The WebBrowser control uses the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), an open source framework used in many applications to provide web browsing functionality. Therefore, the WebBrowser control can be used to create a Web browser that can execute JavaScript and communicate between the Web page and the PowerBuilder client.
The WebBrowser control:
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Supports browsing web page that contains JavaScript
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Supports accessing web page that requires basic or digest authentication
The WebBrowser control will automatically display a login window for the user to enter the user name and password for authentication. If the authentication fails, this window will display again until the authentication is successful or the authentication operation is cancelled.
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Supports browsing HTML and HTML5 pages
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Supports browsing a PDF file online
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Supports browsing local files (including htm, gif, jpg, jpeg, png, swf, txt, c, cpp, pdf, etc.) and does not support browsing the Microsoft Office file including docx, xlsx etc. or any file that cannot be opened by Google Chrome.
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Supports browsing videos at common formats in web page (MPEG-4 ASP, H.264, and H.265 formats are unsupported)
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Supports accessing microphone or camera on the device
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Supports playing flash (with the flash plug-in installed by the user)
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Supports browsing web pages that support multiple languages
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Supports printing web pages as PDFs and responding to the print events
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Supports the various HTTPS protocols
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Supports the right-mouse context menus
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Supports web page zoom in/out
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Supports responding to the error event from the server certificate
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Supports dynamically configuring the file download location and proxy settings
And:
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Does not support callback of the popup window
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Does not support cookie manipulation interface
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Does not support request irrelevant to the browser
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Does not support responding to the keyboard actions (such as F5)
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Does not support receiving focus when the user tabs among controls within a window
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Does not support searching within the web page
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Does not support drag & drop in the web page
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Does not support Google Developer tools
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Does not support loading the local file from different origins via file:/// (you will have to use http or https)
For a complete list of properties/functions/events of the WebBrowser control, refer to the section called “WebBrowser control” in Objects and Controls.
Use the global functions WebBrowserSet and WebBrowserGet to configure the path, user agent and proxy settings for the WebBrowser control.
Path settings:
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CachePath -- The folder that stores the web page cache, cookies etc.
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UserDataPath -- The folder that stores the user data dictionary.
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DownloadPath -- The default download path.
User agent settings:
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UserAgent -- The User-Agent request header that contains a characteristic string that allows the network protocol peers to identify the application type, operating system, software vendor or software version of the requesting software user agent.
Proxy settings:
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ProxyAuto -- Whether to use auto proxy detection. WebBrowser supports auto proxy detection, PAC (proxy auto configuration) file setting, and manual proxy settings. The priority order of the settings is: auto proxy detection > PAC file setting > manual proxy settings. By default the IE proxy is used.
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ProxyPacUrl -- The URL of the server where the PAC file is located.
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ProxyAddress -- The address of the proxy server.
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ProxyPort -- The port of the proxy server.
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ProxyUser -- The user name that will be authenticated by the proxy server.
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ProxyPassword -- The password that will be authenticated by the proxy server.
Local file access:
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allow-file-access-from-files -- Whether to allow access to the local files (XML etc.).
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enable-media-stream -- Whether to allow access to the microphone or camera.
Debug:
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remote-debugging-port -- Whether to enable remote debugging over HTTP on the specified port.
Note
Some of the above settings such as CachePath, UserDataPath, UserAgent, allow-file-access-from-files, enable-media-stream, and remote-debugging-port must be set before the WebBrowser control is initialized. You can set them in the application Open event.
If you have run the application (that includes the WebBrowser control) from PowerBuilder IDE, you may need to restart PowerBuilder IDE before the program can successfully initialize the WebBrowser control again.
Note
For code examples of using the WebBrowser control in the PowerBuilder application, refer to https://github.com/Appeon/PowerBuilder-Graph-Example.
You can define PowerBuilder user events for WebBrowser and then trigger the event in JavaScript. User events must be defined with only one string-type parameter and string-type return value (code example).
EventName (string parameter)
User events must be registered by RegisterEvent function before it can be triggered in JavaScript.
It is not allowed to call any other WebBrowser functions in the user event.
If the WebBrowser control is used in the application, the developer needs to select the "WebBrowser Support" option in the PowerBuilder Runtime Packager to package the WebBrowser components (and the "pbcef" folder) into the PowerBuilder runtime installer.
This new WebBrowser control has the following advantages over the Microsoft Web Browser OLE control:
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Supports HTML5
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Provides more control on download
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Able to set the default URL
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Shorter dot notation to access functions or properties
This new WebBrowser control has the following disadvantages compared to the Microsoft Web Browser OLE control:
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Fewer options on the right-click popup menu
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Does not support the web page document interface (but supports executing JavaScript thru EvaluateJavascriptAsync or EvaluateJavascriptSync function)
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Unable to get the current URL through properties or functions
For differences on properties/functions/events of WebBrowser control vs. Microsoft Web Browser OLE control, refer to the section called “WebBrowser control” in Objects and Controls.
