xdhcefq: xdhtml renderer using Chromium Embedded Framework

xdhcefq is a tool, from the Epeios project, which handles native application with a xdhtml interface. It uses the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) as HTML renderer.

xdhcefq can be build as command-line binary for GNU/Linux, OS X and Windows, running on IA-32 and AMD64 compatible processors. It's not as versatile as other Epeios-based tools (no ARM support, for example) as it heavily relies on CEF.

See the compilation dedicated page to see how to obtain the binaries.

For Windows, prebuilt Win32 binaries are available in the download section.

In order to compile this tool, you have to download CEF for you OS, then you have to set the CEF environment variable to the root directory of the unpacked package. Then follow instructions given in above indicated page.

For GNU/Linux and Windows, the Minimal Distribution will be enough, but for MacOS, you need the Standard Distribution.

The Epeios source code generally compiles without a single warning from compiler, but, when compiling this tool, there could be some warnings, due to the CEF headers.

Create a directory, where you put the xdhcefq binary, and the xdhcefq.xcfg and xdhcefq.xlcl files. From the CEF package, put also:

• in the same directory:
  • the CEF library ((Release|Debug)/libcef, .so or .dll, depending on your OS),
  • (for Windows only) the (Release|Debug)/widevinecdmadapter.dll library,
  • the (Release|Debug)/*.bin files,
  • the Resources/icudtl.dat file,
• at the path defined for Parameters/CEF/ResourcesDirPath in the configuration file, or in the same directory if this entry is not defined, all the Resources/*.pak files,
• at the path defined for Parameters/CEF/LocaleDirPath in the configuration file the files in Resources/locales, or in the same directory if this entry is not defined the Resources/locales directory.

Put also in this directory the CEF directory from the xdhcefq package. Modify the URL entry of the xdhcefq.xcfg file to point to the xdhcefq.html in this CEF directory.

To launch the application:

xdhcefq -m=<path to>/<module>

where <module> is the the name of the xdh suffixed dynamic library corresponding to the application, and <path to>, the path to this library. If this library is in the same directory as the tool, then give the absolute path, or ..

I am not very familiar with MacOS so, until I have time, or someone be willing, to create the right procedure, here is a (ugly) procedure which should work.

(From the CMakeList.mk provided with CEF.)

Cmake and the XCode developers tools must be installed.

From the root directory of the CEF package:

• mkdir build && cd build,
• cmake -G "Xcode" -DPROJECT_ARCH="x86_64" ..,
• Open and build cef.xccodeproj in the build directory under the CEF root directory.

From the previously created build directory (you have probably to set your computer to developer mode to be able to do following):

• in directory /tests/cefsimple/Debug/cefsimple.app/Contents/MacOS:
  • copy the xdhcefq binary,
  • rename it to cefsimple,
  • copy xdhcefq.xcfg and xdhcefq.xlcl:
    • don't rename them,
    • this xdhcefq.xcfg must have the Parameters/CEF/ProcessType set to Main),
  • launch install_name_tool -change "@rpath/Frameworks/Chromium Embedded Framework.framework/Chromium Embedded Framework" "@executable_path/../Frameworks/Chromium Embedded Framework.framework/Chromium Embedded Framework" cefsimple
• in directory /tests/cefsimple/Debug/cefsimple.app/Contents/Frameworks/cefsimple Helper.app/Contents/MacOS:
  • copy the xdhcefq binary,
  • rename it to cefsimple Helper,
  • copy xdhcefq.xcfg and xdhcefq.xlcl:
    • don't rename them,
    • this xdhcefq.xcfg must have the Parameters/CEF/ProcessType set to Sub).
  • launch install_name_tool -change "@rpath/Frameworks/Chromium Embedded Framework.framework/Chromium Embedded Framework" "@executable_path/../../../../Frameworks/Chromium Embedded Framework.framework/Chromium Embedded Framework" "cefsimple Helper",
• Modify (or create) in all xdhcefq.xcfg files the Parameters/ModuleFilename entry so it contains the path and name of the frontend dynamic library (which name is something like lib<name>xdh.dylib).

To launch, double-click on tests/cefsimple/Debug/cefsimple.app/Contents/MacOS/cefsimple.

See the global configuration dedicated page.

See also the xdhtml configuration dedicated section. The Parameters/ModulFilename mentioned in this section entry is set through a command-line argument (launch xdhcefq --help).

There is also a Parameters/URL entry which have to point to the absolute path and file name (prefixed with file://) to the provided xdhcefq.html file.

There are also some CEF-related parameters, grouped in the Parameters/CEF section, like ProcessType, SingleProcess, NoSandbox… (see CEF documentation if you want more details about them), but their values (which varies from one OS to another) should be correctly set and not changed.

There are some bugs in xdhcefq which seems due to CEF with following effects:

• Some cosmetic ugliness,
• Under GNU/Linux, by default, CEF comes with no dialog boxes implementation (alert, confirm, file related dialog boxes…). The alert and confirm dialog boxes are actually displayed using the console. For example, when you quit an application, the confirmation message appears in the console.
• Under GNU/LINUX, CTRL-SHIFT-A does nothing (it should display the About… box)?

Also, if, when launching, you have a dialog box with Attach debugger ! message, simply dismiss it. It's a debugging feature which was forgotten to be deactivated.

xdhcefq is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Other rights can be granted, but only by an explicitly written permission from the author of xdhcefq.

• Last release: 20161231,
• Changelog,
• Used CEF 3 branch : 2883.

There is no dedicated download section, as this tool is included in each package which needs it.

xdhcefq is developed by Claude SIMON (http://q37.info/contact/).

• User manual,
• source repository:
  • of the tool,
  • of the Epeios framework,