"OrdoWebView2.ocx" WebView2 made simple

[Gianni]

Although I think the best way to use WebView2 in AutoIt would be to complete and use the work started by @LarsJ in this other @mLipok's topic, now it is possible to use WebView2 in AutoIt in a much simpler way.

This is possible thanks to this ocx control and thanks to @Danyfirex for his decisive contribution.

Now we can easily start embedding one or more WebView2 controls in our GUI in AutoIt. What we need is: the OrdoWebView2.ocx control and the \OrdoRC6 folder. These two are installed together with other programs (in the C:\Program Files (x86)\OrdoWebView2Control folder) by running the OrdoWebView2ActiveXControl.2.0.9.exe program downloadable from this link: https://freeware.ordoconcept.net/OrdoWebview2.php by clicking on "Download OrdoWebView2 SDK" at the bottom of the screen.

Or, more simply, you can find them directly attached to this post by @Danyfirex.

As explained in this post on VBForums (https://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?899415-OrdoWebview2-ActiveX-WebView2-Browser-Control-(Replacement-of-the-MS-browser-control)&p=5651133&viewfull=1#post5651133):

"On the latest versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11, only the following components are needed:

• OrdoWebView2.ocx
• OrdoRC6 folder and its contents, in the same directory as OrdoWebView2.ocx
• Finally, you need to register OrdoWebView2.ocx with regsvr32.exe OrdoWebView2.ocx".

Also:

• Our AutoIt script and the OrdoWebView2.au3 must also be in the same directory along with the above.

I have extracted the essential parts needed to create the WebView2 object from the DanyFirex's original example and grouped them into the OrdoWebView2.au3 UDF so that it can be easily included into a program. This is just a quick draft to get you started, but it can definitely be improved. Suggestions are welcome.

Here are the basic UDF and a very basic example script: Embed 4 WebView2 controls in an AutoIt GUI

More scripts to follow to test the functionality and interaction between OrdoWebView2 and AutoIt. See you later.

P.S.

Here is a reference link to the OrdoWebView2.ocx help (https://freeware.ordoconcept.net/Help/OrdoWebView2/)

OrdoWebView2.au3

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; From the following POST By DanyFirex:
; https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/204362-microsoft-edge-webview2-embed-web-code-in-your-native-application/page/9/#findComment-1542694

; ... first draft to be continue ...

#include <WinAPI.au3>
Global Const $gATL = DllOpen("ATL.DLL")
Global Const $gOleaut32 = DllOpen("oleaut32.dll")
_WinAPI_CoInitialize($COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED)

AtlAxWinInit()

Global $pProgID = SysAllocString('OrdoWebView2.OrdoWebView')

Func webview2_GUI_Create($w, $h, $x, $y, $hMain, _
        $sEventsPrefix = '', _ ; ......................... The prefix of the functions you define to handle receiving events. The prefix is appended by the Objects event name.
        $sLang = "", _ ; ................................. Language defined by the 2-letter code from ISO 639. If omitted, the chosen language will be that of the user's system.
        $bIsPrivateNavigation = False, _ ; ............... if TRUE the browser goes into private browsing mode. Default value is False
        $sBrowserInstallPath = "", _ ; ................... sets the installation directory of the WebView2 fixed version. Only considered if UseEdgeFixedVersion is TRUE.
        $sUserDataFolder = "", _ ; ....................... defines the user's browsing data directory. If empty, use default user assignment directory. Ignored if IsPrivateNavigation is true
        $sAdditionalBrowserArguments = "", _ ; ........... Allows passing parameters to the Chromium WebView2 browser through command line switches. You can find a list of Chromium Command Line Switches here
        $iAllowSingleSignOnUsingOSPrimaryAccount = 0) ; .. Determines whether to enable single sign on with Azure Active Directory

    Local $hGUI_1 = GUICreate('', $w, $h, $x, $y, $WS_POPUPWINDOW) ; BitOR($WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, $WS_CLIPSIBLINGS, $WS_CLIPCHILDREN))
    Local $hResult = AtlAxCreateControl($pProgID, $hGUI_1)
    ; _SysFreeString($pProgID)
    Local $pIUnkown = AtlAxGetControl($hGUI_1)
    ; ConsoleWrite("AtlAxGetControl: " & $pIUnkown & @CRLF)
    _WinAPI_SetParent($hGUI_1, $hMain) ; trap this child gui within the main gu
    GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hGUI_1)

