing. To get the same type of usability now, all the pages
will have to be modified with an additional hyperlink for each DWF, to be able
to open it in a "full view".

Why this is a problem is that the program that automatically generated the first
html files, (a demo of Terry Dotson's DWG Browser), worked perfectly to generate
the pages compatible with Whip, and did *exactly* what we needed. So we
purchased the licensed version, only to discover it no longer generates pages
the same way - they just don't work with the Whip4 viewer - period. I've been in
touch with Terry about getting the original version, but no luck so far.

Since I just discovered our compatibility problems, I may be able to come up
with some kind of answer with further research.

John
.

Ed Jobe wrote:

> The problem is not 'how many dwf's you have' but 'how many htm's you have'.
> You don't need to edit the

[#6]

You could run a sed script over the HTML files and change the classid
parameter to the new value.

"John Schmidt" wrote in message
news:3E6B7BDC.BF3771D4@pacbell.net...
> The lack of Full View is the biggest problem. (I did determine EV will
view
> embedded DWFs, but it means recreating all the HTM files in our case.)
Whip4 was
> so perfect for all our needs - we could have a small, (200x200) embedded
DWF in
> the html pages, (without all the Express menus taking up space), then go
to Full
> View for detailed viewing. To get the same type of usability now, all the
pages
> will have to be modified with an additional hyperlink for each DWF, to be
able
> to open it in a "full view".
>
> Why this is a problem is that the program that automatically generated the
first
> html files, (a demo of Terry Dotson's DWG Browser), worked perfectly to
generate
> the pages compatible with Whip, and did *exactly* what we needed. So we
> purchased the licensed version, only to discover it no longer generates
pages
> the same way - they just don't work with the Whip4 viewer - period. I've
been in
> touch with Terry about getting the original version, but no luck so far.
>
> Since I just discovered our compatibility problems, I may be able to come
up
> with some kind of answer with further research.
>
> John

[#7]

I've already tried search/replace on the classid, but get a variety of
errors after doing such. I'm not familiar with sed script - ??

It would really be nice if the HTML pages with embedded DWFs would just use
whichever viewer was present, whether Whip! 4, VVE, or Express Viewer. Is
there any classid that will use whichever viewer it finds on any given
computer? Right now it's "clsid:8718C658-8956-11D2-BD21-0060B0A12A50"

John

"Scott Sheppard" wrote in message
news:48ACF4B1BF6306F5A75C3177A60A16A8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> You could run a sed script over the HTML files and change the classid
> parameter to the new value.

[#8]

Sed is just a simple text editor. Class IDs do not work that way. You
specify which viewer you want, the OS looks for it in the registry, and if
it is not there, it goes to the code page and gets it. If Autodesk did
otherwise, people would complain that "I wanted people to go get AEV, but it
let them get away with looking at my stuff using WHIP!." You really do want
to change your class IDs, src references, etc. to be of the right form. You
will spend just as much time arguing about whether you should need to do
this or not as the time it would take to do it. You should be able to do a
few thousand files in a matter of days. Autodesk would take much longer to
deliver any updated solution -- even if they wanted to.

"John Schmidt" wrote in message
news:832E38AD9D6A3F76C75415596FF4DD01@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I've already tried search/replace on the classid, but get a variety of
> errors after doing such. I'm not familiar with sed script - ??
>
> It would really be nice if the HTML pages with embedded DWFs would just
use
> whichever viewer was present, whether Whip! 4, VVE, or Express Viewer. Is
> there any classid that will use whichever viewer it finds on any given
> computer? Right now it's "clsid:8718C658-8956-11D2-BD21-0060B0A12A50"
>
> John
>
> "Scott Sheppard" wrote in message
> news:48ACF4B1BF6306F5A75C3177A60A16A8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > You could run a sed script over the HTML files and change the classid
> > parameter to the new value.
>
>
>

[#9]

It's not really an Autodesk problem so much as the program we got that creates
the pages. The whole idea was to avoid having to do all this manually. I was
just hoping there'd be an easier solution...

Thanks, though - John

Scott Sheppard wrote:

> Sed is just a simple text editor. Class IDs do not work that way. You
> specify which viewer you want, the OS looks for it in the registry, and if
> it is not there, it goes to the code page and gets it. If Autodesk did
> otherwise, people would complain that "I wanted people to go get AEV, but it
> let them get away with looking at my stuff using WHIP!." You really do want
> to change your class IDs, src references, etc. to be of the right form. You
> will spend just as much time arguing about whether you should need to do
> this or not as the time it would take to do it. You should be able to do a
> few thousand files in a matter of days. Autodesk would take much longer to
> deliver any updated solution -- even if they wanted to.

[#10]

I just wanted to state, for the record, that Terry Dotson really bent over
backwards to help resolve the issues we were having, sending me no less than
3 or 4 modified versions of his DwgBrowser program, even customizing it
beyond basic features. His last version now does *exactly* what we hoped,
with the viewers we need to use.

Thank you, Terry! A true professional!

John

"John Schmidt" wrote in message
news:3E6B7BDC.BF3771D4@pacbell.net...
> The lack of Full View is the biggest problem. (I did determine EV will
view
> embedded DWFs, but it means recreating all the HTM files in our case.)
Whip4 was
> so perfect for all our needs - we could have a small, (200x200) embedded
DWF in
> the html pages, (without all the Express menus taking up space), then go
to Full
> View for detailed viewing. To get the same type of usability now, all the
pages
> will have to be modified with an additional hyperlink for each DWF, to be
able
> to open it in a "full view".
>
> Why this is a problem is that the program that automatically generated the
first
> html files, (a demo of Terry Dotson's DWG Browser), worked perfectly to
generate
> the pages compatible with Whip, and did *exactly* what we needed. So we
> purchased the licensed version, only to discover it no longer generates
pages
> the same way - they just don't work with the Whip4 viewer - period. I've
been in
> touch with Terry about getting the original version, but no luck so far.
>
> Since I just discovered our compatibility problems, I may be able to come
up
> with some kind of answer with further research.
>
> John
> .
>
> Ed Jobe wrote:
>
> > The problem is not 'how many dwf's you have' but 'how many htm's you
have'.
> > You don't need to edit the