FAQ
When I make a toolbar may I distribute that to unlimited users?
You can distribute toolbar to unlimited users only under Business License terms.
There is also a Standard License for 10 000 users. You may Upgrade the license from Standard to Business when needed.
Is Toolbar Studio a freeware?
No, you should buy a License to distribute the toolbar. A free trial version is available for 90 days of testing and 500 installations of toolbar.
Do we have to pay extra for new versions or can we download updates, or do we email you and ask for it? How does it work ?
Updates are free for one year. To get an additional year of free updates/support you would need to Upgrade your license.
Does the toolbar allows users to customize their own toolbar? For example, we will offer a menu of buttons (contents), and users can choose which ones to add to their version of the toolbar?
Yes this feature is supported in our toolbars. To control the visibility of individual buttons HTML Options.html page or Modal window can be used. To disable some buttons by default (so they will not be visible on the toolbar start and can only be made visible from options.html). Please add the attribute visibility="0" to the button definition like below:
<BUTTON id="any_id" caption="any_caption" img="7" hint="any_hint" command="any_command" visibility="0"/>
See the samples at : Features list.
How else can users customize a toolbar?
You define what your users can do with your toolbar. The trivial example is that your users can define what buttons to show/hide on their toolbar. The advanced example can involve server side integration so the toolbar of your user will show the money earned by him or the points he won. Toolbar can store UserID and your site can feed back specific content to be shown in the user is toolbar basing on his UserID.
Is it possible to start an windows application directly from the toolbars?
Yes, please read our advanced manual section related to SHELLEXECUTE command.
How can I include a .DLL into my toolbar's .CAB and make this .DLL registered when installing my toolbar?
Please open ToolbarStudio and go 'Toolbar->Add file to the toolbar'. Then go 'Manage list of bundles files' and put '1' in Register field.
You may also download the CABARC.exe (a part of CAB SDK) from Microsoft Website and use it to package your DLL. Please make an adjust .inf file to contain the definition for your .DLL.
Is it possible to change height of the toolbar ?
You need to change the Height of both the toolbar (via going to Tools->Edit RAW XML and adding height="" to <TOOLBAR> tag) and of the icon files used by the toolbar (please change the height of the icons using Toolbar->Icons menu in ToolbarStudio).
Is there a way to install two of our toolbars on the same system? If we make 2 toolbars for our site can they have them both installed ?
You can make toolbars for your site, but they can not be installed on the same machine if they are under the same license. To make independent toolbars you'll need to purchase the Second License with another keys.
How to change toolbar language 'on the fly'?
You can implement different .XML files and switch between them when the user presses a button on the toolbar using <CHANGE LAYOUT> command. Please see 'Multilingual toolbar' sample in our Forum/
Can the toolbar be fully dynamic?
Yes, it is possible. The toolbar can get all the information directly from your website so that you can display the most up-to date links, images and banners to your customers.
Does your toolbar support https? Does it support server side PUSH operations?
Yes, it supports https redirects and https calls in DYNAMIC mode - INCLUDE_XML. Server side push can only be simulated by explicitly calling .reload() method for the toolbar from Javascript. All those advanced customization techniques are explained in this manual.
Toolbar Uninstall. This doesn't fully cleanup the machine if done from the toolbar menu options. Is there a way to configure it to clean up all the files in the toolbar folder and delete the folder. Uninstalling from control panel seems to do the clean up, but doesn't remove the folder.
Complete and clean uninstall is only possible after uninstalling the toolbar and PC restart. Please don't forget to put Uninstall button on your toolbar. Otherwise toolbar can be uninstalled from Control Panel.
Please tell me whether everyone who installs the same toolbar will be given a unique toolbar id or is there a chance of two or more installations getting the same toolbar id.
ToolbarID is unique per installation and will remain the same if the toolbar is updated.
How can I change the icon used for "word-find" toolbar buttons
Word find buttons always use the icon number 1 from icons.bmp file. So if you wish to change this icon, just change the icon number 1.
How will the INCLUDE_XML feature behave when users go offline?
Our toolbar uses cache to store the retrieved .XML files. And if for whatever reason the connection fails it will use cached .XML file. You can turn caching off using nocache=" 1" attribute of INCLUDE_XML. If no cached version exists the .XML file specified by local= attribute of the INLCUDE_XML tag will be used.
Does the toolbar update automatically or will I be prompted?
It will prompt for updates if you use:
<RADIO id="UpdateAutomatically" default="1"/>
Or will update silently if you have:
<RADIO id="UpdateAutomatically" default="2"/>
Or will update only when user clicks update.
<RADIO id="UpdateAutomatically" default="0"/>
How does the Toolbar know in general to update?
When automatic updates are turned on, the toolbar pulls version.txt file from the server each X hours (where X is defined using the scope attribute of the SETTINGS tag). And if it find that the version number has changed it performs an upgrade to the new .cab from your server..
How to use Automatic Upgrade feature?
From time to time you may want to distribute new Toolbar versions to your toolbar users. If you enable auto updates, you will just need to upload the new version.txt and .cab file on your site and all your users' toolbars will be upgraded automatically. Please go Toolbar->Settings->Update section to define your Server URLs and mark the checkboxes.
We would like to have silent updates. Is it possible?
Silent updates are possible by choosing 'Toolbar->Settings->Features->Silent updating' option or by the following setting in basis.xml:
<CHECKBOX id="UpdateAutomatically" default="2"/>
Yes, that is possible. You need to get into ToolbarStudio install directory [e.g. c:/Program Files/Softomate/ToolbarStudio/] and edit templ.txt file in the folder .../ToolbarStudio/bin/cab2nsis/. In particular, you need to change the line:
!define ZIP2EXE_INSTALLDIR `$PROGRAMFILES\IEToolbar' to e.g.
!define ZIP2EXE_INSTALLDIR `$PROGRAMFILES\YourToolbarName'
While you are there, you can also change the name of the software which is being installed. It is defined in a following line:
!define ZIP2EXE_NAME `Toolbar`
Is there any ways to add or edit something in the installer? I want to add "Terms of use" of the toolbar, and let users choose to "Accept" or "Do not Accept" before they continue installation.
Yes, that is possible using CAB2NSIS utility we have. You'll find a couple of .nsh files right after you've unzipped cab2nsis. You can modify those .NSH files as it is explained here: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/home/ to achieve what you require.
As an alternative (if you do not have time to do this yourself), you can explain to us what exactly you are looking for. And we'll have one of our support guys to do this for you.
When I'll create the EXE file and someone will double clicks on it, it'll brings up a little installation window. Is there anyway to modify the text in that first Install window? If yes, how ?
Sure. If you use ToolbarStudio you can modify texts in the dialog for .EXE installer creation. If you are using CAB2NSIS utility to create your .exe file please modify text strings in toolbar .nsi/.nsh files (The manuals for nsi/nsh files are found here: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/home/)