EmbeddedHints
Rotating, fully customizable, remotely
updated Internet links.
Embed them in your application!
Introducing EmbeddedHints
A new technology from Embedded Systems Academy that allows Software Engineers to easily integrate Internet links (hints) into their Windows applications.
The hints may appear anywhere in an application, and have any look and feel desired. A fully customizable database of hints allows either periodic changing of the hint displayed or manual changing under the user's control. New hints and configuration information can be downloaded from the Internet completely transparently to the user, allowing new hints to be displayed on previously downloaded or sold copies of the application!
For an example of EmbeddedHints in action, download a copy of our free application Flash Magic and see for yourself the possibilities that are available!
Screenshot of the EmbeddedHints at the bottom of the FlashMagic main window:
Features
- Internet-enables your application, providing easy access
for the user to any web site you desire. You can increase the usefulness of
your application by including links to closely related web sites and the
application's web page.
- Provides the ability to update or add new hints at any
time to copies of the application that have been previously downloaded or sold
via the use of a simple text file stored on a web server.
- Hints can have start dates and end dates, allowing new
hints to correspond to specific events that may be of interest to the user.
Once they expire they are deleted from the user's machine.
- Provides the ability to change the configuration of
EmbeddedHints in copies of the application that have been previously downloaded
or sold via the use of a simple text file stored on a web server.
- Configurable: update speed of hints, number of days to
wait between attempting to download new hints, location of the Hints text file
to download, ability to access a backup copy of the file if the main file
cannot be reached, number of attempts to try and download new hints, ability to
replace default hints with downloaded hints, ability to displayt hints in
sequential or random order.
- If desired, a CGI script can be called whenever a hint
is clicked on or hints are downloaded. This allows logging of the EmbeddedHints
activity, either as a whole or on a per application basis.
- If desired, a CGI script can be used to dynamically
generate the hints to be downloaded, on a per application basis, allowing
interfacing to traditional databases.
- EmbeddedHints is supplied in the form of a DLL with an
easy to use API. The manual describes the interaction between the application
and DLL to achieve various configurations.
- Multithreading is used to ensure the application's
performance is not affected by EmbeddedHints.
- Only a small amount of bandwidth is required to download
new hints - typically taking only a couple of seconds each time the application
is loaded.
- EmbeddedHints can function without an Internet
connection present on the machine. In that situation EmbeddedHints will show
default hints and any previously downloaded hints, and will periodically look
for an Internet connection - all transparent operations to the application,
leaving the application author to focus on the application's main
functionality.
- Unlike many applications with Internet functionality, there is no dependancy or requirement that Internet Explorer be installed on a machine when running EmbeddedHints.
Download The Evaluation Version with Manual
Current Version: 1.10
Size: 1Mb
You can download the current version
of EmbeddedHints by clicking here.
Keep checking back regularly to ensure you always have the
latest version!
Limitations of the Evaluation Version
- Up to three default hints advertising
Embedded Systems Academy and services provided by Embedded Systems Academy are
always present and cannot be removed. In addition setting usedefaults to 0 will
not stop these hints from being displayed.
- After downloading the application's
hints file, EmbeddedHints will download a hints file belonging to Embedded
Systems Academy. This hints file will not include an options section and will
contain only a small number of hints.
- There is a limit of a maximum of 15
user hints (i.e. does not include the default ESA hints or the hints downloaded
from an ESA hints file). This total includes any default hints that may be
added. However, if the hints file contains enough hints to go over this limit,
then all hints will be processed and stored in the registry. Then, as other
hints expire, those unused hints will be used. For example, if the application
adds three default hints and the hints file contains 15 hints, then three hints
in the hints file will be stored in the registry but will not be displayed,
unless some of the other 12 downloaded hints expire.
- The evaluation version will only run a CGI program on Embedded Systems Academy's servers.
Support and Feedback
Your feedback is gratefully appriciated. We will consider all suggestions for improving EmbeddedHints. For bugs and feedback on EmbeddedHints please send Email to: support@esacademy.com
San Jose, CA
Tel. (877) 812-6393
Fax. (877) 812-6382