HTML Applications (.HTA)

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, HTML, CSS & JavaScript

Have you ever heard of HTA files aka HTML Applications? If you not here is what you need to know about HTA:

HTA files look very similar to HTML files but when you save them you need to give them the .hta extension.
HTA understands everything the browser understands including HTML, Javascript and CSS code.
Microsoft described an HTA as running much like an .exe file.
HTAs will run from your system so they are not bound by security or privacy concerns that are found on the Internet.
Which means for example that HTA can be used to read and write on local text files using Javascript.
HTA will appear in a window that can be customised (Icon, toolbar…), so they look more like a Desktop application rather than a webpage.
HTA applications need the following tag in the <HEAD> section of the code:

<HTA:APPLICATION
border="thin"
borderStyle="normal"
caption="yes"
icon="./favicon.ico"
maximizeButton="yes"
minimizeButton="yes"
showInTaskbar="no"
windowState="maximize"
innerBorder="yes"
navigable="yes"
scroll="auto"
scrollFlat="yes" />

Why should you try HTA applications when learning to code using JavaScript?

For all your HTML/Javascript projects where you need to bypass browser security restrictions such as accessing local text files.
If you want to create Desktop applications (rather than webpages). You can build them in HTML, CSS, Javascript but the application will look like a desktop application with its own window. It will not be displayed using the web browser.