    Local $oOrdoWebView2 = ObjCreateInterface($pIUnkown, "{E54909AA-1705-44A9-8235-B24F74366B3F}")
    Local $oOrdoWebViewEvents = ObjEvent($oOrdoWebView2, $sEventsPrefix, "__OrdoWebView")
    ; ConsoleWrite("$oOrdoWebView2: " & IsObj($oOrdoWebView2) & @CRLF)
    ; ConsoleWrite($oOrdoWebView2.GetWebView2Version() & @CRLF)
    ; ConsoleWrite($oOrdoWebView2.GetMostRecentInstallPath() & @CRLF)
    #cs
    $oOrdoWebView2.Anchor = True
    $oOrdoWebView2.Search_URL = "https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%1"
    $oOrdoWebView2.HomeURL = "http://www.google.com"
    $oOrdoWebView2.SearchEngine = 2
    $oOrdoWebView2.SearchAuto = True
    #ce

    $oOrdoWebView2.UseEdgeFixedVersion = False
    $oOrdoWebView2.InitEx($sLang, $bIsPrivateNavigation, $sBrowserInstallPath, $sUserDataFolder, $sAdditionalBrowserArguments, $iAllowSingleSignOnUsingOSPrimaryAccount)

    While Not $oOrdoWebView2.IsWebViewInit() ;wait initialization otherwise Navigate will fail
        Sleep(100)
    WEnd
    Local $aReturn = [$oOrdoWebView2, $hGUI_1]
    Return $aReturn ; $oOrdoWebView2

EndFunc   ;==>webview2_GUI_Create

Func AtlAxCreateControl($pProgID, $HWND)
    Local $aCall = DllCall($gATL, "long", "AtlAxCreateControl", "ptr", $pProgID, "handle", $HWND, "ptr", 0, "ptr", 0)
    If @error Then Return SetError(1, 0, -1)
    Return $aCall[0]
EndFunc   ;==>AtlAxCreateControl

Func AtlAxGetControl($HWND)
    Local $aCall = DllCall($gATL, "long", "AtlAxGetControl", "handle", $HWND, "ptr*", 0)
    If @error Then Return SetError(1, 0, -1)
    Return $aCall[2]
EndFunc   ;==>AtlAxGetControl

Func AtlAxWinInit()
    Local $aCall = DllCall($gATL, "bool", "AtlAxWinInit")
    If @error Then Return SetError(1, 0, -1)
    Return $aCall[0]
EndFunc   ;==>AtlAxWinInit

Func _SysFreeString($pBSTR)
    ; Author: Prog@ndy
    If Not $pBSTR Then Return SetError(2, 0, 0)
    DllCall($gOleaut32, "none", "SysFreeString", "ptr", $pBSTR)
    If @error Then Return SetError(1, 0, 0)
EndFunc   ;==>_SysFreeString

Func SysAllocString($str)
    ; Author: monoceres
    Local $aCall = DllCall($gOleaut32, "ptr", "SysAllocString", "wstr", $str)
    If @error Then Return SetError(1, 0, 0)
    Return $aCall[0]
EndFunc   ;==>SysAllocString

OrdoWebView2_Demo.au3

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#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include "OrdoWebView2.au3"

Global $oErrorHandler = ObjEvent("AutoIt.Error", "_ErrFunc")

_TestOrdoWebView()

Func _TestOrdoWebView()
    Local $hMain_GUI = GUICreate("Main GUI", 990, 810, -1, -1, BitOR($WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, $WS_CLIPSIBLINGS, $WS_CLIPCHILDREN))
    GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hMain_GUI)
    Local $hAutoIt_Button_1 = GUICtrlCreateButton("test", 10, 785)

    ; Create 4 controls
    Local $aWebView1 = webview2_GUI_Create(480, 380, 10, 10, $hMain_GUI)
    Local $aWebView2 = webview2_GUI_Create(480, 380, 500, 10, $hMain_GUI)
    Local $aWebView3 = webview2_GUI_Create(480, 380, 10, 400, $hMain_GUI)
    Local $aWebView4 = webview2_GUI_Create(480, 380, 500, 400, $hMain_GUI)

