What's new in WebData Control 4.8

On 18th May 2021 WebData Control 4.8 was released.

This release has added new and exciting options to further expand the capabilities of the WebData Control solution.  This articles provides a quick overview of the changes in the 4.8 release.

Browser Redirector Re-imagined

In previous versions of WebData Control the Browser Redirector feature has relied on setting browser redirector as the default browser inside a user session so that Browser Redirector can intercept and redirect any URL (http/https) request to the appropriate browser.  In conjunction with the Browser Redirector extensions this provides the ability to ensure the correct browser resource is used for the correct website/webapp.

With WebData Control 4.8 the requirement to set Browser Redirector as the default browser is no longer required.  Instead controls have been added to allow the default browser to be configured to be any of the installed browsers and Browser Redirector now works silently in the background to ensure there is no change to the normal user experience.

The 4.8 release also provides a utility which can be leveraged to alter the default browser in a user session to ensure this configuration is made as simple as possible.

Browser Redirector has also added a new capability to allow URLs to trigger a redirection to an external process rather than one of the installed browsers.  This can be used to launch, for example, App-V applications or ThinApp delivered applications where required.

Finally, the capability has been added to enforce the use of a specific browser for users.  Where multiple browsers are installed certain browsers can be used for specific websites/webapps, but all other requests are forced into the administratively defined browser.  The launch of the browsers is controlled by Browser Redirector and can be configured to launch with certain parameters, for example launch the browser in guest mode for kiosk style deliveries.

Notifications and Events

With the WebData Control 4.8 release we have extended the event logging and have added the ability to inform users of actions completed using the Windows toast notification system.

There are now 20+ events which can be raised to the application event log around activities completed by the agent.  Browser Redirector events, Favorites Synchronization events and WebData Management events are now configurable to record when redirection has occurred, when favorites have been managed or showing what browser generated data has been managed.

Also notifications can be configured to provide user feedback when actions are undertaken such as redirecting a website to another browser or when Browser Management has completed processing data.  The notifications can be customized with a corporate logo and a custom title to allow branding to be maintained as required.

Favorites Synchronization

As of the 4.8 release WebData Control's Favorites Synchronization feature is now aware of changes to Internet Explorer favorites made outside of the browser eg. copied in via logon scripts and will synchronize these changes across all other browsers.  The Favorites Synchronization feature also now fully supports the "icon only" option in all browsers and retains browser specific settings.

WebData Management

With this release the WebData Management feature only has minor changes to ensure continued compatibility with the latest O/S's and browsers.  In addition, extension locale removal policies have been updated to automatically keep installed languages rather than just the default extension language.  By default this policy will retain any locale in accordance with what languages are installed for the user.

General improvements and bug fixes.

A number of internally raised bugs and customer reported issues have also been resolved in the WebData 4.8 release.

WebData Control is available now, Enjoy!