Re: [www-vrml] VRML still the most popular Web3D format - by far.

["George Birbilis" <birbilis@kagi.com>]

> >   X3D is just integration plus more features.
>
> <http://www.web3d.org/x3d/faq/index.html#technical-2>
>
> The abandonment of EXTERNPROTO as a browser extension mechanism should
> not be trivialized. The text in the above link says that, "The way to
> provide browser-specific extensions is through custom components." But
> how do you refer to one of these "custom components" over the network?

Hi Braden,
I believe the idea is that once the browser sees a component it doesn't know
mentioned in the header of a X3D file, tries to contact the browser vendor's
host (or some local network repository folder set in browser options) and
check for a plugin/update to add support for that component (say one had
installed the browser with minimum components for quick download) and if it
doesn't find such it shows message to the user...

...probably also playing it nice and showing some dialog to the user with
the other X3D browsers found in the system to chose one to use (can do that
on Windows using the registry), showing only those browsers that have marked
in the registry that they support that component (supposing W3D group
defines the format for such info in the registry and what's the min required
info to have there for an X3D browser)

cheers,
George

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Birbilis <birbilis@kagi.com> [Microsoft MVP J#]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ QuickTime VCL and ActiveX controls (for PowerPoint/VB/Delphi etc.)
+ Plugs VCL and ActiveX controls (InterProcess/Internet communication)
+ TransFormations, VB6 forms to ASP.net WebForms convertion
http://www.kagi.com/birbilis
+ Robotics
http://www.mech.upatras.gr/~robgroup
........................................................................

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
for list subscription/unscrubscription,
go to http://www.web3d.org/cgi-bin/public_list_signup/lwgate/listsavail.html