How to use watin with WinForms web browser control ?

Question

Is there any way which would allow me to use watin's functionalities from my web browser control? simply i want to use watin with my web browser control i don't want my application to open a new window ,i need it in my web browser control.

Answer 1

Create your IE object using a WebBrowser2 interface from your web browser control, something like:

var CurrentBrowser = new IE(WebBrowser2);

One important point is to be sure to set AutoStartDialogWatcher to false in WatiN settings. Since you are not implementing IE anymore, you are responsible for all dialogs.

Answer 2

If you are using .Net WebBrowser Control you can create WatiN's IE object by using following code:

var ie = new IE(webBrowser.ActiveXInstance);

But if you do that inside your Form_Load ActiveXInstance will be null. And if you do that for example inside some kind of button_Click the application will hang after you use eg. ie.GoTo. You need to start new thread and operate there. For example:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var t = new Thread(() =>
    {
        Settings.AutoStartDialogWatcher = false;
        var ie = new IE(webBrowser1.ActiveXInstance);
        ie.GoTo("http://www.google.com");
    });
    t.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
    t.Start();
}

You need to disable auto start of dialog watcher, because you cannot use built in WatiN dialog watcher. But with a little bit of hacking you can create your own based on original DialogWatcher class. Handling popups and creating new web browser controls are also possible.