asked on

Embedding the IE to a VB.NET form.

Hello:

I'm trying to create an application that will allow me to embed IE into a VB.NET (2003) form.

My idea is to have something like this:

' being vb.net form
------------------------------------------------------
(back) - (forward) - (stop) - (refresh)
------------------------------------------------------
DISPLAY HTML PAGES

------------------------------------------------------
' end vb.net form

In other words the form will have like a top part with the buttons or controls like back, forward,
stop, etc. and the bottom part is where the actual HTML will be display. The URL’s will be hardcoded
in the code.

I assuming the way to do this is by embedding the IE Object into the form, so far I’m using "shdocvw"
my code looks as follows, but it opens a NEW IE window. I need it to be embedded into the form and have
the ability to control it and go back, forward, stop, etc.

' VB.NET 2003 CODE
Public Class Form1
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
[....]
#End Region
Public WithEvents IE As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer

Public Sub Form1_Load()

End Sub

Private Sub Form1_Unload()
IE.Quit()
End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
IE = New SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
IE.Visible = True
IE.MenuBar = False
IE.AddressBar = False
IE.ToolBar = False
IE.Navigate("http://www.yahoo.com")
End Sub
End Class

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

S-Twilley

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S-Twilley

You can control it much like the InternetExplorer object, except its embedded in your application. If you have any probs with it, just ask

Lacutah

Here's a Quickie:

http://jvoorhis.com/articles/155.aspx

mhertzDEV

ASKER

Thanks a lot S-Twilley...

Here is my current code, to help the next guy =)

Any suggestions will still be appreciated.

' BEING VB.NET CODE
Imports

Public Class Form1
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "

[.......]

#End Region

Public Shared Function Main(ByVal args() As String) As Integer

End Function

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
AxWebBrowser1.Visible = True
AxWebBrowser1.AddressBar = True
AxWebBrowser1.Navigate("http://www.yahoo.com")
End Sub

Private Sub btnGoBack_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGoBack.Click
'If there is nothing to go back too and we click GoBack,
'it will try to access an object that doesnt exists and
'BIGBADABOOM! Unless we next it =)
On Error Resume Next

AxWebBrowser1.GoBack()
End Sub

Private Sub btnGoForward_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGoForward.Click
'If there is nothing to go forward too and we click GoForward,
'it will try to access an object that doesnt exists and
'BIGBADABOOM! Unless we next it =)
On Error Resume Next

AxWebBrowser1.GoForward()
End Sub

Private Sub btnStop_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnStop.Click
AxWebBrowser1.Stop()
End Sub

Private Sub btnRefresh_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnRefresh.Click
AxWebBrowser1.Refresh2()
End Sub

Private Sub AxWebBrowser1_StatusTextChange(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_StatusTextChangeEvent) Handles AxWebBrowser1.StatusTextChange
StatusBar1.Text = AxWebBrowser1.StatusText
End Sub

Private Sub btnPrint_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPrint.Click
'AxWebBrowser Printing current document with Print Dialog
AxWebBrowser1.Document.parentWindow.execScript("window.print();", "JScript")
End Sub
End Class

S-Twilley

I'd use the Try catch block instead of Resume next, might not make much of a difference here, but it's a more powerful error handling method:

Try
AxWebBrowser1.GoBack()
Catch e as exception
'Im guessing you're just ignoring errors so don't do anything here
End Try

===================

Also add a textbox so you can choose where to navigate to (change webpage on enter being pressed... or a Go button)
To match this, on the NavigateComplete event of the browser control. Add the line

txtAddress.Text = AxWebBrowser1.LocationURL

Note: the navigatecomplete event is fired for subframes as well, but the property returns from AxWebBrowser1 is the hosting webpage

===================

You may also want to rename the control to something shorter, cos in my experience, you'll be typing that out alot

===================

I'd put the web control in it's own panel, and set the dock property of it to fill. Then anchor the panel to all sides, so that when you resize the window, it follows it around