    ; Navigate to web pages
    $aWebView1[0].Navigate("https://www.kevs3d.co.uk/dev/js1kdragons/") ; "http://www.3quarks.com/en/SegmentDisplay/"
    $aWebView2[0].Navigate("https://gridstackjs.com/demo/anijs.html") ; "https://retejs.org/")
    $aWebView3[0].Navigate("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojBYW3ycVTE")
    $aWebView4[0].Navigate("https://freeware.ordoconcept.net/OrdoWebview2.php") ; "https://freeware.ordoconcept.net/Help/OrdoWebView2/"

    While 1
        Switch GUIGetMsg()
            Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
                ExitLoop
            Case $hAutoIt_Button_1
                MsgBox(0, 'AutoIt', 'Hi')
        EndSwitch
    WEnd

    _SysFreeString($pProgID)

    GUIDelete($aWebView1[1])
    GUIDelete($aWebView2[1])
    GUIDelete($aWebView3[1])
    GUIDelete($aWebView4[1])

    GUIDelete($hMain_GUI)

EndFunc   ;==>_TestOrdoWebView


; User's COM error function. Will be called if COM error occurs
Func _ErrFunc($oError)
    ; Do anything here.
    ConsoleWrite(@ScriptName & " (" & $oError.scriptline & ") : ==> COM Error intercepted !" & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.number is: " & @TAB & @TAB & "0x" & Hex($oError.number) & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.windescription:" & @TAB & $oError.windescription & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.description is: " & @TAB & $oError.description & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.source is: " & @TAB & @TAB & $oError.source & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.helpfile is: " & @TAB & $oError.helpfile & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.helpcontext is: " & @TAB & $oError.helpcontext & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.lastdllerror is: " & @TAB & $oError.lastdllerror & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.scriptline is: " & @TAB & $oError.scriptline & @CRLF & _
            @TAB & "err.retcode is: " & @TAB & "0x" & Hex($oError.retcode) & @CRLF & @CRLF)
EndFunc   ;==>_ErrFunc

 

Edited Friday at 03:21 PM by Gianni

[SOLVE-SMART]

Thanks @Gianni 👌 for you pretty good summary of the topic, the findings and the links.
I didn't test it yet, but I will definitely.

💡 One little (but important) hint:
Please be aware of the license of the ActiveX OrdoWebView2 Control. It's not a big deal, because it's very open and friendly regarding reusability. But still, keep in mind the licenses of third-party tools (as always).

Best regards
Sven

Edited Friday at 03:27 PM by SOLVE-SMART

[Nine]

Thanks for sharing.  I tried to register the ocx but I am getting the following error :

Any idea ?  NVM, you need to run it as admin.  That's all.

ps. works great !

Edited Friday at 05:18 PM by Nine

[SOLVE-SMART]

Sadly I get this error:

#cs
main.au3 (34) : ==> COM Error intercepted !
    err.number is:      0x00000001
    err.windescription: Failed to create object
    err.description is:     
    err.source is:      
    err.helpfile is:    
    err.helpcontext is:     
    err.lastdllerror is:    0
    err.scriptline is:  34
    err.retcode is:     0x00000000
#ce

; line 34 is:
Local $oOrdoWebView2 = ObjCreateInterface($pIUnkown, "{E54909AA-1705-44A9-8235-B24F74366B3F}")

I checked my registry for that "E54909AA-1705-44A9-8235-B24F74366B3F" IID (CLSID), but no such entry available 😔 .
I used .\OrdoWebView\OrdoRC6\RegisterRC6inPlace.vbs and .\OrdoWebView\OrdoRC6\RegisterRC6WidgetsInPlace.vbs (from the 7z archive of Danyfirex's post) to register the RC6*.dll's. I did not register .\OrdoWebView\OrdoWebView2.ocx and startet the OrdoWebView2_Demo.au3 (which is called main.au3 in my case).

👉 I use x64 Win10 (latest version, german system) and AutoIt v3.3.16.1.

Several errors appear in the console output, starting with the one above.
When I try to register the *.ocx file by regsvr32 C:\...\OrdoWebView\OrdoWebView2.ocx I get an access denied hint. I run the cmd.exe as admin, but still access denied.

I really do not want to install OrdoWebView2 SDK (OrdoWebView2ActiveXControl.2.0.9.exe), but maybe I have to?

