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September 30, 1997
This page lists and describes new technologies introduced in the final release of Internet Explorer 4.0. We've provided only a brief overview; please see the Content and Component Delivery section of the MSDN Online Web Workshop for additional information on each feature.
New technologies:
Active Desktop Interface
Hit Logging API
Information Delivery API
Offline Browsing
Scriptlets
Software Distribution Channels
New SDK tools:
Cache Container Tool
Profile Assistant
The Active Desktop is a feature of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 that allows you to include HTML documents and items (such as ActiveX® controls and Java applets) directly to your desktop. The IActiveDesktop interface, which is part of the Windows® Shell API, is used to programmatically add, remove, and modify the items on the desktop. Active Desktop items can also be added using a Channel Definition Format (CDF) file. Start with the CDF Reference in the Content and Component Delivery section of Workshop for more information on how to construct CDF files.
The Channel Definition Format (CDF) files allow content providers to determine which hits get logged for the items included in the CDF file. These logs are posted to the server during a scheduled update and cleared. This API allows developers to verify if hit logging is enabled and write customized entries in the log.
The Microsoft Information Delivery API allows you to create subscriptions and add channels that can be used to deliver content to a user's computer using the ISubscriptionMgr and IChannelMgr interfaces.
The Microsoft Information Delivery API no longer includes information on the notification manager and the interfaces and methods related to it. The implementation of the underlying architecture for the Information Delivery API will be changed after Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 is released, so the sections that will be affected (such as the notification manager) have been removed for this release. See the Information Delivery API section of Workshop for the whole story.
Offline browsing allows users to view Web pages stored locally in the Internet cache, without having to connect to the network. More details can be found starting with the Offline Browsing page in the Components section of Workshop.
Microsoft Scripting Components (scriptlets) provide you with an easy but powerful way to create controls from Web pages (.htm files) that use Microsoft Dynamic HTML. You can use scriptlets as ordinary controls in applications such as Microsoft Visual Basic®, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, and Microsoft Visual InterDev™. See the Scriptlets section of the Microsoft Scripting site 
for more information.
Software distribution channels are specialized channels that provide the ability to notify users of software updates and also to deliver and install program files onto users' computers.
Software developers can use software distribution channels as a method of delivering updated versions of their software to their users. All users who subscribe to the developer's software distribution channel will receive notification that a new version is available.
Corporations can use software distribution channels to distribute applications and software updates to all of the desktops connected to their corporate network instead of updating each system individually.
The Cache Container Tool (Cdcache.exe) is an AutoRun executable file that allows content outside of the cache to be associated with a specified URL, which can be referenced by Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. This tool allows you to assign a URL that will reference content from another directory or CD-ROM. The Cache Container Tool page from the Networking, Protocols, and Data Formats section of Workshop has lots more information on this subject.
Internet Explorer 4.0 delivers the first privacy-enabled Web browser with support for the new W3C privacy standards (P3). The Profile Assistant makes it easier for a user to safely and efficiently manage personal information, while taking greater advantage of the information and services available on the Web. Start with the Profile Assistant page in the Web Content Management secion of Workshop for more information.
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