Opening website link in Perspective Workstation and Mobile

I want to open an external link (webpage like google.com). I found that there is system.perspective.navigate function to open link.
If I call this function on button or hyperlink in the project and when the same project is launched in either Workstation or Mobile (iOS) does it open like in full screen? and how can I navigate back to original screen?

If you open an external link while in the Perspective App or Workstation, the external page will be opened in the device’s browser. The mobile application and Workstation only support Perspective pages. To get “back” to the Perspective page you were last on, you would need to bring the application (or Workstation) back into focus as the primary app in use.

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Thanks @cmallonee

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Opening this old topic.

Trying to navigate from inside perspective workstation and open a tab in the default internet browser to another perspective application that is hosted on AWS.

I currently have a button doing a Navigation to a URL and set to "Open in New Tab" - This works if perspective is ran in a web browser but does not inside workstation. If I have "Open in New Tab" unchecked it will close the current workstation app and go to the AWS app - but then there is no way back to the local app without closing and opening workstation again.

Just checking if this is normal behavior? Or if there is a way to open the enterprise AWS URL to a webbrowser or a new workstation app and not affect the local workstation app.

Currently, Workstation does not support multiple tabs. So when you navigate without "Open in New Tab" selected, the main browser window will navigate to the AWS project URL. This is expected behavior. To go back to the non-AWS Perspective application in Workstation, the AWS Perspective application will need a button that navigates back. There isn't really a way to open a new window on the fly or have it open a default browser tab. I'll create an internal ticket to see if this is something we could change in Workstation.

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Resurrecting this again - has there been any progress on this? We have an external URL that we would like to use in Ignition, but it is not embeddable in an iframe. It works if we open it as a separate tab, but then we can't navigate back within Workstation.

Can you set the "Tab/Window Links" setting when launching Workstation to "System Browser"?

Yes, that works. We wanted this to be in kiosk mode though, and not expose the system browser to the operators.

What behavior are you actually hoping for? Tab support in Workstation? Something else?

I wasn't able find the ticket @osolorzano mentioned, though that doesn't mean it's not actually there.

In some of our Vision applications we've used the browser component to show external URLs without ever leaving the Ignition environment. That way all of their process data/control and extrapolated analyses from SaaS are located in the same application. Ideally we wanted this browser functionality to work the same way for Perspective. Our thought was to have the external URL in a sliding dock that we could contextually pass parameters (like adding search keywords based on the primary view content).

As a workaround, tab support would suffice I think. It's not quite as functionally nice, but it would cover the primary use case for our business.

What you're really asking for is an IFrame that breaks the rules for cross-site functionality. It works in Vision because Vision isn't, itself, a browser.

I would think the proper answer is to make arrangements with the external sites to offer suitable CORS settings for your needs.

Or keep using Vision.

It depends how much data needs to be shared. If all they need is to pass URL parameters then functionally it's no different from opening an external browser with the parameters applied to the URL.

If it's okay that the sessions are otherwise isolated, then in-Workstation tabs, or something fancier like a "sliding panel" (that, to be clear, would cover or replace content, not be embedded in the Perspective view in any way) is technically feasible, though I don't know if it's being considered by the PO(s) for Workstation.

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@pturmel Indeed, breaking iframe rules is why I reopened this thread. I was hoping that the proposed ticket might have gotten some traction as we've standardized on Perspective.

As @Kevin.Herron suggests, these are completely isolated otherwise. We're just trying to improve the contextualization of external data - essentially passing an equipment identifier (or the appropriate equivalent) as a URL param. Think of this like when you click on 'Learn More' in the Designer - it takes you to the appropriate help page in the docs rather than just taking you to the docs home page.

I think a sliding panel that covers content would be an ideal starting point for us.

Precisely my point. The designer is also not a browser. It embeds one (just like Vision) to show WIP on Perspective views.

Adding tab support to Workstation is likely the only path forward that doesn't expose IA to very pointed criticism. (I would expect breaking iframe rules to be not an option.)

This should preclude comparisons to Vision, as the fundamental technology is totally different and not transferable. Or you should reconsider your standardization. IMNSHO.