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The Internet Client Software Development Kit (SDK) contains all the resources you need for authoring world-class content for use with Internet Explorer 4.0. Dynamic HTML, Active Scripting, and reusable components make it possible. The SDK tells the complete story on a whole host of new and innovative technologies.
Use Dynamic HTML (DHTML) to create the most compelling content on the Web. The key to DHTML is the Document Object Model that turns every element on the page into a scriptable object. These objects expose methods, properties, and events so that authors can customize their behavior. Filters and transitions, embeddable fonts, and a suite of multimedia controls make it easy to add cool visual effects to your pages. To make sure your pages are accessible to all audiences, be sure to read the article on DHTML accessibility.
New data binding facilities make creating data-driven content a reality. See the Data Binding Overview to understand how. In addition, Internet Explorer 4.0 ships with a number of components that can be used to supply the data to those pages. These include the Tabular Data Control, the Remote Data Service, and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Data Source Object.
Content providers authoring scripts will benefit from downloading the new Microsoft Active Script Debugger. Combined with the DHTML overviews, references, and samples, it's the easiest way to get up to speed with the Document Object Model. For developers interested in adding this debugging support to their own applications, see the documentation on the Active Script Debugging Interfaces, extensions to the Active Scripting interfaces introduced with Internet Explorer 3.0.
By targeting Internet Explorer 4.0, Web publishers can broadcast their content directly to users' desktops. Using Active Channels, Channel Description Files (CDF), Active Desktop Items, Software Distribution Channels, and HTML-based Web view of folders, the distinction between the Web and the desktop fades, and Web publishers have an easier time getting their content to their audience. The SDK shows you how.
Internet Explorer 4.0 delivers the first privacy-enabled Web browser with support for the new W3C privacy standards (P3). The Profile Assistant makes it easier for a user to safely and efficiently manage personal information, while taking greater advantage of the information and services available on the Web. In addition to the overview, see the reference on the userProfile object exposed by the Document Object Model.
Developers can learn about the interfaces that make it possible to create reusable components and can easily plug them into their Web pages. The SDK includes an ActiveX Controls tutorial as well as tips for building controls that run optimally in Internet Explorer 4.0. For example, by implementing the IPersistHistory interface, a control can easily persist its state while the user visits another page.
The WebBrowser control, a component introduced with Internet Explorer 3.0, allows developers to create their own browsers. In Internet Explorer 4.0, a client application can implement the IDocHostUIHandler as demonstrated in the Driller sample to achieve the following:
Internet Explorer 4.0 and the Active Desktop introduce a plethora of features to the Windows® shell. The documentation on the Windows Shell APIs shows you how to exploit these features in your own applications. Additionally, a lightweight Shell API has been introduced with a number of useful functions for use in your applications.
You can schedule system-wide tasks using the Task Scheduler API, a COM-based scheduling agent for Windows.
Microsoft Internet Explorer Address Book is a COM-based application and service that helps users keep track of people. It has a local database and a user interface for finding and editing information about people, and it can perform queries against network directory servers using the Internet-standard (LDAP) protocol.
URL security zones divide the URL name space into zones, which have policies that users can easily configure and understand. Each zone is a collection of URL name spaces that are trusted equally. (See About URL Security Zones.)
This section defines the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Object Model for Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. XML is a simplified subset of SGML, designed specifically for Web applications. The most generic object model for an XML document will be able to take in any XML document as input and provide to the application a means of manipulating this XML document. (See XML Object Model.)
Microsoft HTML Help is a set of components designed for use by authors or developers who create online help systems for software programs, for multimedia titles, or for a Web site. HTML Help consists of an ActiveX control, which provides the navigational user interface; compressed HTML, which combines all sources into a single file; the HTML Help three-pane window, which displays HTML in a customized, resizable window, independent of the user's browser; and the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop, which contains all the tools necessary for creating and maintaining an HTML Help project and for converting an existing help project to HTML Help. (See HTMLHelp API Reference).
The Internet Client SDK includes a suite of new tools to help make the job of developing content and applications easier. This section highlights a few of these tools.
Cdcache.exe is an AutoRun executable file that allows content outside the cache to be associated with a specified URL, which can be referenced by Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. This tool allows you to assign a URL that will reference content from another directory or CD-ROM.
Microsoft CDF Generator is an easy-to-use, highly efficient tool for the creation of Channel Definition Format (CDF) files.
XMLINT is a tool that checks whether an input file (or URL) is a well-formed Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.
CdfTest is a program that will take a Channel Definition Format (CDF) file or Open Software Distribution (OSD) file and verify its structure and syntax. It will find and report mistakes such as missing end tags as well as incorrect or misspelled tags.
StyleT is a Cascading Style Sheet Tester. It supports full CSS syntax validation by performing a series of tests to ensure that the syntax of the files matches the CSS specification. StyleT also identifies extensions to CSS that are supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0.
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