Rendering HTML Using the Brew uiOne Toolkit

any applications require—or are enhanced by—the presentation of aptly named rich text, text in different formats interspersed with images and hyperlinks to other content. Whether the application is a pure content play, such as a news distribution application, or simply needs a bit of pizzazz in its on-line help, HTML is the answer. Easy to write and maintain (ether by hand or with a specialized editor), HTML gives you a great deal of flexibility in how you present text and graphic content. Brew has long had support for HTML using the IHTMLViewer, an IControl-based user interface; recently, this same capability was added to the Brew uiOne Toolkit, the user interface components accessible to C and C++ developers as part of the uiOne SDK. The htmlwidget, an optional widget bundled with the SDK and used by the uiOne trigplayer, can be used to display HTML in applications using the Brew uiOne Toolkit (BUIT) just as any other widget might. This provides unprecedented flexibility for developers with access to the toolkit (such as handset manufacturers and those writing pre-loaded applications for manufacturers) who need to present rich text from within their applications.

In this article, I'll show you how to use the htmlwidget, summarizing the samplehtmlwidget example that ships with the Brew uiOne SDK. I present only the most relevant code, assuming you're familiar both with the basics of BREW and using widgets and forms from the BUIT itself.