(formerly EzStor)  Tutorial

EzWeb Compiler is a product for creating Web files. A Web file contains many HTML/ASP/graphic files and folders. It is literally a file system within a file. It can hold any kind of file, but we use it to contain HTML and graphic files (also ASP files for use with our HSP product - see below). Think of EzWeb Compiler as "WinZip for Webpages". EzWeb Compiler files are read by our HSP "pluggable protocol", which is a kind of Internet Explorer plug-in for retrieving web content. Using EzWeb Compiler files and pluggable protocols together is what HSP and EzWeb Compiler is all about.  You can also use our EzStor Pluggable Protocol, which is a lightweight version of HSP.  It will only work with static HTML pages - it won't run ASP pages.

EzWeb Compiler is very easy to use. You just drag and drop files onto EzWeb Compiler from Windows Explorer. You can easily store an entire website in a EzWeb Compiler file to be viewed on any Windows machine right inside the Internet Explorer browser (many people are distributing ASP websites and product catalogs on CD using EzWeb Compiler and HSP).  EzWeb Compiler files can be viewed in Internet Explorer (or the WOW ActiveX control) using either of our HSP or EzWeb Compiler pluggable protocols.

With EzWeb Compiler you can:

• Create "Web Files" for use by HSP in IE or Windows Apps embedding the Webbrowser component. Your web files can contain an entire static HTML or ASP website.
• Create product catalogs that can collect order information offline and then post the order data to your own website.
• Create help/documentation files that can only be viewed using our EzView web file viewer.
• Optionally license a file so that a machine license is required to view or run it.
• Optionally encrypt and lock your content file so that only those authorized can view it. EzWeb Compiler files are read seamlessly by HSP.

Note: EzView is a "Read Only" version of EzWeb Compiler.  You can freely distribute both EzView and EzWeb Compiler.

Another use is for creating Help/Documentation files quickly and easily as an alternative to HTML Help (Microsoft's Help file tool). Creating help content and documentation is quite a task. Many people these days are using HTML to create their help and documentation content because of its ease of use and many available tools. Now EzWeb Compiler makes it easier than ever to deploy your help content. Not only that, you can actually access your help file content from within your own program through the use of embedded Internet Explorer ActiveX controls (IEX), or our WOW control. So you can have truly integrated help right within your own programs, without a separate viewer program. EzWeb Compiler is great for Power Point presentations too (read on to see how). You would typically distritbute EzView with your EzWeb Compiler files that are not to be read inside the Internet Explorer Browser.

Besides using EzWeb Compiler to create HSP files, you can also use it to create webpage archive files. People are routinely save their webpages that they visit to their local disk. When you select File/Save As in Internet Explorer, it creates a local webpage and a folder with the same name and "_files" appended. It uses this folder to save all of the graphics files that are referenced on the webpage. If you save a lot of files, then you end up with a lot of files and folders. EzWeb Compiler is the perfect way to archive them into a single file to be easily viewed. You can also group your archives into different EzWeb Compiler archive files. You can literally stuff hundreds of files into a single EzWeb Compiler file.

How It Works

The EzWeb Compiler system works by stuffing all of your content into a single file (compressed and encrypted). You drag and drop your HTML/ASP and graphic files onto EzWeb Compiler to create EzWeb Compiler content storage files.

EzWeb Compiler uses IEX to display your HTML content. It does this via the use of a special DLL called a pluggable protocol. IEX uses the pluggable protocol to obtain its content. If you wanted to, you could type the following URL in the Internet Explorer address bar to view the help file you are reading now:

x-hsp://c:/Programs/EzTools/EzWeb Compiler/myfile.hsp/start.asp

The URL above assumes that file myfile.hsp exists in c:\Programs\EzTools\EzWeb Compiler. IE sees the x-hsp protocol specified in the URL and loads the HSP pluggable protocol to read all of the content for start.asp.

Tip: You could also use EzWeb Compiler as a means of storing HTML content to be used in your application programs by Microsoft Webbrowser component, or the WOW control (we call such programs "hybrid programs" because they mix HTML content in Windows Forms). To do this, you would simply use the URL syntax as shown above in the Navigate method call of the Webbrowser or WOW control. See our sample downloads for examples of how to do this.

The EzWeb Compiler system has two programs - EzWeb Compiler and EzView. You create your EzWeb Compiler/HSP files using EzWeb Compiler. You can then re-distribute EzView with your product or documentation. Or just let them be run in the IE webbrowser with HPS. EzView has its own setup program that you can call from within your setup program. The setup program creates a file association for .ezs files, so double-clicking on an EzWeb Compiler file will automatically start EzView or EzWeb Compiler, depending on which you have installed. Or you can just point your users to our website and they can download EzWeb Compiler or EzView themselves, the same way people do with WinZip today.

All Files In One

EzWeb Compiler compresses and encrypts all of the content files into a single file. But unlike HTML Help, it is super easy to create your help file. You just drag and drop your web pages, folders and other content files onto the EzWeb Compiler TreeView. That's it. Your done. After you have created your help content, it should take you no longer than 60 seconds to create your entire EzWeb Compiler file.

 Security

You can apply a password or machine license to your EzWeb Compiler file to prevent it from being viewed by unauthorized persons. For example, you may be a provider of educational courseware that you charge a fee for. You can use EzWeb Compiler to contain your paid-for content, knowing it won't be copied for free. You could easily write your own custom viewer program using Visual Basic and the IE ActiveX control and, with the EzWeb Compiler pluggable protocol you could read your content from EzWeb Compiler files. This would be a very simple thing to do.

Note: This feature requires an optional Security License.

Configuring your EzWeb Compiler file to be secure

Create your EzWeb Compiler file as usual, by dragging your content files onto EzWeb Compiler. Before or after this, open up the Settings dialog from the menu. Specify a startup file. This is the file that will be opened automatically when your file is opened. Give your file a title. This title will appear in the TitleBar of EzView when your file is opened. Now specify a license for your file. You obtain a Product ID from EzTools. Specify your own Product Key. What this does is makes it so that the EzWeb Compiler/HSP pluggable protocols will not open this file unless a license is detected on the machine it is running on (read about how EzWeb Compiler/EzView uses pluggable protocols).

Read about how EzWeb Compiler and WOW can be used together with HTML Scripting Pages to produce amazing new Browser App programs.

"I've had so much fun using your HotList ActiveX control!!, it's really great! I have been searching & searching for some kind of control that can support multiple text items, multiple graphics & multi-line text. When I saw your web page I knew I had found the hottest ActiveX I've ever seen!! You can bet I will check out your other products too."
- Kim Burndred