Starting the Chrome Browser of SiteKiosk Windows with Command Line Switches

Building on a technique already demonstrated in a previous post, this is a reminder, that it is possible to start the Chrome browser of SiteKiosk Windows with command line switches.

A comprehensive list of available switches for the Chrome/Chromium browser engine can be found for example on this page: http://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/. Please be aware that for security and technical reasons a lot of these switches are not allowed in a secure browser like SiteKiosk. Nonetheless the supported switches may be helpful for developers creating a page for use in SiteKiosk or for creating a workaround for a specific project.

The command line switches must be manually added to the configuration of SiteKiosk that you are using (e.g. …\SiteKiosk\Config\YourConfig.skcfg). Open the SiteKiosk configuration file you want to use with an editor like Notepad or Notepad++.  Now search for this line:

"browserEngine": {

Change the following lines to look like this:

"browserEngine": {
        "commandLineArguments": {
            "set": ["show-fps-counter"],
            "remove": []
        }
    },

If you cannot find a browserEngine line please search for this line:

"showTaskBar": true,

Add these lines right before the showTaskBar line:

"browserEngine": {
        "commandLineArguments": {
            "set": ["show-fps-counter"],
            "remove": []
        }
    },


It should look like this:

…
"system": {
    "password": {
      "enabled": false
    },
    "browserEngine": {
        "commandLineArguments": {
            "set": ["show-fps-counter"],
            "remove": []
        }
    },
    "showTaskBar": true,
    "userAgent": {
…


The above example will bring up an FPS counter in the SiteKiosk Windows Chrome browser.

You can use more than one switch. In that case, you need to use a list of comma separated strings:

"set": ["show-fps-counter","disable-web-security"],