.NET C#: WebBrowser control Navigate() does not load targeted URL

Question

I\'m trying to programmatically load a web page via the WebBrowser control with the intent of testing the page & it\'s JavaScript functions. Basically, I want to compare

Answer 1

You probably need to host the control in a parent window. You can do this without breaking requirements by simply not showing the window that hosts the browser control by moving it off screen. It might also be useful for development to "see" that it does actually load something for testing, verification etc.

So try:

// in a form's Load handler:

WebBrowser wb = new WebBrowser();
this.Controls.Add(wb);
wb.AllowNavigation = true;
wb.Navigate("http://www.google.com/");

Also check to see what other properties are set on the WebBrowser object when you instantiate it via the IDE. E.g. create a Form, drop a browser control onto it and then check the form's designer file to see what code is generated. You might be missing some key property that needs to be set. I've discovered many-an-omission in my code in this way and also learned how to properly instantiate visual objects programmatically.

P.S. If you do use a host window, it should only be visible during development. You would hide in some manner for production.

Another approach:

You could go "raw" by tryiing something like this:

 System.Net.WebClient wc = new System.Net.WebClient();

  System.IO.StreamReader webReader = new System.IO.StreamReader(
         wc.OpenRead("http://your_website.com"));

  string webPageData = webReader.ReadToEnd();

...then RegEx or parse webPageData for what you need. Or do you need the jscript in the page to actually execute? (Which should be possible with .NET 4.0)