UPDATED November 21, 2023Starting with LOGic 10, we began moving away from Internet Explorer as the browser that LOGic controls for LoTW, eQSL, CIA World Factbook, Callbooks, and Weather. The CIA World Factbook was the first to be converted. As of version 10.0.3, LoTW and eQSL and everything else was converted.
LOGic 10 will now use the default browser configured in Windows. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer are supported. (I can't imagine that anyone still has IE as their default browser, but it is supported!) If you have some other browser (such as Opera or Safari) configured as your default browser, Edge will be used by LOGic.
A web driver program is needed for this to work. They are installed when you install LOGic. However, the driver and browser versions must be compatible. LOGic versions prior to 10.0.6 required that the proper driver version be installed. Otherwise, you got an error saying something about your web driver and browser versions being mismatched. This was particularly problematic because the browsers update themselves, and not all customers are going to have the same browser version. If we didn't update the driver in the distribution, customers would get errors when their browser updated. If we did update the driver version, it would break LOGic for a lot of customers that are currently working.
Fortunately, it was a simple matter to download and install the driver version that matches your browser. Simply download the new driver and copy it to the ASSEMBLY folder. However, this caused a lot of aggravation for our customers and us.
Starting with version 10.0.6, LOGic shipped with several versions of the webdrivers, and now loads the proper version of the driver for your current browser version. We have included several versions into the future, and will include newer ones as they become available. When your browser updates itself, it will no longer be necessary to update the web driver.
The drivers are stored in the ASSEMBY folder as before. Now, however, the driver name now includes the version. So instead of msedgedriver.exe, the drivers are now named msedgedriver100.exe, msedgedriver101.exe, etc.
We will include the latest driver versions in the LOGic updates, so if you receive an error related to Webdriver, simply installing or reinstalling the latest update should fix the problem. Click Help/About/Check for Updates. Please do this even if you have previously installed the latest version. Sometimes we will add the latest webdrivers, but do not change the version number of LOGic since there are no changes to LOGic.exe itself.To allow us to better stay ahead of driver updates, beta updates are now included in the updates. For instance, if you have Edge version 120, LOGic will look first for MSEdgeDriver120.exe. If it can't find that, it will look for MSEdgeDriver120.beta.exe.
Although we have never run into this before, it is possible that your browser is older than the driver files provided with LOGic. In this case, update your browser.
Another possible workaround is to temporarily change Windows default browser. Firefox is not so particular about the driver version. However, we have seen instances where any version Firefox will not work, but Edge and Chrome do.
If on the off chance you get an error that such-and-such a driver file is not found (or you do not renew your update subscription), you may still fix this yourself.
First, make sure you have the latest official release of your browser. If an update is available, you will be notified and it can be installed:
- In Edge, click the ... in the top righthand corner of the browser. Click Help and Feedback, then About Microsoft Edge.
- In Chrome, click the three dots in the top righthand corner of the browser. Click Help, then About Google Chrome.
- In Firefox, click the three bars in the top righthand corner of the browser. Click Help, then About Firefox.
Now go to the web site listed below for your browser.
Download the appropriate webdriver version for your browser. Be sure to get the version for Windows. Generally you will want the 64-bit version.
Save the downloaded driver to the ASSEMBLY folder inside where LOGic is installed, typically c:\program files (x86)\logic\assembly. Now you must rename the file. Simply add the version number of the driver after the name and before the extension. So, for instance, chromedriver.exe version 102 becomes chromedriver102.exe
If you want to test to make sure that you have matching webdrivers for all of your browsers, there is an easier way to do this than changing your Windows default browser and testing with LOGic. Simply go into tools/advanced/database commands. Type (or copy and paste, one line at a time) the following commends:
public br
br = oDotNetBridge.CreateAssemblyInstanceFromFile("assembly\PDA.webdriver.dll", "PDA.WebDriver.Browsers")
br.start("edge")
br.start("chrome")
br.start("firefox")
br.start("iexplore")
If there is a problem, the br.start() commmands will throw an error.
By the way,
br.start("")
will start your configured default browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer only. If you have a default browser other than Edge, Chrome, or Firefox configured, Edge will be used).
To programmatically navigate to a page, enter this command:
br.navigateto("http://hosenose.com")
The technology that makes all this possible is new and still under development. We can expect version issues to be a bit of a hassle at least for a while. Staying with Internet Explorer is not really an option anymore. I am not sure if the IE mode of Edge in in Win 11 is truly compatible with IE for remote control or not. Hopefully things will stabilize over time.
