Public Web Browser version 4 (PWB v4)

Installation and Configuration Guide

Installation

To install PWB version 4, unzip to a folder of your choice, and create a shortcut to the PWB.EXE file.

PWB version 4 can run directly from a network share by unzipping to a network share, creating a shortcut using the UNC path and copying the shortcut to the local computer. This is possible because PWB uses the local copy of the HTML renderer.

Configuration Overview

Please see the License document for license information.

PWB is a highly configurable web browser, based on Microsoft Internet Explorer, for use in public areas where a web presence is desired. There are a number of settings for PWB, this document addresses them.

PWB uses an "INI" file for configuration. We have tried to make the configuration of multiple installations of PWB easy by utilizing an INI file. Once a satisfactory configuration has been created, the INI file can be propagated to multiple computers with ease. PWB also supports the use of command line options to specify INI files that can be located on the computer's hard drive or as a shared INI on a network server. Using a network server housing the INI files for multiple configurations creates a centrally located place to upgrade and configure multiple installs of PWB.

The unregistered version of PWB v4 has two limitations. A hard coded 10 minute activity timer and "<unregistered>" appears in the title bar. Please refer to the licensing web page for license information.

The registration license number will only be good for the length of time you have purchased, once this time expires PWB will revert back to unregistered and a new license number will need to be obtained.

First Steps

Since PWB uses the Microsoft Edge for HTML rendering, the first step after installing PWB is to ensure the Edge WebView2 is installed.

Microsoft Edge WebView2:
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2

PWB uses a Configuration File (INI) for its configuration. To configure PWB edit the INI file in Windows Notepad by double clicking it. Start by changing the Home Page PWB opens to.

[Browser]
HomePage=https://your_library_url

Set the home page to the web page you want PWB to display when it is started.

The PWB Command Line

The PWB command line can have several configurations, from a simple web address to an Internet shortcut with a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) INI file path. If an INI file is not specified on the command line PWB looks for PWB.INI in the folder where the PWB.EXE file resides. The following are several examples with explanations.

Standard open
…\PWB.exe
Starts PWB with default INI and opens the home page.
Simple web address (URL)
…\PWB.exe www.teamsoftwaresolutions.com
Starts PWB with default INI and browses to the TeamSoftware Solutions website.
Internet shortcut
…\PWB.exe teamsoftware.url
Starts PWB with default INI and uses the "teamsoftware" Internet shortcut to open a web site.
Alternate INI
…\PWB.exe /INI="Other.ini" or PWB /INI"=C:\PWB\Other.INI"
Starts PWB with INI specified in the /INI= argument.
The path must be in quotes, with no space between the = and ".
Alternate INI with web address
…\PWB.exe www.teamsoftwaresolutions.com /INI="C:\PWB\Other.INI"
Starts PWB with Other.INI and browses to the TeamSoftware Solutions website.
Alternate INI from server with UNC path
…\PWB.exe /INI=\\Server\Share\Folder\Other.INI
Starts PWB with Other.INI located in a folder on a server share.
INI files opened this way make it easy to share centrally located INI files among several computers.
Alternate INI from Web Server
…\PWB.exe /INI="Other.INI" /URLINI=http://www.web.com/PWB.INI
Downloads "PWB.INI" from the web server to "Other.INI", and then starts PWB using the "Other.INI" file.
When using the URLINI, both the /INI and /URLINI must be used.

Running PWB from a Server

Not only can you share an INI file on a server among multiple copies of PWB running from several computers, but you can also share the executable (EXE) file. In fact, PWB was written with this in mind. By creating a shortcut on a computer that points to a UNC path to the PWB executable, you can have a single point of entry for running PWB.

A few things you should be aware of when running PWB from a server. If you are using the PWB URL or IP filters, for each web page PWB navigates to it needs to parse the URL or IP filter file to check for access. When PWB starts it needs to read through the Favorites folder. Large filter files can cause the navigation to lag, and large Favorites folders can cause a slow start, on a slow or congested network. If you are using the PWB filters, or have a large Favorites folder, you may want to consider running PWB from the server but housing the filter, and Favorites, files on the local computer.

Steps to run PWB from a server:

In the command (Target) line of the shortcut, enter an UNC path to PWB.

\\Server\Share\Folder\PWB.exe
\\Server\Share\Folder\PWB.exe teamsoftwaresolutions.com
\\Server\Share\Folder\PWB.exe /INI=\\Server\Share\Folder\Other.INI

In the Start in line, enter the UNC path where the EXE is located.

\\Server\Share\Folder

PWB INI File Settings

The INI is organized in a series of sections enclosed in brackets "[]", followed by keys with values for the configuration options. There are two basic keys, ones that can be True or False, and ones that are string values. The True/False keys either turn the option on or off. For instance, setting the following will cause the New Tab button not to be displayed on the toolbar.

[Buttons]
NewTab=False

The string value keys rename or replace the PWB option. Here are some examples of string value keys.

Change title of browser:

[Browser]
Title=Our Library

Change Policy file location to UNC path:

[Files]
PolicyFile=\\Server\Share\Folder\Policy.txt

INI Keys Explanations

[AutoRegister]

[Browser]

[SecondWindow]

[Printer]

[Dialogs]

[Files]

[WebFiles]

[Directories]

[Security]

[Java] (short for JavaScript)

[Overrides]

[Inactivity]

[Activity]

[Buttons]

[KioskButtons]

[MultipleHomeTabs]

[PageScripts]

[ContextMenu]

[CloseWindows]