Embed Firefox browser in Java Swing

Question

I am wondering if it is possible to embed Firefox browser as a component in a Java Swing based application.

I have done a bit of research from the Internet, but I could not find an answer. Some people suggest to use other browser component avaiable in Java. I do not think that is preferable, as the rendering engine would be different to Firefox.

Any idea? Many thanks.

Answer 1

Not directly. You could port your UI (or at least part of it) to SWT and then use the Browser component (see this FAQ item).

If you can't port your UI to SWT, then you can embed your Swing UI in SWT (SWT Shell == Swing JFrame). But there will be some pain ahead.

Answer 2

A quick Google search returns a product called JxBrowser that does this.

However, I would question whether you really need a full blown browser component like Firefox in your application. What do you need it for in your application?

Answer 3

How about embedding your GUI inside the browser instead, with an applet, GWT or another rich client approach?

Answer 4

Absolutely I have done it before please check out the Mozilla Embedding for Java

Here is some sample code

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException; 
import java.io.File; 

import javax.swing.*;

import org.mozilla.xpcom.*; 
import org.mozilla.interfaces.*;

/*
Websites ref
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.tech.java/browse_thread/thread/898ba6751d0c57f7 
http://skrul.com/blog/code/
http://wirestorm.net/blog/?cat=9

*/


public class BrowserTest  implements nsIWebProgressListener,nsIWeakReference, nsIInterfaceRequestor, nsIWebBrowserChrome, nsISHistoryListener{ 
    static {
        try {
            System.loadLibrary("NativeWindow");
        } catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError e) {
            System.err.println("can't find your library");
        }
    }
    private static final String frameTitle="GRE Embedded";
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        BrowserConroller controler=new BrowserConroller();
        controler.run();
        new BrowserTest().start();
    } 

    public void start(){


        JFrame f = new JFrame( frameTitle );
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setSize(400, 150);
        Container content = f.getContentPane();
        content.setBackground(Color.white);
        content.setLayout(new FlowLayout()); 
        content.add(new JLabel("Initializing ... "));
        f.setVisible(true);

        File grePath = null; 
        LocationProvider locProvider; 
        Mozilla mozilla = Mozilla.getInstance(); 

        GREVersionRange[] range = new GREVersionRange[1]; 
        range[0] = new GREVersionRange("1.8.0", true, "1.9", false); 

        try { 
            grePath = Mozilla.getGREPathWithProperties(range, null);
            mozilla.initialize(grePath);
            locProvider = new LocationProvider(grePath); 
            mozilla.initEmbedding(grePath, grePath, locProvider); 
        } 

        catch (FileNotFoundException e) { 
            System.out.println("Error: FileNotFoundException"); 
        } 
        catch (XPCOMException e) { 
            System.out.println("Error: XPCOMException"); 
        } 


        //---------- END GRE INITIALIZATION------------


        nsIServiceManager serviceManager = mozilla.getServiceManager(); 

        nsIAppStartup appStartup = (nsIAppStartup)serviceManager.getServiceByContractID("@mozilla.org/toolkit/app-startup;1", nsIAppStartup.NS_IAPPSTARTUP_IID); 
        nsIWindowCreator windowCreator = (nsIWindowCreator)appStartup.queryInterface(nsIWindowCreator.NS_IWINDOWCREATOR_IID); 

        nsIWindowWatcher windowWatcher =(nsIWindowWatcher)serviceManager.getServiceByContractID("@mozilla.org/embedcomp/window-watcher;1",nsIWindowWatcher.NS_IWINDOWWATCHER_IID); 

        windowWatcher.setWindowCreator(windowCreator); 

        nsIDOMWindow win = windowWatcher.openWindow(null, "http://google.com", "MAIN_WIN","chrome,resizable,centerscreen", null);
        windowWatcher.setActiveWindow( win ); 

        nsIComponentManager componentManager = mozilla.getComponentManager();
        String NS_IWEBBROWSER_CID = "F1EAC761-87E9-11d3-AF80-00A024FFC08C"; //$NON-NLS-1$
        nsIWebBrowser webBrowser = (nsIWebBrowser) componentManager.createInstance(NS_IWEBBROWSER_CID, null, nsIWebBrowser.NS_IWEBBROWSER_IID);
        webBrowser.setContainerWindow(this);
        webBrowser.addWebBrowserListener(this, nsIWebProgressListener.NS_IWEBPROGRESSLISTENER_IID);


