Creating A Simple Web Browser Using DotNet

In the following example, you will create a simple Web Browser using the WebBrowser DotNet control provided by System.Windows.Forms

First, create a simple MAXScript rollout and add a dotNetControl called wb that uses the System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser control.

Then, open the rollout as a dialog - the WebBrowser will be empty.

EXAMPLE

   rollout webbrowser_rollout "Web Test" width:600 height:600
   (
   dotNetControl wb "System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser" pos:[10,10] width:580 height:580
   )
   createdialog webbrowser_rollout

Now, set a default URL for the browser to open at. To see what properties are available in the WebBrowser control, you can call show Properties() on the control:

CODE

   showPropertieswebbrowser_rollout.wb

RESULT

   .AccessibilityObject : <System.Windows.Forms.AccessibleObject>, read-only
   .AccessibleDefaultActionDescription : <System.String>
   .AccessibleDescription : <System.String>
   .AccessibleName : <System.String>
   .AccessibleRole : <System.Windows.Forms.AccessibleRole>
   .ActiveXInstance : <System.Object>, read-only
   .AllowDrop : <System.Boolean>
   .AllowNavigation : <System.Boolean>
   .AllowWebBrowserDrop : <System.Boolean>
   .Anchor : <System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles>
   .AutoScrollOffset : <System.Drawing.Point>
   .AutoSize : <System.Boolean>
   .BackColor : <System.Drawing.Color>
   .BackgroundImage : <System.Drawing.Image>
   .BackgroundImageLayout : <System.Windows.Forms.ImageLayout>
   .BindingContext : <System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext>
   .Bottom : <System.Int32>, read-only
   .Bounds : <System.Drawing.Rectangle>
   .CanFocus : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .CanGoBack : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .CanGoForward : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .CanSelect : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .Capture : <System.Boolean>
   .CausesValidation : <System.Boolean>
   .CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls : <System.Boolean>, static
   .ClientRectangle : <System.Drawing.Rectangle>, read-only
   .ClientSize : <System.Drawing.Size>
   .CompanyName : <System.String>, read-only
   .Container : <System.ComponentModel.IContainer>, read-only
   .ContainsFocus : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .ContextMenu : <System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu>
   .ContextMenuStrip : <System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenuStrip>
   .Controls : <System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlCollection>, read-only
   .Created : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .Cursor : <System.Windows.Forms.Cursor>
   .DataBindings : <System.Windows.Forms.ControlBindingsCollection>, read-only
   .DefaultBackColor : <System.Drawing.Color>, read-only, static
   .DefaultFont : <System.Drawing.Font>, read-only, static
   .DefaultForeColor : <System.Drawing.Color>, read-only, static
   .DisplayRectangle : <System.Drawing.Rectangle>, read-only
   .Disposing : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .Dock : <System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle>
   .Document : <System.Windows.Forms.HtmlDocument>, read-only
   .DocumentStream : <System.IO.Stream>
   .DocumentText : <System.String>
   .DocumentTitle : <System.String>, read-only
   .DocumentType : <System.String>, read-only
   .Enabled : <System.Boolean>
   .EncryptionLevel : <System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowserEncryptionLevel>, read-only
   .Focused : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .Font : <System.Drawing.Font>
   .ForeColor : <System.Drawing.Color>
   .Handle : <System.IntPtr>, read-only
   .HasChildren : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .Height : <System.Int32>
   .ImeMode : <System.Windows.Forms.ImeMode>
   .InvokeRequired : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .IsAccessible : <System.Boolean>
   .IsBusy : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .IsDisposed : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .IsHandleCreated : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .IsMirrored : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .IsOffline : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .IsWebBrowserContextMenuEnabled : <System.Boolean>
   .LayoutEngine : <System.Windows.Forms.Layout.LayoutEngine>, read-only
   .Left : <System.Int32>
   .Location : <System.Drawing.Point>
   .Margin : <System.Windows.Forms.Padding>
   .MaximumSize : <System.Drawing.Size>
   .MinimumSize : <System.Drawing.Size>
   .ModifierKeys : <System.Windows.Forms.Keys>, read-only, static
   .MouseButtons : <System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons>, read-only, static
   .MousePosition : <System.Drawing.Point>, read-only, static
   .Name : <System.String>
   .ObjectForScripting : <System.Object>
   .Padding : <System.Windows.Forms.Padding>
   .Parent : <System.Windows.Forms.Control>
   .PreferredSize : <System.Drawing.Size>, read-only
   .ProductName : <System.String>, read-only
   .ProductVersion : <System.String>, read-only
   .ReadyState : <System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowserReadyState>, read-only
   .RecreatingHandle : <System.Boolean>, read-only
   .Region : <System.Drawing.Region>
   .Right : <System.Int32>, read-only
   .RightToLeft : <System.Windows.Forms.RightToLeft>
   .ScriptErrorsSuppressed : <System.Boolean>
   .ScrollBarsEnabled : <System.Boolean>
   .Site : <System.ComponentModel.ISite>, write-only
   .Size : <System.Drawing.Size>
   .StatusText : <System.String>, read-only
   .TabIndex : <System.Int32>
   .TabStop : <System.Boolean>
   .Tag : <System.Object>
   .Text : <System.String>
   .Top : <System.Int32>
   .TopLevelControl : <System.Windows.Forms.Control>, read-only
    .UseWaitCursor : <System.Boolean> .Version : <System.Version>, read-only .Visible
                                 : <System.Boolean> .WebBrowserShortcutsEnabled : <System.Boolean> .Width : <System.Int32>
                                 .WindowTarget : <System.Windows.Forms.IWindowTarget> 
                                                    .Url : <System.Uri>

You can see that there is a property URL exposed by the control. Assume that this is the property to set for accessing a web page.

The type of the value expected by the DotNet control is System.Uri. This means that you will have to convert the URL MAXScript String value to a dotNetObject value of the expected type:

CODE

   webbrowser_rollout.wb.url = dotNetObject "System.Uri" "http://www.autodesk.com"

Now, if your computer has Internet access, the Web Browser displays the Autodesk homepage:

A Web Browser requires at least an address text field so that the user can enter other URLs. You can easily transform our first script into a more advanced Web Browser by adding a MAXScriptedittext control and some event handlers:

SCRIPT

   rollout webbrowser_rollout "Web Test" width:600 height:600
   (
   edittext edt_url "URL:" text:"http://www.autodesk.com"
   dotNetControl wb "System.Windows.forms.WebBrowser" pos:[10,22] width:580 height:570
   fn openURL urlString = (
   wb.url = dotNetObject "System.Uri" urlString )
   on edt_url entered txt do openURL txt
   on webbrowser_rollout open do openURL edt_url.text
   )
   createdialog webbrowser_rollout

Try typing in other URLs in the text field and see your Web Browser opening them.

Creating A Simple Web Browser Using DotNet

Related pages