VisualWorks Plugin

Plug-in Installation

The VisualWorks Plugin is an ActiveX Control which installs automatically through Internet Component Download. The Plugin is only available in Internet Explorer or another browser which is fully ActiveX compliant.

IMPORTANT :

The generic VisualWorks Plugin is not a signed control, and because any Smalltalk parcel may be loaded into its image, it cannot be marked safe for either initialization or scripting. You must set your browser, at minimum, to prompt you to load an unsigned control and to initialize/run an unsafe control. If you have very strict security configured, you will not be able to download the Plugin.

Demos and Examples

A few examples have been provided for your amusement and instruction.

To run these demos, please set up a virtual directory in your web server

"plugin-install" - pointing to the plugin/deploy directory in your VisualWorks installation

Then follow the links below.

To exercise the full functionality of the HTTP GET/POST Test Applications you will need a running VisualWorks Application Server, with the PluginTestServer parcel loaded. This parcel is located in the plugin/examples/pcl directory of your VisualWorks installation.

Hello World
- The standard basis of comparison among all GUI development tools, the Hello World display. This one takes 3K for the parcel file and you have to wonder where all that overhead comes from.
Calculator
Two Calculators
- The ever popular calculator that shows why Smalltalk really is better than some of the alternatives both in appearance and ease of development. The second example demonstrates the use of the VWAPPL parameter to access global or application specific EXTRA data from the INI file.
Loan Calculator
- See how much you can save per month now that interest rates have taken the plunge.
Menu Example
- Demonstrates the use of sub-menus in a Plugin application.
HTTP GET Test Application
- Demonstrates Plugin use of GET functionality.
HTTP POST Test Application
- Demonstrates Plugin use of POST functionality.

Fun Toys

To access the toys, please set up a virtual directory in your web server

"visualworks" - pointing to your VisualWorks installation

Make sure you have installed the necessary VisualWorks goodies, and then follow the links below.

Xonix
- Vassili Bykov's VisualWorks remake of the arcade/early PC classic.
Steroids
- Eliot Miranda and Bob Westergaard's Smalltalk re-implemenation of Mike Hall's Asteroids

If Something Goes Wrong

You should get some sort of message dialog box identifying the error from the Plugin. Ensure that your browser is configured, at minimum, to prompt for downloading unsigned ActiveX Controls, and for initializing unsafe controls in the Local Intranet zone if you are using a local web server. (See the important note above.)

The tags in the HTML files are coded to download the Plugin CAB file from http://localhost/plugin-install, so make sure you have correctly described that location to your local web server or change the URL accordingly.

Make sure you have correctly defined http://localhost/visualworks to point to your VisualWorks installation directory if you wish to play the games.