//      nsIWebNavigation webNavigation=(nsIWebNavigation)webBrowser.queryInterface(nsIWebNavigation.NS_IWEBNAVIGATION_IID);
//      webNavigation.loadURI("http://www.zdnet.com", nsIWebNavigation.LOAD_FLAGS_NONE, null, null, null);
//      

        nsIBaseWindow baseWindow = (nsIBaseWindow) webBrowser.queryInterface(nsIBaseWindow.NS_IBASEWINDOW_IID);             
        long handle=FindWindow.getHWND( frameTitle );

        baseWindow.initWindow(handle, 0, 0, 0,350,350);
        baseWindow.create();
        baseWindow.setVisibility(true);




//      
//      nsIDOMWindow domWin=webBrowser.getContentDOMWindow();
//      nsIDOMEventTarget domEventTarget= (nsIDOMEventTarget)domWin.queryInterface(nsIDOMEventTarget.NS_IDOMEVENTTARGET_IID);
//      domEventTarget.addEventListener("click", new EventListener(), false);
//      
        //Hide JFrame after it have been initialized
        f.setVisible(true);
//      
//      nsIWebNavigation webNavigation=(nsIWebNavigation)webBrowser.queryInterface(nsIWebNavigation.NS_IWEBNAVIGATION_IID);
//      webNavigation.loadURI("http://www.zdnet.com", nsIWebNavigation.LOAD_FLAGS_NONE, null, null, null);
//      
        appStartup.run(); 
        System.out.println("try termEmbedding"); 
        try { 
            System.out.println("mozilla.termEmbedding(); START"); 
            mozilla.termEmbedding(); 
            System.out.println("mozilla.termEmbedding(); FINISHED"); 
        } 
        catch (XPCOMException e) { 
            System.out.println("Fehler: XPCOMException"); 
        } 
        System.out.println("finished termEmbedding"); 
        System.out.println("All done"); 
    }



    public void onLocationChange(nsIWebProgress webProgress, nsIRequest request, nsIURI location) {
        c("onLocationChange");

    }

    public void onProgressChange(nsIWebProgress webProgress, nsIRequest request, int curSelfProgress, int maxSelfProgress, int curTotalProgress, int maxTotalProgress) {
        c("onProgressChange");

    }

    public void onSecurityChange(nsIWebProgress webProgress, nsIRequest request, long state) {
        c("onSecurityChange");

    }

    public void onStateChange(nsIWebProgress webProgress, nsIRequest request, long stateFlags, long status) {
        c("onStateChange");

    }

    public void onStatusChange(nsIWebProgress webProgress, nsIRequest request, long status, String message) {
        c("onStatusChange");

    }

    public nsISupports queryInterface(String uuid) {
        c("queryInterface");
        return null;
    }



    public nsISupports queryReferent(String uuid) {
        c("queryReferent");
        return null;
    }

    public nsISupports getInterface(String uuid) {
        c("getInterface");
        return null;
    }
    private void c(Object o){
        System.out.println(o);
    }

    public void destroyBrowserWindow() {
        c("destroyBrowserWindow");

    }

    public void exitModalEventLoop(long status) {
        c("exitModalEventLoop");

    }

    public long getChromeFlags() {
        c("getChromeFlags");
        return 0;
    }

    public nsIWebBrowser getWebBrowser() {
        c("getWebBrowser");     
        return null;
    }

    public boolean isWindowModal() {
        c("isWindowModal");     
        return false;
    }

    public void setChromeFlags(long chromeFlags) {
        c("setChromeFlags");    

    }

    public void setStatus(long statusType, String status) {
        c("setStatus"); 

    }

    public void setWebBrowser(nsIWebBrowser webBrowser) {
        c("setWebBrowser");         
    }

    public void showAsModal() {
        c("showAsModal");   

    }

    public void sizeBrowserTo(int acx, int acy) {
        c("sizeBrowserTo"); 

    }

    public boolean onHistoryGoBack(nsIURI backURI) {
        c("onHistoryGoBack");
        return false;
    }

    public boolean onHistoryGoForward(nsIURI forwardURI) {
        c("onHistoryGoForward");
        return false;
    }

    public boolean onHistoryGotoIndex(int index, nsIURI gotoURI) {
        c(" onHistoryGotoIndex");
        return false;
    }

    public void onHistoryNewEntry(nsIURI newURI) {
        c(" onHistoryNewEntry");
    }

    public boolean onHistoryPurge(int numEntries) {
        c(" onHistoryPurge");
        return false;
    }

    public boolean onHistoryReload(nsIURI reloadURI, long reloadFlags) {
        c(" onHistoryReload");
        return false;
    }


} //public class JavaXPCOM_test1[/code]