Any suggestions are welcome - thanks.

Best regards
Sven

Edited Friday at 06:54 PM by SOLVE-SMART

[Nine]

Idk if this will make any difference, but when I registered the ocx I was inside the folder where it was located (instead of entering the full path).

ps. i did not install the SDK.  Just the .7z of Dany

pps. you need to run it x86, it does not work x64

Edited Friday at 07:25 PM by Nine

[SOLVE-SMART]

13 minutes ago, Nine said:

Idk if this will make any difference, but when I registered the ocx I was inside the folder where it was located (instead of entering the full path).

It is a difference - it works 😆 .
Thank you @Nine. I don't get it why it works in that way, but now I can see the four WebView instances in the AutoIt GUI.

Now I can start with some experiments 🎉 .

Best regards
Sven

[SOLVE-SMART]

Did you @Nine run the *.vbs scripts in the .\OrdoWebView\OrdoRC6 folder? Are they needed to be executed?
 

[Nine]

Nope, followed the instructions from @Gianni to the letter... 

[Gianni]

Indeed, no need to register anything other than OrdoWebView2.ocx
You just need a folder containing the files as shown in the figure below

\MYFOLDER
    |   OrdoWebView2.ocx
    |   OrdoWebView2.au3
    |   OrdoWebView2_Demo.au3
    |
    \---OrdoRC6
            cairo_sqlite.dll
            DirectCOM.dll
            RC6.dll
            RC6Widgets.dll
            RegisterRC6inPlace.vbs
            RegisterRC6WidgetsInPlace.vbs
            WebView2Loader.dll
           _Library-Licenses.txt
           _Version-History.txt

(You can find the necessary files in the 7z file in @Danyfirex's post as indicated in first post above)

As @Ninedid, I also did the following:

• created a folder containing necessary files as above
• opened a DOS prompt with administrative rights;
• placed the current directory where the OrdoWebView2.ocx file is located
• I typed the following command:   regsvr32 .\OrdoWebView2.ocx
• I received the popup message with the message "DllRegisterServer in .\OrdoWebView2.ocx succeeded"
• That's it,

then running the OrdoWebView2_Demo.au3 file everything worked fine

thanks all for the feedbacks

Edited Friday at 07:50 PM by Gianni

[SOLVE-SMART]

Okay fine, nice.

Now the Events are interesting (for me). Especially "JSAsyncResult", like you already wrote in the VB forum @Gianni.
It should be possibile to interact with html elements based on JS events/interactions/modifications, am I right?

This will be really nice, because I would not need a AutoIt WebServer anymore to have nice looking UIs with a AutoIt backend 😀 .

Best regards
Sven

[SOLVE-SMART]

Everytime I would use OrdoWebView in a different project (folder) with different name, I have to regsvr32 .\OrdoWebView2.ocx from the cmd.exe (as admin) again. This is quite annoying. I guess I will make a init routine to do this automatically in case the path is not registered yet.

----------------------

I realized that not all files in OrdoRC6 are necessary (at least not right now for the demo).
My folder structure (template) looks like this at the moment.

Spoiler

autoit-webview
|   .gitignore
|   .prettierrc.json
|   LICENSE.md
|   package.json
|   README.md
|
+---build
|       .gitkeep
|
+---lib
|   |   draft-udf.au3 (previously OrdoWebView2_Demo.au3)
|   |
|   \---OrdoWebView2
|       |   license.md
|       |   OrdoWebView2.ocx
|       |
|       \---OrdoRC6
|               cairo_sqlite.dll
|               DirectCOM.dll
|               RC6.dll
|               third-party-licenses.md
|               WebView2Loader.dll
|
\---src
    |   main.au3
    |
    +---handler
    |       .gitkeep
    |
    +---maps
    |       .gitkeep
    |
    \---utils
            .gitkeep

 

Btw: Ignore the ".gitkeep" files.

----------------------

Anyhow, I am curious how far we as community can and will go with OrdoWebView2 😀 .

Best regards
Sven

Edited Friday at 09:43 PM by SOLVE-SMART

[Nine]

Maybe remove .\  As far as I tested it, I can use the ocx everywhere like this :

#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include "..\OrdoWebView\OrdoWebView2.au3"

Works everywhere, even on full path...

