Replacing NET WebBrowser control with a better browser like Chrome

Question

Is there any relatively easy way to insert a modern browser into a  NET application    As far as I understand  the WebBrowser control is a wrapper for IE  which wouldn t be a problem except that it looks like it is a very old version of IE  with all that entails in terms of CSS screw-ups  potential security risks  if the rendering engine wasn t patched  can I really expect the zillion buffer overflow problems to be fixed    and other issues    I am using Visual Studio C   express edition - does it make any difference here    I would like to integrate a good web browser in my applications  In some  I just use it to handle the user registration process  interface with some of my website s features and other things of that order  but I have another application in mind that will require more err    control    I need    A browser that can integrate inside a window of my application  not a separate window  A good support for CSS  js and other web technologies  on par with any modern browser Basic browser functions like  navigate    back    reload     Liberal access to the page code and output     I was thinking about Chrome  since it comes under the BSD license  but I would be just as happy with a recent version of IE    As much as possible  I would like to keep things simple  The best would be if one could patch the existing WebBrowser control  which does already about 70  of what I need  but I don t think that s possible   I have found an activeX control for Mozilla  http   www iol ie  locka mozilla control htm  but it looks like it s an old version  so it s not necessarily an improvement   I am open to suggestions

User · Answer

I know this isn t a  replacement  WebBrowser control  but I was having some awful rendering issues whilst showing a page that was using BootStrap 3  for layout etc  and then I found a post that suggested I use the following  Apparently  it s specific to IE and tells it to use the latest variation found on the client machine for rendering  so it won t use IE7  which I believe is the default   So just put   lt meta http-equiv  quot X-UA-Compatible quot  content  quot IE Edge quot    gt   somewhere in the head part of your document  Obviously  if it s not your document  this won t help - though I personally consider it to be a security hole if you re reading pages not created by yourself through the WebBrowser control - why not just use a web browser

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I ve been testing alternatives to C  Web browser component for few days now and here is my list  1  Using newer IE versions 8 9  Web Browser component is IE7 not IE8  How to change this  Pros   Not much work required to get it running some HTML5 CSS3 support if IE9  full if IE10  Cons   Target machine must have target IE version installed  IE10 is still in preview on Win7  This doesn t require much work and you can get some HTML5 and CSS3 support although IE9 lacks some of best CSS3 and HTML5 features  But I m sure you could get IE10 running same way  The problem would be that target system would have to have IE10 installed  and since is still in preview on Windows 7 I would suggest against it  2  OpenWebKitSharp OpenWebKitSharp is a  net wrapper for the webkit engine based on the WebKit NET 0 5 project  WebKit is a layout engine used by Chrome Safari Pros   Actively developed HTML5 CSS3 support  Cons   Many features not implemented Doesn t support x64  App must be built for x86   OpenWebKit is quite nice although many features are not yet implemented  I experienced few issues using it with visual studio which throws null object reference here and then in design mode  there are some js problems  Everyone using it will almost immediately notice js alert does nothing  Events like mouseup mousedown    etc  doesn t work  js drag and drop is buggy and so on   I also had some difficulties installing it since it requires specific version of VC redistributable installed  so after exception I looked at event log  found version of VC and installed it  3  GeckoFX Pros   Works on mono Actively developed HTML5 CSS3 support  Cons   D o e s n   t   s u p p o r t   x 6 4     A p p   m u s t   b e   b u i l t   f o r   x 8 6     - see comments below  GeckoFX is a cross platform Webrowser control for embedding into WinForms Applications  This can be used with  NET on Windows and with mono on Linux  Gecko is a layout engine used by Firefox  I bumped into few information that GeckoFX is not actively developed which is not true  of course it s always one or two versions behind of Firefox but that is normal  I was really impressed by activity and the control itself  It does everything I needed  but I needed some time to get it running  here s a little tutorial to get it running   Download GeckoFx-Windows-16 0-0 2  here you can check if newer is available GeckoFX Add references to two downloaded dll s Since GeckoFX is wrapper you need XulRunner  go to Version List to see which one you need Now that we know which version of XulRunner we need  we go to Mozilla XulRunner releases  go to version folder - gt  runtimes - gt  xulrunner- your version  en-US win32 zip  in our case xulrunner-16 0 en-US win32 zip Unzip everything and copy all files to your bin Debug  or release if your project is set to release  Go to visual studio designer of your form  go to toolbox  right click inside - gt  Choose items - gt  Browse - gt  Find downloaded GeckoFX winforms dll file - gt  OK Now you should have new control GeckoWebBrowser  If your really must use Chrome  take a look at this product called Awesomium  it s free for non-commercial projects  but license is few thousand dollars for commercial

