C#: WebBrowser vs Gecko vs Awesomium vs OpenWebKitSharp: What To Choose And How to Use

Emiliarge

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1 Feb 2015CPOL3 min read

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Comparison of 4 browser engines and controls + some tips for using them (in attached projects and in tip text). Short and clear.

Gecko & WebKit samples are under construction now, but are already working and may be used as a good start:

Who is Who?

WebBrowser

Default .NET browser engine.
Based on MSHTML + Active-X control based on COM IWebBrowser2. MSHTML+IWebBrowser2 are main components of Internet Explorer browser.
Has different Winforms and WPF ports.

Gecko

Third-party browser engine.
Based on XULRunner used in Firefox browser.
Has Winforms version only.

Warning! This tip is fully actually only for very, very old Gecko version (1.9). I'll change it to a newer and more powerful version (10.*..29.* probably), a bit later.

Awesomium WebControl

Third-party browser control with external customizable core.
Based on .NET Awesomium core wrapper based on Awesomium core based on modified Chromium (or WebKit) engine.
Has different Winforms, WPF, Mono ports.

OpenWebKitSharp

Third-party browser engine.
Based on WebKit engine used in Safari and Chromium browsers.
Has Winforms version only.

EO.WebBrowser

Third-party browser engine.
Based on Chromium project.
Has Winforms and WPF ports.

Who is Better?

Nobody! Programming language, framework, engine usually may be better only for a particular purpose.

You can define your objectives, weigh the pros and cons of engines listed in the table below, and select the engine, the best for you.

Tip: This tip has an extremely large width. Table can be not placed in browser window. If you use a fixed layout, it's recommended to change it to fluid.
Change it back to fixed.

	WebBrowser	Gecko	Awesomium	OpenWebKitSharp	EO.WebBrowser
License	Free. Proprietary	Free. Open-source: MPL 1.1/GPL 2.0/LGPL 2.1	Free if your revenue up to $100K (or costs $2900). Proprietary	Free. Open-source	Free trial version with notification ads. Proprietary
OS/Platforms	Winforms, WPF	Winforms	Winforms, WPF Cross-platform: Unity, Mono, SDL	Winforms. Cross-platform: ?	Winforms, WPF
CPU	Any CPU	?	x86	?	Any CPU
Page loading speed	Low	Medium (?). Control can freezing the form for few seconds on its create	High	High	High
Required dlls size	0 MB (included in Win)	22.4 MB	40.5 MB	64.6 MB	?
Not freezing GUI when page loads	No	No	Yes	No	Yes, excepts a 1st load
Minimal .NET Version	.NET 2.0 or more older	.NET 2.0 or more older	.NET 4.0	?	?
Object, method, property model	-	WebBrowser-identical	Not WebBrowser-identical	WebBrowser-identical, but very unfinished, many methods and properties not working!	?
DOM manipulate - set HTML	Yes	Yes	Yes	Via Js only	?
DOM manipulate - get HTML	Yes	Yes	Yes, but don't work with disabled JS! Also, there is a bug, use JS analogue - document.documentElement.<br /> outerHTML	Via Js only	?
DOM - GetElementById	Yes	Yes	Via Js only	?	?
DOM - GetElementsByClassName	Via Js only	Yes	Via Js only	?	?
DOM - GetElementsByTagName	Yes	Yes	Via Js only	?	?
Inject + exec / exec Js	Inject + exec	Yes, in newer versions	Exec	Exec	?
Disable Js	No, only on all-IE level	Yes	Yes	?	?
Set proxy	No, only on all-IE level	Yes	Yes	?	?
Dev - Built-in Visual HTML Builder	Yes	?	No	No	?
Dev - HTML code syntax-hl viewer	No	?	Yes	Yes	?
Dev - HTML code Visual Inspector & Editor	No	?	No	Yes	Yes
Built-in download manager	?	?	?	Yes	?

WebBrowser Usage and Tricks

Built-in Visual HTML Editor

How to enable it:

webBrowser1.Document.DomDocument.GetType().GetProperty("designMode").SetValue
    (webBrowser1.Document.DomDocument, "On", null);

How to paste HTML element programmatically:

// appends:
// <a id="mylink" href="http://codeproject.com/">
//   <img id="myimg" 
//    src="http://dj9okeyxktdvd.cloudfront.net/App_Themes/CodeProject/Img/logo250x135.gif" />
// </a>

var mylink = webBrowser1.Document.CreateElement("a");
mylink.Id = "mylink";
mylink.SetAttribute("href", "http://codeproject.com/");
             
var myimg = webBrowser1.Document.CreateElement("img");
myimg.Id = "myimg";
myimg.SetAttribute("src", 
"http://dj9okeyxktdvd.cloudfront.net/App_Themes/CodeProject/Img/logo250x135.gif");
mylink.AppendChild(myimg);
webBrowser1.Document.Body.AppendChild(mylink);

DOM element selection - GetElementById

var id = "mylink";

var el = webBrowser1.Document.GetElementById(id);
if (el != null)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Element with id=\"" + id + "\" has innerHTML: " + el.InnerHtml);
}
else
{
    MessageBox.Show("Element with id=\"" + id + "\" not found.");
}

DOM element selection - GetElementsByTagName

var tag = "img";

var elz = webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName(tag);
if (elz.Count > 0)
{
    MessageBox.Show(elz.Count + " elements with tag <" + tag + "> found.");
}
else
{
    MessageBox.Show("No elements with tag <" + tag + "> found.");
}

DOM content manipulate - set HTML

webBrowser1.DocumentText = "<html><head><script>alert('check!');
</script></head><body>lorem</body></html>";

Inject + exec Js

var head = webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("head")[0];

var scriptEl = webBrowser1.Document.CreateElement("script");
scriptEl.SetAttribute("text", "function sayHello() { alert('hello') }");
head.AppendChild(scriptEl);

webBrowser1.Document.InvokeScript("sayHello");

Gecko Usage and Tricks

DOM content manipulate - set HTML

geckoWebBrowser1.Document.DocumentElement.InnerHtml = 
"<html><head></head><body>
<a class=\"link\">f</a></body></html>";

DOM element selection - GetElementsByClassName

(geckoWebBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByClassName("link")[0] as 
    Skybound.Gecko.GeckoElement).InnerHtml = "tt";

Awesomium WebControl Usage and Tricks

DOM content manipulate - set HTML

webControl1.HTML = "<html><head><script>alert
('check!');</script></head><body>lorem</body></html>";

DOM content manipulate - get HTML

var allhtml = webControl1.ExecuteJavascriptWithResult
    ("document.documentElement.outerHTML");

Exec Js

webControl1.ExecuteJavascript
("document.body.innerHTML += '<i>Hello, World!</i>';");

Disable Js

var ws = WebCore.CreateWebSession(new WebPreferences() { Javascript = true });
webControl1 = new Awesomium.Windows.Forms.WebControl() { WebSession = ws };
this.Controls.Add(webControl1);

Set proxy

var ws = WebCore.CreateWebSession(new WebPreferences() 
{ ProxyConfig = "255.255.255:8080" });
webControl1 = new Awesomium.Windows.Forms.WebControl() { WebSession = ws };
this.Controls.Add(webControl1);

OpenWebKitSharp Usage and Tricks

DOM content manipulate - set HTML

webKitBrowser1.GetScriptManager.EvaluateScript("document.body.innerHTML='';");

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)