Multi-session Guide

Enterprise Browser 3.6

Overview

Enterprise Browser 2.5 (and later) supports the ability to run multiple EB browser tabs at the same time, each accessing different Config.xml files with different groups of configuration settings and functions. This provides a convenient way to deploy multiple feature-sets that can be toggled without re-launching EB.

Multi-session capabilities can be invoked as tabs or shortcuts, each with its own set of behaviors.
The main behaviors common to both:

  • Each supports a unique subset of feature tags (in its Config.xml file)
  • If one EB tab or window is terminated, all are terminated

Shortcut Method

The Shortcut method involves creating two or more EB-app shortcuts that can be launched independently, and when run simultaneously appear side-by-side in multiple webview instances (browser tabs).

Shortcut Behaviors

  • Apps can be deployed and launched individually, and are combined in browser tabs only when run simultaneously.
  • Creation and deployment of shortcuts is simplified by Zebra's Shortcut Utility, a Windows-based tool that supports Android and Windows Mobile/CE targets.
  • App-page content is persistent; it does not automatically update when the page is revisited (unless a log-in timeout occurs).
  • Shortcuts deployed to Android 8.x Oreo and later (called "Pinned" Shortcuts) require permission from the device user at installation.
    Helpful Hint: Pinned Shortcuts can be mass-deployed using Zebra's Enterprise Home Screen 3.2 (or later) with no need for the device user to grant permission.
  • Feature support is limited to the following config tags:
    • WebPageCapture
    • DebugButtonsEnabled
    • WebFiltering
    • DebugModeEnable
    • CustomKioskMode
    • TTS
    • JSLibraries
    • SplashScreen
    • DisableHardwareAcceleration
    • ClearWebData
    • NavigateToHomePage
    • IntentReceiver
    • JavascriptEnabled
  • Quitting one EB shortcut quits all other running shortcuts.

Please see the Shortcut Utility guide For more information about creation and deployment of shortcuts.

Tab Bar Method

With the Tab Bar method, tabs are pre-defined in a file and deployed to the device. These apps are always run as a group and always quit as a group.

Tab Bar Behaviors

  • An option exists to automatically refresh the contents of each tab whenever it returns to focus.
  • Tab colors and titles can be customized.
  • Tabs must be defined and deployed to the device all together.
  • Apps cannot be launched individually; they must always be launched as a group.
  • Feature support is limited to the following config tags:
    • FullScreen
    • PageZoom
    • EnableZoom
    • DisplayZoomControls
    • FontFamily
    • WebServer
    • DisableHardwareAcceleration
    • ClearWebData
    • NavigateToHomePage
    • IntentReceiver
    • JavascriptEnabled
    • DatabaseEnabled
    • DomStorageEnabled
  • Closing one EB tab quits all other active EB tabs.

Tab Bar Usage

Tabs are a convenient way to employ multiple apps or multiple feature sets with a simple and familiar way of switching between them.

Tab Bar Rules

  • EB tabs must be defined in advance using the tabbar.xml file. They cannot be created by the device user.
  • The tabbar.xml file resides on the device, and its path must be specified in the app's Config.xml file. More info.
  • Tabs are created when the EB app launches. To deploy or change one or more tabs, push a new tabbar.xml file to the device and relaunch the app.
  • The size of the device screen and its orientation effect tab display and the ease of switching between them. Zebra recommends deploying no more than 10 browser tabs.

NOTE: Similar functionality is available through the NativeTabbar API.

Tab Bar Tags

TabGroup Attributes

  • MANDATORY: Encloses attributes to apply to all defined tabs. There can be exactly one TabGroup.
  • If this node is missing, no tabs are created.
  • If this node present but contains no tags, the tag defaults are used.

placeTabsBottom

  • Controls whether tabs are shown at the bottom of the display; otherwise shown at the top (default)
  • true or false

hiddenTabs

  • Controls whether tags are hidden or shown (default)
  • true or false

backgroundColor

  • Controls the content background color of all tabs. If this tag is missing or unspecified, uses app default color.
  • Accepts hexadecimal HTML color codes
  • Default = 0x000000 (black)

Tab Attributes

Attributes under each <tab> tag apply to only to the tab defined in that node.

action

  • MANDATORY: Used to specify the start page to be loaded when the tab is brought to the foreground
  • Accepts a URL or fully qualified path and file name of a device-resident HTML file
  • string

label

  • MANDATORY: Used to specify a title displayed in the tab. Must include at least one character.
  • Overridden if an icon is specified (but must still be present)
  • string

disabled

  • Optional: Controls whether tab creation is blocked (disabled by default)
  • boolean (true or false)

reload

  • Optional: Controls whether to refresh the URL (or file) specified in the Action parameter whenever the tab comes into focus (disabled by default)
  • boolean (true or false)

config

  • Optional: Used to specify the path of the Config.xml file with settings to apply to the tab contents
  • Accepts a fully qualified path and file name of the Config.xml file relevant to the Action
  • If missing or blank, uses the parent app's Config.xml file and tag limitations apply
  • string

icon

  • Optional: Used to specify the path (relative to the Enterprise Browser %INSTALL% directory) to an icon (image) file on the device to display in place of the specified tab label
  • Accepts a valid path and file name in the device file system
  • Supports .jpg and .png file formats
  • Overrides label tag
  • string

backgroundColor

  • Optional: Controls the content background color of the selected tab. If tag is missing or unspecified, uses 0xFFFFFF (white).
  • Accepts hexadecimal HTML color codes
  • Default = 0xFFFFFF (white)
  • hex value (accepts FFFFFF or 0xFFFFFF notation)

selectedColor

  • Optional: Controls the color of the selected (active) tab
  • Accepts hexadecimal HTML color codes
  • hex value (accepts FFFFFF or 0xFFFFFF notation)

Android Note: Color assignment using the <selectedColor> attribute works only when applied to every tab and a <backgroundColor> is assigned in the tab bar.

Example

The example tabbar.xml file below creates a group of two (2) tabs, both of which are NOT hidden, do NOT appear at the bottom of the screen and do NOT use a custom background color. 


<?xml version = "1.0"?>
    <TabGroup>
        <placeTabsBottom>false</placeTabsBottom>
        <hiddenTabs>false</hiddenTabs>
        <backgroundColor>0xFFFFFF</backgroundColor>
            <Tab>
                <action>https://www.zebra.com/us/en.html</action>
                <label>Zebra Tech</label>
                <disabled></disabled>
                <reload>false</reload>
                <config>/sdcard/Android/data/com.zebra.mdna.enterprisebrowser/s1/Config.xml
                </config>
            </Tab>
            <Tab>
                <action>https://techdocs.zebra.com</action>
                <label>Zebra Home</label>
                <disabled></disabled>
                <config>/sdcard/Android/data/com.zebra.mdna.enterprisebrowser/s2/Config.xml</config>
                <reload>false</reload>
            </Tab>
    </TabGroup>

See Also