Oleg Chernavin - Web Downloader

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Offline Explorer 1.2

Offline Explorer is the next generation of Web Downloader software. It is available for free download from MetaProducts corp. web site, Products section.

This page is dedicated to unofficial information on the Offline Explorer.

Contents

Upgrading from Web Downloader 2.x to Offline Explorer 1.x.
Main differences between Web Downloader 2.2 and Offline Explorer 1.2.
Undocumented features in Offline Explorer.

Upgrading from Web Downloader 2.x to Offline Explorer 1.2.
Offline Explorer 1.2 is actually Web Downloader 4.2. While developing any of Web Downloader family applications I payed special attention on the compatibility between releases. Thus, you may easily use your Web Downloader Items list in Offline Explorer. The easiest way to do this is to set the installation directory while setup to the same location where Web Downloader installed.

If you want to place Offline Explorer to a different location, you may later copy webdown.dat file from Web Downloader to the new directory.

After setup, Offline Explorer will automatically import most Web Downloader settings, like download directory, Defaults, Proxy server information, main window position and size and others. This doesn't depend on the Offline Explorer location. Only the Folders/Items list is directory-dependant.

Main differences between Web Downloader 2.2 and Offline Explorer 1.2.
I see all replies on Offline Explorer (OE) either people like the changes or not like. However general princiles of how to work with it are the same. OE is the same Web Downloader (WD). The actual version number is 4.2 (2.2e was intended to be 3.0). We redesigned user interface, added new features and greately improved downloading and parsing code.

Below I described the most sufficient changes in user interface.

1. The Folders and Items panels were integrated to one Projects tree. Items are now called Projects, which is actually the same. The change allowed us to free some place for the Internal browser panel, which is really useful for viewing downloaded files.

2. We added the Map tab under the Projects tree for displaying downloaded sites maps.

3. The lower area slightly redesigned and now allows the Messages panel (old Status in WD) to be docked/undocked. The Messages window (Log in WD) could be also docked to the lower part or stay free-floating.

4. Main Menu was changed to be more logical. Options moved from File to View (this is more standard), Projects manipulation menus were moved to File. All downloading menus (Execute, Stop, Suspend and so on) were grouped under Download menu.

5. The Options and Properties dialogs were redesigned. We changed tabs to tree-view structure, which allows more settings to be placed there in future.

6. Defaults were replaced with Templates dialog, which allows to have many Project templates. One of the Templates is default one and is used for creating Projects in all cases except File | New menu.

The internal functionality is almost the same, like in WD 2.2e, except many improvements and bug fixes.

I think that it is not hard to work with OE, but more comfortable. I stopped using WD long time ago in my everyday work and I can really say that I'm feeling myself much better with Offline Explorer.

Undocumented features in Offline Explorer.
1. You may turn on the special Folder Properties dialog box.
It allows you to set download directory for each folder separately. Many people asked me about such feature, however it is still undefined officially how such feature should work. It is possible that future versions of Offline Explorer will have it redesigned and even removed.

MetaProducts corp. carries NO RESPONSIBILITY for this feature.

To enable the feature, first exit Offline Explorer, if it is running. Then, open Windows Registry editor (regedit.exe) and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Metaproducts\Offline Explorer\Parameters and change ExtendUI value from 0 to 1. The next time Offline Explorer will start you will be able to open Properties dialog for a folder.

It is simular to Options | Advanced | Download directory page. Empty directory means that the Options download directory will be used, otherwise the typed directory will contain files, which will be loaded by Projects, located in the folder.

2. You may see last download statistics for any Project.
If you have Internal browser enabled, press Go Home button on the Internal browser toolbar, then select desired folder and Project. You will see an HTML page with some Project information.
Without Internal browser, you may type http://127.0.0.1:800/ in any Web browser on the computer where Offline Explorer is running and have the same page displayed.