User · Answer

You can use registry to set IE version for webbrowser control  Go to  HKLM SOFTWARE Microsoft Internet Explorer Main FeatureControl FEATURE BROWSER EMULATION and add  yourApplicationName exe  with value of browser emulation To see value of browser emulation  refer link  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library ee330730 28VS 85 29 aspx browser emulation

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I had the same problem  the WebBrowser was using an old version of IE  with some googling I came across the following code that makes a change into registry and makes the WebBrowser to use the lastest IE version possible    public enum BrowserEmulationVersion               Default   0          Version7   7000          Version8   8000          Version8Standards   8888          Version9   9000          Version9Standards   9999          Version10   10000          Version10Standards   10001          Version11   11000          Version11Edge   11001           public static class WBEmulator               private const string InternetExplorerRootKey     Software Microsoft Internet Explorer            public static int GetInternetExplorerMajorVersion                         int result               result   0               try                               RegistryKey key                   key   Registry LocalMachine OpenSubKey InternetExplorerRootKey                    if  key    null                                        object value                       value   key GetValue  svcVersion   null     key GetValue  Version   null                        if  value    null                                                string version                          int separator                           version   value ToString                            separator   version IndexOf                               if  separator    -1                                                        int TryParse version Substring 0  separator   out result                                                                                               catch  SecurityException                                   The user does not have the permissions required to read from the registry key                            catch  UnauthorizedAccessException                                   The user does not have the necessary registry rights                             return result                    private const string BrowserEmulationKey   InternetExplorerRootKey      Main FeatureControl FEATURE BROWSER EMULATION            public static BrowserEmulationVersion GetBrowserEmulationVersion                         BrowserEmulationVersion result               result   BrowserEmulationVersion Default               try                               RegistryKey key                   key   Registry CurrentUser OpenSubKey BrowserEmulationKey  true                   if  key    null                                        string programName                      object value                       programName   Path GetFileName Environment GetCommandLineArgs   0                        value   key GetValue programName  null                        if  value    null                                                result    BrowserEmulationVersion Convert ToInt32 value                                                                     catch  SecurityException                                   The user does not have the permissions required to read from the registry key                            catch  UnauthorizedAccessException                                   The user does not have the necessary registry rights                             return result                    public static bool SetBrowserEmulationVersion BrowserEmulationVersion browserEmulationVersion                        bool result               result   false               try                               RegistryKey key                   key   Registry CurrentUser OpenSubKey BrowserEmulationKey  true                    if  key    null                                        string programName                       programName   Path GetFileName Environment GetCommandLineArgs   0                         if  browserEmulationVersion    BrowserEmulationVersion Default                                                   if it s a valid value  update or create the value                         key SetValue programName   int browserEmulationVersion  RegistryValueKind DWord                                             else                                                  otherwise  remove the existing value                         key DeleteValue programName  false                                              result   true                                              catch  SecurityException                                   The user does not have the permissions required to read from the registry key                            catch  UnauthorizedAccessException                                   The user does not have the necessary registry rights                             return result                     public static bool SetBrowserEmulationVersion                         int ieVersion              BrowserEmulationVersion emulationCode               ieVersion   GetInternetExplorerMajorVersion                 if  ieVersion  gt   11                                emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version11                            else                               switch  ieVersion                                        case 10                          emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version10                          break                      case 9                          emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version9                          break                      case 8                          emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version8                          break                      default                          emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version7                          break                                               return SetBrowserEmulationVersion emulationCode                     public static bool IsBrowserEmulationSet                         return GetBrowserEmulationVersion      BrowserEmulationVersion Default                     You just need to create a class and put this code in it  then run the following code when the program starts    if   WBEmulator IsBrowserEmulationSet                                  WBEmulator SetBrowserEmulationVersion                    VB NET   Imports Microsoft Win32 Imports System Imports System Collections Generic Imports System IO Imports System Linq Imports System Security Imports System Text Imports System Threading Tasks  Public Enum BrowserEmulationVersion      Default    0     Version7   7000     Version8   8000     Version8Standards   8888     Version9   9000     Version9Standards   9999     Version10   10000     Version10Standards   10001     Version11   11000     Version11Edge   11001 End Enum   Public Class WBEmulator     Private Const InternetExplorerRootKey As String    Software Microsoft Internet Explorer      Public Shared Function GetInternetExplorerMajorVersion   As Integer          Dim result As Integer          result   0          Try             Dim key As RegistryKey             key   Registry LocalMachine OpenSubKey InternetExplorerRootKey              If key IsNot Nothing Then                 Dim value As Object   If key GetValue  svcVersion   Nothing   key GetValue  Version   Nothing                    Dim Version As String                 Dim separator As Integer                 Version   value ToString                   separator   Version IndexOf                      If separator  lt  gt  -1 Then                     Integer TryParse Version Substring 0  separator   result                  End If             End If          Catch ex As SecurityException              The user does Not have the permissions required to read from the registry key          Catch ex As UnauthorizedAccessException              The user does Not have the necessary registry rights          Catch          End Try         GetInternetExplorerMajorVersion   result     End Function     Private Const BrowserEmulationKey   InternetExplorerRootKey     Main FeatureControl FEATURE BROWSER EMULATION       Public Shared Function GetBrowserEmulationVersion   As BrowserEmulationVersion          Dim result As BrowserEmulationVersion         result   BrowserEmulationVersion Default          Try             Dim key As RegistryKey   Registry CurrentUser OpenSubKey BrowserEmulationKey  True              If key IsNot Nothing Then                 Dim programName As String                 Dim value As Object                 programName   Path GetFileName Environment GetCommandLineArgs   0                   value   key GetValue programName  Nothing                  If value IsNot Nothing Then                     result   CType Convert ToInt32 value   BrowserEmulationVersion                  End If             End If         Catch ex As SecurityException              The user does Not have the permissions required to read from the registry key          Catch ex As UnauthorizedAccessException              The user does Not have the necessary registry rights          Catch          End Try          GetBrowserEmulationVersion   result     End Function     Public Shared Function SetBrowserEmulationVersion BEVersion As BrowserEmulationVersion  As Boolean          Dim result As Boolean   False          Try             Dim key As RegistryKey   Registry CurrentUser OpenSubKey BrowserEmulationKey  True              If key IsNot Nothing Then                 Dim programName As String   Path GetFileName Environment GetCommandLineArgs   0                   If BEVersion  lt  gt  BrowserEmulationVersion Default Then                      if it s a valid value  update or create the value                     key SetValue programName  CType BEVersion  Integer   RegistryValueKind DWord                  Else                      otherwise  remove the existing value                     key DeleteValue programName  False                  End If                 result   True             End If         Catch ex As SecurityException                The user does Not have the permissions required to read from the registry key           Catch ex As UnauthorizedAccessException                The user does Not have the necessary registry rights           End Try          SetBrowserEmulationVersion   result     End Function       Public Shared Function SetBrowserEmulationVersion   As Boolean         Dim ieVersion As Integer         Dim emulationCode As BrowserEmulationVersion         ieVersion   GetInternetExplorerMajorVersion            If ieVersion  gt   11 Then              emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version11         Else              Select Case ieVersion                 Case 10                     emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version10                 Case 9                     emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version9                 Case 8                     emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version8                 Case Else                     emulationCode   BrowserEmulationVersion Version7             End Select         End If          SetBrowserEmulationVersion   SetBrowserEmulationVersion emulationCode      End Function      Public Shared Function IsBrowserEmulationSet   As Boolean         IsBrowserEmulationSet   GetBrowserEmulationVersion    lt  gt  BrowserEmulationVersion Default     End Function End Class   You may use it like   If Not WBEmulator IsBrowserEmulationSet   Then     WBEmulator SetBrowserEmulationVersion   End If

