Lobo Browser 0.98.4 Released

We’re pleased to announce the release of version 0.98.4 of our all-Java web browser: Lobo. The main purpose of this release is to update Lobo’s support of  direct rendering of JavaFX source code, such that it is up to date with JavaFX 1.0.

In the updated default home page for the browser, you will find a new JavaFX example. I’m posting a screenshot to your right. It’s not a very complicated example, and it is there simply to illustrate some JavaFX and Lobo features. JavaFX code in Lobo has access to the Lobo platform API. The example shows how you can use the managed stores feature of Lobo to securely persist the position of an internal draggable window in a client-side file, as well as the URL of a mini-browser (a scaled Lobo browser frame really) contained within the internal window.

We don’t currently hava a JavaFX-based API for Lobo, only a Java-based one. But we obviously intend to build one in the future.

If you use the example enough, you’ll encounter a couple obvious JavaFX bugs. I have already reproduced the issues outside of Lobo and reported them.

Additionally, we implemented a frequently requested feature: The ability to obtain the document object in a FramePanel or BrowserPanel. Lobo abstracts away the rendering engine, so the document object depends on the content being rendered and the plugin that handles the content.  Look for the getContentObject() method. Also take a look at the new vetoable navigation listeners feature. Navigation events provide the link element if navigation results from a click.

We also managed to squeeze in a few improvements to our pure Java HTML rendering engine and parser: Cobra. Parent (>) and sibling (+) selectors have been implemented. Margin collapsing was implemented as well. It is now possible to control the body margin and overflow settings. Finally, there was a significant refactoring of the layout engine, including a major performance optimization.

Several patches submitted by users of Cobra and Lobo were applied to this version, probably more so than in any prior version. We appreciate these contributions. Please keep them coming. It’s easy to set up a workspace to run Lobo from source and submit patches, particularly if you’re using an IDE like Eclipse.

Please see the changelog for additional details.