This page explains what the Mozilla Plugin Panel project is all about and what it can do for you.
Last updated: 2008-10-07
Introduction
I had a Delphi project that used the Macromedia Flash OCX component so I could embed and control flash files inside my application. I needed to create a cross-platform application (Linux and Windows) and do the same thing. Linux doesn't support OCX components as they are a Microsoft technology.
I then though to myself - why not borrow the functionality used in the Mozilla/Gecko web browsers. Browser plug-ins! They seem to work on multiple platforms. And that's how the project began. I created a component called the Mozilla Plugin Panel (MPP for short).
How does it work?
It allows you to (theoretically) embed any browser plug-in into the MPP. The MPP is simply placed on a GUI form like any other Panel component. The MPP fools the browser plug-in to think it is running inside a web browser.
It doesn't use Mozilla at all! Maybe the usage of the word 'Mozilla' in the project name is confusing. What is does do, is allow you to use the Mozilla plug-ins currently available. In theory, any Mozilla plug-ins should work. The MPP implements the API's that the web browser plug-ins expect from Mozilla. This way, when the plug-in loads inside MPP, it has no idea, it isn't running inside Mozilla. The plug-in can call the API's it needs and the MPP component will respond as needed.
Project Status
I was pulled off this project to work on a full CGI based application, so haven't touched the MPP code in a very long time. The last time I worked on MPP, it worked under Windows and I tested it with the Adobe Acrobat 7 and Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash 6 plug-ins. It wasn't working under Linux yet.
A developer called Rangel Reale contacted me a few months back and showed interest in MPP. He managed to get Flash embedded in a Linux application using his own code (not MPP). The problem was, it only worked with newer XEmbed plug-ins and with a Beta Flash 9 plug-in from Adobe Labs.
I haven't had time to incorporate his code into the Mozilla Plugin Panel yet.
The Source Code
You can download the source from SourceForge.net in the SubVersion repository as follows.
NEW repository location
svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/mozpluginpanel/code/trunk mozpluginpanel
Screenshots
They will be added soon... |