Figure 3-4: The custom function pane shows the functions you ve added to your browser in Visual Studio .NET

Encoder QR in Visual Studio .NET Figure 3-4: The custom function pane shows the functions you ve added to your browser

Your custom browser shares a set of features with the standard Internet Explorer These features (assuming that you decide to add them to your browser) include a menu bar, a toolbar, a status bar, and an address bar

Your custom browser s menu bar can contain many of the same commands found in the full-featured Internet Explorer, as well as access to commands that control custom features, such as locks, alarms, and log files As you build your browser, you decide whether you want a menu bar and what menus will be on it Here are your menu choices: File: Holds commands such as Open, Close, and Save Edit: Contains commands such as Cut, Copy, and Paste View: Includes commands to hide or view various browser components, such as the toolbar and status bar Favorites: Holds commands to access favorite Web sites

Tools: Lists commands to access custom tools and functions that you may have added to your browser Help: Contains commands to access the Windows Help system, as well as to view the browser s About dialog box

The toolbar holds the buttons you need to navigate the Web Anyone familiar with Web browsers has already used these buttons a zillion times If the following buttons don t ring a bell, you may be reading the wrong book! Here s a list of buttons you can add to your toolbar: Home: Displays the browser s current home page Back: Moves back one page in the browser history Forward: Moves forward one page in the browser history Stop: Stops the current page from continuing to load Refresh: Redisplays the current page from scratch Search: Directs the browser to a Web search engine Favorites: Displays a list of favorite Web sites

Most Windows applications these days feature status bars in a horizontal area, usually at the bottom of the window, where the application displays status information and other messages the user may need to see Although the status bar is a standard feature of a Web browser, including Internet Explorer, your custom browser can display information that you don t see in the full Internet Explorer This information includes the following: Icon: Your own custom-designed icon Clock: A digital clock showing the current time Timer: A display showing the amount of time online or a countdown timer Date: The current date

The address bar is just a small box where you can type URLs (Web addresses) that you want the browser to visit Almost every Web browser has an address

bar You, however, can choose not to have one, if it suits your needs You may, for example, want to build a Web browser that never leaves a specific Web site In that case, you wouldn t need an address bar Although components like menu bars and toolbars are standard features of the full Internet Explorer, your custom components may use these standard features in different ways For example, you can specify how your custom toolbar looks, which is something that you can t do with Internet Explorer

In this section, I cover the cool stuff that Internet Explorer doesn t have These neat features coincide with the custom functions you can add to your browser, as well as a couple of the extra components that you can add to your browser window

A password authentication system protects many custom functions If, for example, you ve created a browser for your kids to use, you don t want them to accidentally (or deliberately they are kids, you know) change any of the settings you ve carefully set up To change such function settings, the user must enter a password