Use latest version of Internet Explorer in the webbrowser control
The default version of the webbrowser control in a C# Windows Forms application is 7. I have changed to 9 by the article Browser Emulation, but how is it possible to use the latest version of the installed Internet Explorer in a webbrowser control?
I saw Veer's answer. I think it's right, but it did not I work for me. Maybe I am using .NET 4 and am using 64x OS so kindly check this.
You may put in setup or check it in start-up of your application:
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var appName = Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName + ".exe";
SetIE8KeyforWebBrowserControl(appName);
}
private void SetIE8KeyforWebBrowserControl(string appName)
{
RegistryKey Regkey = null;
try
{
// For 64 bit machine
if (Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem)
Regkey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\Main\\FeatureControl\\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION", true);
else //For 32 bit machine
Regkey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\Main\\FeatureControl\\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION", true);
// If the path is not correct or
// if the user haven't priviledges to access the registry
if (Regkey == null)
{
MessageBox.Show("Application Settings Failed - Address Not found");
return;
}
string FindAppkey = Convert.ToString(Regkey.GetValue(appName));
// Check if key is already present
if (FindAppkey == "8000")
{
MessageBox.Show("Required Application Settings Present");
Regkey.Close();
return;
}
// If a key is not present add the key, Key value 8000 (decimal)
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(FindAppkey))
Regkey.SetValue(appName, unchecked((int)0x1F40), RegistryValueKind.DWord);
// Check for the key after adding
FindAppkey = Convert.ToString(Regkey.GetValue(appName));
if (FindAppkey == "8000")
MessageBox.Show("Application Settings Applied Successfully");
else
MessageBox.Show("Application Settings Failed, Ref: " + FindAppkey);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Application Settings Failed");
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
finally
{
// Close the Registry
if (Regkey != null)
Regkey.Close();
}
}
You may find messagebox.show, just for testing.
Keys are as the following:
11001 (0x2AF9) - Internet Explorer 11. Webpages are displayed in IE11 edge mode, regardless of the
!DOCTYPEdirective.11000 (0x2AF8) - Internet Explorer 11. Webpages containing standards-based
!DOCTYPEdirectives are displayed in IE11 edge mode. Default value for IE11.10001 (0x2711)- Internet Explorer 10. Webpages are displayed in IE10 Standards mode, regardless of the
!DOCTYPEdirective.10000 (0x2710)- Internet Explorer 10. Webpages containing standards-based
!DOCTYPEdirectives are displayed in IE10 Standards mode. Default value for Internet Explorer 10.9999 (0x270F) - Internet Explorer 9. Webpages are displayed in IE9 Standards mode, regardless of the
!DOCTYPEdirective.9000 (0x2328) - Internet Explorer 9. Webpages containing standards-based
!DOCTYPEdirectives are displayed in IE9 mode.8888 (0x22B8) - Webpages are displayed in IE8 Standards mode, regardless of the
!DOCTYPEdirective.8000 (0x1F40) - Webpages containing standards-based
!DOCTYPEdirectives are displayed in IE8 mode.7000 (0x1B58) - Webpages containing standards-based
!DOCTYPEdirectives are displayed in IE7 Standards mode.
Reference: MSDN: Internet Feature Controls
I saw applications like Skype use 10001. I do not know.
NOTE
The setup application will change the registry. You may need to add a line in the Manifest File to avoid errors due to permissions of change in registry:
<requestedExecutionLevel level="highestAvailable" uiAccess="false" />
UPDATE 1
This is a class will get the latest version of IE on windows and make changes as should be;
public class WebBrowserHelper
{
public static int GetEmbVersion()
{
int ieVer = GetBrowserVersion();
if (ieVer > 9)
return ieVer * 1000 + 1;
if (ieVer > 7)
return ieVer * 1111;
return 7000;
} // End Function GetEmbVersion
public static void FixBrowserVersion()
{
string appName = System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
FixBrowserVersion(appName);
}
public static void FixBrowserVersion(string appName)
{
FixBrowserVersion(appName, GetEmbVersion());
} // End Sub FixBrowserVersion
// FixBrowserVersion("<YourAppName>", 9000);
public static void FixBrowserVersion(string appName, int ieVer)
{
FixBrowserVersion_Internal("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", appName + ".exe", ieVer);
FixBrowserVersion_Internal("HKEY_CURRENT_USER", appName + ".exe", ieVer);
FixBrowserVersion_Internal("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", appName + ".vshost.exe", ieVer);
FixBrowserVersion_Internal("HKEY_CURRENT_USER", appName + ".vshost.exe", ieVer);
} // End Sub FixBrowserVersion
private static void FixBrowserVersion_Internal(string root, string appName, int ieVer)
{
try
{
//For 64 bit Machine
if (Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem)
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue(root + @"\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION", appName, ieVer);
else //For 32 bit Machine
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue(root + @"\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION", appName, ieVer);
}
catch (Exception)
{
// some config will hit access rights exceptions
// this is why we try with both LOCAL_MACHINE and CURRENT_USER
}
} // End Sub FixBrowserVersion_Internal
public static int GetBrowserVersion()
{
// string strKeyPath = @"HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer";
string strKeyPath = @"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer";
string[] ls = new string[] { "svcVersion", "svcUpdateVersion", "Version", "W2kVersion" };
int maxVer = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < ls.Length; ++i)
{
object objVal = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.GetValue(strKeyPath, ls[i], "0");
string strVal = System.Convert.ToString(objVal);
if (strVal != null)
{
int iPos = strVal.IndexOf('.');
if (iPos > 0)
strVal = strVal.Substring(0, iPos);
int res = 0;
if (int.TryParse(strVal, out res))
maxVer = Math.Max(maxVer, res);
} // End if (strVal != null)
} // Next i
return maxVer;
} // End Function GetBrowserVersion
}
using of class as followed
WebBrowserHelper.FixBrowserVersion();
WebBrowserHelper.FixBrowserVersion("SomeAppName");
WebBrowserHelper.FixBrowserVersion("SomeAppName",intIeVer);
you may face a problem for in comparability of windows 10, may due to your website itself you may need to add this meta tag
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=11" >
Enjoy :)
Using the values from MSDN:
int BrowserVer, RegVal;
// get the installed IE version
using (WebBrowser Wb = new WebBrowser())
BrowserVer = Wb.Version.Major;
// set the appropriate IE version
if (BrowserVer >= 11)
RegVal = 11001;
else if (BrowserVer == 10)
RegVal = 10001;
else if (BrowserVer == 9)
RegVal = 9999;
else if (BrowserVer == 8)
RegVal = 8888;
else
RegVal = 7000;
// set the actual key
using (RegistryKey Key = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION", RegistryKeyPermissionCheck.ReadWriteSubTree))
if (Key.GetValue(System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName + ".exe") == null)
Key.SetValue(System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName + ".exe", RegVal, RegistryValueKind.DWord);