How to Configure "Gecko" with Vb.NET Forms Application

Question

I have been given a task to integrate Gecko browser component to a existing winform control, but the issue i m facing is how to configure dll, I am trying with different version as well, but no luck, at point it does not load dll and gives the error

Unable to find an entry point named 'NS_Alloc' in DLL 'xul'.

I have downloaded separately from given link. Xulrunner the latest and also the 29 but it says ,

An error occurred creating the form. See Exception.InnerException for details. The error is: Unable to load DLL 'xul': The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Xml Imports Gecko Imports Microsoft.Win32

Public Class Form1

Public Sub New()
    InitializeComponent()
    'D:\xulrunner\bin
    Xpcom.Initialize("D:\\xulrunner\\") 'xulrunner
    'Xpcom.Initialize("C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\")
End Sub

End Class

please help me out if anybody has already done with that.

Answer 1

Finally I managed to do so,

At the time of writing, I choose the latest version GeckoFX-33.0, and XULRunner 33.1. ,

• Unpack the GeckoFX-330.zip, you will get below files:

• GeckoFx Files

• Add references to the dlls as shown above, click browse and select the Geckofx-Core.dll and Geckofx-Winforms.dll

• In the toolbox, right click, and then select “Choose Item”, select Geckofx-Winforms.dll, and the Gecko winform control will be shown in the toolbox
• Drag a GeckoWebBrowser control to the winform designer, and let’s call it “browse”

• In the form1.cs file, add below code: AND FINALLY CODE:

              using System;
          using System.Collections.Generic;
          using System.ComponentModel;
          using System.Data;
          using System.Drawing;
          using System.Linq;
          using System.Text;
          using System.Windows.Forms;
          using System.Drawing.Printing;
  
          namespace GECKO_FORMS
          {
              public partial class Form1 : Form
              {
                  Bitmap bitmap;
                  Bitmap memoryImage;
                  public Form1()
                  {
                      InitializeComponent();
                      Gecko.Xpcom.Initialize(@"D:\\xulrunner\bin\\");
                  }              
                  private void cmdbrowse_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
                  {
                      try
                      {
                          if (browse.IsBusy == false)
                          {
                              browse.Navigate(textBox1.Text);
                          }
                          else
                          {
                              lbox.Items.Add(browse.StatusText);
                              lbox.Items.Add(browse.History);
                          }               
                      }
                      catch (Exception ex)
                      {
                          MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
                      }
                  }
  
                  private void cmdstop_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
                  {
                      browse.Stop();
                  }
  
                                                                  private void browse_ProgressChanged(object sender, Gecko.GeckoProgressEventArgs e)
  {
      lbox.Items.Add(e.CurrentProgress + " of " + e.MaximumProgress);
  }
                                                                                                                                  private void CaptureScreen()
  {
      Graphics myGraphics = this.CreateGraphics();
      Size s = this.Size;
      memoryImage = new Bitmap(s.Width, s.Height, myGraphics);
      Graphics memoryGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(memoryImage);
      memoryGraphics.CopyFromScreen(this.Location.X, this.Location.Y, 0, 0, s);
  }
  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  private void cmdprint_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
  {
      try
      {
          CaptureScreen();
          pDoc.Print();
          ////Add a Panel control.
          //Panel panel = new Panel();
          //this.Controls.Add(panel);
          ////Create a Bitmap of size same as that of the Form.
          //Graphics grp = panel.CreateGraphics();
          //Size formSize = this.ClientSize;
          //bitmap = new Bitmap(formSize.Width, formSize.Height, grp);
          //grp = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap);
  
          ////Copy screen area that that the Panel covers.
          //Point panelLocation = PointToScreen(panel.Location);
          //grp.CopyFromScreen(panelLocation.X, panelLocation.Y, 0, 0, formSize);
  
          ////Show the Print Preview Dialog.
          //ppd.Document = pDoc;
          //ppd.PrintPreviewControl.Zoom = 1;
          //ppd.ShowDialog();
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
      }
  }        
  
                                                                  private void pDoc_PrintPage(object sender, System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e)
  {
      e.Graphics.DrawImage(bitmap, 0, 0);
  }
              }
          }
  

• Here is output: