Configuring your web browser to use VMD

Please select your browser from the list below:

Internet Explorer (Windows)
  1. Download vmdexec.bat to your VMD installation directory or another folder on your computer.
  2. The file vmdexec.bat assumes that your copy of VMD is located in the default folder "C:\Program Files\University of Illinois\VMD\vmd.exe" If VMD is installed in a different folder, open this file with notepad or wordpad and change the name of the directory appropriately.
  3. Open test.vmd. (If you are not prompted for a program to open the file with, save the file on your desktop, click its icon with the right mouse button, and choose "Open with...")
    Security tip: You should leave "Always ask..." checked so that you will be prompted before VMD scripts are run. Only run VMD scripts written by people you trust!
  4. Choose "Other...", then select vmdexec.bat. Make sure that "Always use this program" is checked, enter the name "VMD scripts" in the description field, and click "OK".
  5. VMD should now open and (after a few seconds) display a ball. Close VMD and click again on test.vmd. You will be prompted again to "Open" or "Save" the file. Click "Open", and VMD will run automatically.
  6. NT users (and maybe others): If VMD does not yet run automatically, you may need to do the following:
    1. Open any file browser window, then choose "View->Options..." from the menubar.
    2. Select the "File Types" tab, and locate your entry for "VMD scripts".
    3. Change the command line to read 
        "C:\Program Files\University of Illinois\VMD\vmd.exe" -e \"%1\"
      instead of the line containing vmdexec.bat.
    4. Try loading test.vmd again. If it works this way, you may remove vmdexec.bat.

Netscape (Windows)
  1. Click on test.vmd, then "Pick app..."
  2. Use the file browser to select vmd.exe from the VMD installation directory, then add -e "%1" (after a space) to the end of the filename in the "Pick app" window, so that it looks like this: 
      C:\Program Files\University of Illinois\VMD\vmd.exe -e "%1"
  3. Click OK. VMD should now run automatically and (after a few seconds) display a ball.
    Security tip: You should leave "Always ask..." checked so that you will be prompted before VMD scripts are run. Only run VMD scripts written by people you trust!

Netscape (UNIX)

 Security warning: Some versions of Netscape will not prompt you before running VMD scripts. If you configure Netscape to run VMD automatically, any web page could send you a malicious script. We recommend that you only view trusted sites with Netscape when it is configured in this way.
  1. Select "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu, open the section "Navigator", and choose "Applications", then "New..."
  2. Fill out the fields as follows:
    Description:VMD scripts
    MIME type:chemical/x-vmd
    Suffixes:vmd
  3. Choose "Handled By Application", and enter: 
      /usr/local/bin/vmd -webhelper -e "%s"
  4. Click on test.vmd. VMD should now open automatically and (after a few seconds) display a ball.

Mozilla
  1. Download the script vmdexec.sh. Modify this script if VMD is not located in /usr/local/bin/.
  2. Make the script executable: 
      chmod a+x vmdexec.sh
  3. Click on test.vmd. Select "Open using...", then press the "Choose..." button. Choose vmdexec.sh.
    Security tip: You should leave "Always ask..." checked so that you will be prompted before VMD scripts are run. Only run VMD scripts written by people you trust!
  4. Select "OK". VMD should now run automatically and (after a few seconds) display a ball.

Other browsers

 Consult the documentation for your browser. You need to configure VMD to be a helper application for the MIME type chemical/x-vmd. VMD takes its script on the command line like this: 
  vmd -e <script name>
so you must make your browser run that command when given a VMD script. If you are not able to specify arguments on the command line, try using vmdexec.bat (Windows) or vmdexec.sh (UNIX) instead. Remember to put quotes around the name of the script if it may contain spaces.

To test your settings, load test.vmd. VMD should start automatically and (after a few seconds) display a ball.