KioskWiki | RecentChanges | Preferences
Kiosk browser features
The kiosk browser is a web browser designed for kiosk style environments where the application needs to be locked-down. The interface is customizable through the use of overlay's, see ModuleDocumentation for a listing of available overlay's. The full KioskBrowser distribution is linux only, compiled on fedora10. The xpi works anywhere mozilla works, tested with most mozilla versions 0.9.8 and above. Works with firefox. Works with netscape7.x. Tested on linux, Win95, WinXP?, Mac.
- ChromeCustomization - firefox-2.x based. Create custom user intetrfaces from the kiosk widget toolkit.
- /Customizable - minimal user interface. Use only the interface items needed. Add or remove interface modules, overlays, as required for your situation. Old and depriciated info.
- Localizable - there are German and Italian localizations currently. Would you like to help with localization? If so please contact Jim.
- /Skinable - curently there are the kiosk, italian, international, ntu skins.
- Reset - timed browser reset after a specified time of inactivity removes the browsing history and resets to a predefined uri.
- /VirtualKeyboard - popup keyboard for use with touchscreen or pointer only environments.
- ModuleDocumentation - documenting the various modules that can be used to make up a kiosk user interface
- /Addons - info on addons to enhance the KioskBrowser capabilities. These addons also work on stock Firefox.
/SetupTips
/Installation instructions and links
/InstallTips - there is help
/UnInstallTips
To install the kiosk.tar:
Download the latest KioskBrowser from:
http://downloads.mozdev.org/kiosk
Just unpack in the /usr/lib/ directory(or wherever you want).
Run the KioskBrowser with a kiosk chrome like this:
/path/To/kiosk/kiosk -chrome chrome://kiosk/content/kiosk3.xul
Or to use the standard firefox chrome do this:
/path/To/kiosk/kiosk -chrome chrome://browser/content/browser.xul
Of course if you use the firefox chrome instead of one of the kiosk chromes you will loose much of the lockdown features provided by the kiosk chromes.
There are many things that can be set by editing the the values in the locale/en-US/kioskDefault.properties file and the locales/en-US/kiosk.dtd. See the /SetupTips page for more info.
Below is very out dated and depreciated:
- For Firefox-1.5.0.x: Put the kiosk.manifest in(copy it to) the /chrome folder. Then you can either adjust the manifest to point to the kiosk folder or just make a kiosk.jar and copy it to the chrome folder for testing(this is what I do).
- For Mozilla Suite: The file installed-chrome.txt that is found in the /kiosk directory has 3 lines that should be copied, added, to the /mozilla/chrome/installed-chrome.txt, instructions are in that file also. Make sure that the last line of the 3 lines ends with a carriage return or that line will not be added to the contents.rdf. Cd to the /mozilla directory where you will find a script - rebuild-databeses.sh or mozilla-rebuild-databases.pl - and at the command line run this script. The next time mozilla is started the skin will be added to the chrome register.
To install the kiosk.xpi
- download and save [1]
- from the mozilla File menu select Open File and use the file browser to load your saved kiosk zippy. When it loads it will automagicaly start the mozilla component installer. The kiosk xpi installes as a global extension in the firefox/chrome folder(or mozilla/chrome if youre using the moz suite).
To run mozilla with the kiosk interface type at a xterm prompt:
- mozilla -chrome chrome://kiosk/content this will start mozilla with the kiosk skin
- mozilla -P default -chrome chrome://kiosk/content the -P default tells the mozilla profile manager to start mozilla with the default user settings, your users may be different.
- mozilla -P default -chrome chrome://kiosk/content/kiosk3.xul this starts mozilla with the default user and with the kiosk3.xul interface, kiosk3.xul has a few added interface items.
- Luca Casavola emailed me this about adding a line to the main mozilla pref.js file - I found a way to start as chrome-kiosk as default : just adding the line in the pref.js (or all.js) file like:
- pref("browser.chromeURL","chrome://kiosk/content/kiosk4.xul");
- You can cause all popup windows to display a blank, naked, window by subsituting blank-kiosk.xul for kiosk4.xul in the above example. The pref.js is located in users directory ~username/.mozilla/default/xxxxx.slt/ or all.js is located in the directory /mozilla/defaults/pref/ - these paths are for linux, feedback from other OS users would be appreciated!
How to UNINSTALL a skin
Firefox
- Just remove the kiosk.manifest and kiosk.jar from the firefox/chrome folder. Also for Firefox2.x remove the app-chrome.manifest.
Mozilla Suite
- There apears to be no xpi uninstall functionality built into mozilla. However a skin may be removed as follows, using the kiosk chrome as an example. The example also assumes that you have installed the kiosk.tar, if you installed the xpi then the lines below will have an jar! stuck in there. Got it? Ok here we go:
- Remove the /mozilla/chrome/kiosk directory or the /mozilla/chrome/kiosk.jar
- In an editor open the /mozilla/chrome/installed-chrome.txt
- At the end of the installed-chrome.txt file there will be three lines:
o content,install,url,resource:/chrome/kiosk/content/
o skin,install,url,resource:/chrome/kiosk/skin/default/
o locale,install,url,resource:/chrome/kiosk/locale/en-US/
DELETE THESE LINES! Save the file.
- cd to the /mozilla directory where you will find a script - rebuild-databeses.sh or mozilla-rebuild-databases.pl - and at the command line run this script. The next time mozilla is started the skin will be removed from the chrome register.
- Alternatively you can delete the mozilla/chrome/chrome.rdf and the directory mozilla/chrome/overlayinfo. These files will be rebuilt by mozilla on a restart. This is basicaly what the mozilla-rebuild-databases.pl does.
