Question

How can I display web pages in my application using browsers other than Internet Explorer (i.e. use the default browser)?

Asked by: ecumichael

I am interested in writing an application that will display output as an HTML page.
I know that the COM Component "Microsoft Web Browser" will handle what I want, but there are a few catches/questions.

1. What if the end user does not have Microsoft Internet Explorer, would the COM Component "Microsoft Web Browser" still work?
    If so, this is great news.  However, I seriously doubt this is true.
2. How can I display other browsers (ex. Netscape), instead of Internet Explorer.  This would allow me to use the default browser of the user.

A good example of an application that just displays a web page is Windows Media Player, under Media Guide.
WinAmp also has a browser.
I think both of these applications only use Internet Explorer, but I am not sure.

Ideally, my application can just check for updates every few minutes, via http.  I wish to "hide" the fact that I am simply displaying a web page, in much the same way that Windows Media Player makes it appear that you are not simply viewing a web page.

Help is greatly appreciated!

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Asked On
2003-09-28 at 13:22:58ID20751145
Topic

C# Programming Language

Participating Experts
1
Points
450
Comments
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Answers

 

by: martinvPosted on 2003-10-03 at 15:24:45ID: 9488412

hello,
Windows Media Player is using IE COM object and will work only when MS IE is installed. WinAmp is using it's own HTML rendering engine.

You have three options:
- spawn user's default web browser in the external window. You can do it by using this code:

// C# Sample
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

public class ShellExecuter
{
     public static void Main()
     {
          Process.Start("c:\\temp\\myPage.htm");
         
     }
}

- wait for .NET version 2.0, in which will be managed web browser control
(see http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/productinfo/roadmap.aspx and search for "Web browser control" on the page)

- find some free and small HTML rendering engine (it probably exists, but I don't know about any)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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