Clickable URLs in VNC

Dec, 2004

Here is a modified version of the windows TightVNC client that lets one click on URLs within a VNC window..

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..to open them locally, outside VNC.

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How it works

Vanilla VNC shunts data pixel by pixel, forcing us to recognize the bitmaps corresponding to different characters. The clever idea is to provide this information in the same form the server uses - the font file. Just find the bdf file corresponding to the font you use (some common fonts and the getbdf tool are included in this distribution), put it in the same directory as vncviewer.exe on your local machine, and you're set.

Limitations

Having to convert pixels to text implies that VNC won't find URLs that aren't fully visible in the VNC window. This means we can't recognize text in several scenarios, including:

if the cursor or mouse pointer occludes the URL. Make sure you don't click on the body of the URL but to its left. Clicking on the 'http' will work.

if another window or widget within VNC occludes the URL.