[Gianni]

A first attempt at interaction between AutoIt and OrdoWebView2
it seems to me that some small anomalies occur (but maybe it's me who doesn't use them correctly), such as: the value of an AutoIt variable set by reading the value of a property of a browser object is not immediately available in AutoIt, but delays must be inserted before reading its value.
However, I have set 3 callback functions related to the following events: "navigation completed"; "zoom change" and "asynchronous JS result".
In particular, this last event should be executed only if you use the execution of a javascript script using the RunJsAsync() method. well, although I have not used that method in the AutoIt script but have only used the RunJs() method, I see that the JSAsyncResult callback function is occasionally executed anyway (?).
Well, this test script uses a web page that contains a "label" where the text changes to "I'm not a robot" only when the three red cubes have been clicked. (You could use this as a sort of graphical "CAPTCHA"). You can rotate the cube by dragging with the mouse so that any red cubes that are "on the back" come to the forefront so that you can click them.
The interaction with AutoIt consists of reading the value of that JS field to check when it changes to "I'm not a robot" and acting accordingly in AutoIt.
It seems to work, but I think I still need to dig deeper into this functionality.
The zoom change event is executed when the browser zoom is changed. To change the zoom you can hold down the "ctrl" key on the keyboard and simultaneously rotate the mouse wheel up or down. To reset the zoom to 100% press "ctrl" and zero on the numpad.
Here is the "experiment".

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#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include "OrdoWebView2.au3"

Global $bReloaded = False ; to be used in NavigationCompleted callback function

_TestOrdoWebView()

Func _TestOrdoWebView()

    Local $hMain_GUI = GUICreate("Main GUI", 500, 520, -1, -1, BitOR($WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, $WS_CLIPSIBLINGS, $WS_CLIPCHILDREN))
    Local $hButton1 = GUICtrlCreateButton("I give up", 10, 495, 480, 20)

    GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hMain_GUI)

    Local $aEBWebView1 = webview2_GUI_Create(480, 480, 10, 10, $hMain_GUI, "_OrdoWebView_") ; 6° parameter: Events Callback funcion name prefix

    ; a javascript function to be injected in Document for a later use from AutoIt via .RunJs or .RunJsAsync
    $aEBWebView1[0].AddScriptToExecuteOnDocumentCreated("function getQSValue(qsExpr){return document.getElementById((qsExpr)).innerHTML}")
    ; Load web page
    $aEBWebView1[0].Navigate("https://shzlw.github.io/design/I-am-not-a-robot.html")

    While 1
        Switch GUIGetMsg()
            Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
                ExitLoop

            Case $hButton1
                MsgBox(0, 'AutoIt', "Test failed. Goodbye")
                ExitLoop
        EndSwitch

        If $aEBWebView1[0].RunJs("getQSValue", "label") = "I'm not a robot" Then
            MsgBox(0, 'AutoIt', "Great! You are not a robot. Welcome human!")
            $aEBWebView1[0].Reload

            Do
                ConsoleWrite('.')
            Until $bReloaded
            $bReloaded = False
            ; if there is not this MsgBox to produce a long delay sometimes the reload is executed twice
            MsgBox(0, 'AutoIt', "Play again")
        EndIf

    WEnd
    _SysFreeString($pProgID)
    GUIDelete($aEBWebView1[1])
    GUIDelete($hMain_GUI)
EndFunc   ;==>_TestOrdoWebView

; --- CallBack functions ---
Volatile Func _OrdoWebView_NavigationCompleted($IsSuccess, $WebErrorStatus)
    ConsoleWrite("_OrdoWebView_NavigationCompleted" & @CRLF)
    $bReloaded = True
EndFunc   ;==>_OrdoWebView_NavigationCompleted

Volatile Func _OrdoWebView_ZoomChanged($iValue)
    ConsoleWrite("New Zoom Value is : " & $iValue & @CRLF)
    TrayTip("Zoom changed", "New zoom value is: " & $iValue, 3, 17)
EndFunc   ;==>_OrdoWebView_ZoomChanged

Volatile Func _OrdoWebView_JSAsyncResult($vResult, $vToken, $sErrString)
    ConsoleWrite("Javascript result: " & $vResult & @CRLF & $vToken & @CRLF & $sErrString & @CRLF)
EndFunc   ;==>_OrdoWebView_JSAsyncResult