User · Answer

Chrome uses  a fork of  Webkit if you didn t know  which is also used by Safari  Here s a few questions that are of the same vein    Embedding Webkit with C   Embedding Gecko  Firefox engine  with C    The webkit one isn t great as the other answer states  one version no longer works  the google code one  and the Mono one is experimental  It d be nice if someone made the effort to make a decent  NET wrapper for it but it s not something anyone seems to want to do - which is surprising given it now has support for HTML5 and so many other features that the IE 8  engine lacks   Update  2014   There s new dual-licensed project that allows you embed Chrome into your  NET applications called Awesomium  It comes with a  NET api but requires quite a few hacks for rendering  the examples draw the browser window to a buffer  paint the buffer as an image and refresh on a timer    I think this is the browser used by Origin in Battlefield 3   Update  2016   There is now DotnetBrowser  a commercial alternative to Awesomium  It s based off Chromium

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UPDATE 2020 JULY Preview version of chromium based WebView 2 is released by the Microsoft  Now you can embed new Chromium Edge browser into a  NET application  UPDATE 2018 MAY If you re targeting application to run on  Windows 10  then now you can embed Edge browser into your  NET application by using Windows Community Toolkit  WPF Example   Install Windows Community Toolkit Nuget Package Install-Package Microsoft Toolkit Win32 UI Controls   XAML Code  lt Window     x Class  quot WebViewTest MainWindow quot      xmlns  quot http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation quot      xmlns x  quot http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml quot      xmlns WPF  quot clr-namespace Microsoft Toolkit Win32 UI Controls WPF assembly Microsoft Toolkit Win32 UI Controls quot      xmlns d  quot http   schemas microsoft com expression blend 2008 quot      xmlns local  quot clr-namespace WebViewTest quot      xmlns mc  quot http   schemas openxmlformats org markup-compatibility 2006 quot      Title  quot MainWindow quot      Width  quot 800 quot      Height  quot 450 quot      mc Ignorable  quot d quot  gt       lt Grid gt           lt WPF WebView x Name  quot wvc quot    gt       lt  Grid gt   lt  Window gt    CS Code  public partial class MainWindow   Window     public MainWindow           InitializeComponent            You can also use the Source property here or in the WPF designer     wvc Navigate new Uri  quot https   www microsoft com quot              WinForms Example  public partial class Form1   Form     public Form1           InitializeComponent            You can also use the Source property here or in the designer     webView1 Navigate new Uri  quot https   www microsoft com quot            Please refer to this link for more information

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Checkout CefSharp  Net bindings  a project I started a while back that thankfully got picked up by the community and turned into something wonderful   The project wraps the Chromium Embedded Framework and has been used in a number of major projects including Rdio s Windows client  Facebook Messenger for Windows and Github for Windows   It features browser controls for WPF and Winforms and has tons of features and extension points   Being based on Chromium it s blisteringly fast too   Grab it from NuGet  Install-Package CefSharp Wpf or Install-Package CefSharp WinForms  Check out examples and give your thoughts feedback pull-requests  https   github com cefsharp CefSharp  BSD Licensed

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Geckofx and Webkit net were both promising at first  but they didn t keep up to date with Firefox and Chrome respectively while as Internet Explorer improved  so did the Webbrowser control  though it behaves like IE7 by default regardless of what IE version you have but that can be fixed by going into the registry and change it to IE9 allowing HTML5

[c#] Replacing .NET WebBrowser control with a better browser, like Chrome?

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