On Thu, 1 Nov 2001, Mark Guzdial wrote:
> Can JavaScript be written to detect the existence of the Squeak
> Plugin? I was thinking that it would be cool if a user doesn't have
> the Squeak Plugin tried to visit a Project page, they'd get:
> - a GIF image of what the page looks like and
> - a link to get the plugin
>
> Since GIF images are created and uploaded already, that wouldn't be hard, no?
As I recall, Roger Whitney's ObjectSwiki (grr. I can never remember the
name and I don't have my nuBlue book handy) did this.
There's a gallary page on the SuperSwiki that has thumbnails linked to the
project.
As for the Javascript, well, browser vary, but I note that:
http://www.webreference.com/javascript/960819/
Says:
""" Using a simnple two line function, you can easily detect any
specific plugin. For instance, I know that you do not have the LiveAudio
plugin installed on your browser. I also know that you do not have the
Quicktime plugin. Now, to detect plugins easily and efficiently, just use
this function:
function plugdetect(plugName)
{
if (navigator.plugins[plugName]) return true;
else return false;
}
"""
(Navigator 3.0)
More on this:
http://www.flex1.com/tips/dplugins.htm
I don't have a decent reference to see where this still works, sorry.
Aha! A 2001 article on plugin detection:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2001/07/20/plugin_detection.htm
Oooh ugh:
"On Windows, Internet Explorer has a navigator.plugins array, but it is
always empty, so it can't be used to detect plug-ins. For Internet
Explorer on Windows, you need to use VBScript (a whole separate language
based on Visual Basic, which is only available to Explorer) to check for
the ActiveX Control (a whole separate way of doing plug-ins that only
works for the Windows version of Explorer)."
Wow, how that sucks.
Cheers,
Bijan Parsia.
