[VB6] czWebview — Full-Featured WebView2 UserControl (No OCX, No Registration)
czWebview — Full-Featured WebView2 UserControl for VB6
Embed modern web content (HTML5, CSS3, ES6+) in your VB6 applications using the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime. Zero external dependencies beyond a single DLL, no OCX registration required — just add the source files to your project and go.
GitHub Repository • MIT License
Why another WebView2 control?
Existing solutions for embedding a modern browser in VB6 are either commercial, require OCX registration, or don't expose enough of the WebView2 API. czWebview takes a different approach:
- Pure source-code embed — just add one .ctl, one .cls, and one .tlb to your project. No registration, no installer headaches.
- Complete API surface — 44 callback interfaces, 29 events, 34 public methods, and 48 properties. This matches (and is inspired by) wqweto's excellent cWebView2 class.
- Synchronous & Asynchronous — Execute JavaScript and get results synchronously via a message pump, or go fully async with event-based callbacks.
- Bidirectional JavaScript Bridge — PostWebMessage / chrome.webview.postMessage for clean VB6 ? JS communication.
- Host Objects — Expose your VB6 COM objects directly to JavaScript.
Feature Highlights
- Navigation — Navigate, GoBack, GoForward, Reload, Stop, NavigateToString (render HTML directly), synchronous NavigateSync
- JavaScript Execution — ExecuteScript (sync with JSON result), ExecuteScriptAsync, AddScriptToExecuteOnDocumentCreated
- Print & Capture — PrintToPdf, ShowPrintUI (browser or system dialog), CapturePreview (screenshot as PNG/JPG byte array)
- Cookie Management — GetCookies, AddOrUpdateCookie, DeleteCookies, DeleteAllCookies
- Downloads — DownloadStarting event with custom file path support
- DevTools Protocol — CallDevToolsProtocolMethod for direct CDP calls (device emulation, network throttling, etc.)
- Resource Filtering — AddWebResourceRequestedFilter + WebResourceRequested event for ad-blocking, request interception, etc.
- Virtual Host Mapping — Serve local files via SetVirtualHostNameToFolderMapping (e.g., map "app.local" ? App.Path & "\www")
- Authentication — BasicAuthenticationRequested event
- Permissions — PermissionRequested event (camera, mic, geolocation, etc.)
- Script Dialogs — ScriptDialogOpening event (intercept alert/confirm/prompt)
- Memory Management — TrySuspend / ResumeFromSuspend for background tabs
- Browsing Data — ClearBrowsingData (cache, cookies, history, passwords, and more)
- UI Control — Mute/unmute audio, zoom control, user agent customization, status bar, full-screen detection, context menu events
Requirements
- VB6 IDE (SP6 recommended)
- WebView2 Runtime — pre-installed on Windows 10 (1803+) and Windows 11
- WebView2Loader.dll — included in the repository (~115 KB, x86)
- czWebview.tlb — pre-compiled and included, or rebuild with the included compile_tlb.bat (requires Windows SDK / MIDL)
Quick Start
1. Add to your project:
Code:
Project ? Add User Control ? Existing ? select src\czWebview.ctl
Project ? Add Class Module ? Existing ? select src\czWebviewCallback.cls
Project ? References ? Browse ? select typelib\czWebview.tlb
Place WebView2Loader.dll next to your .exe (or in App.Path)
2. Handle events:
[CODE=vb6]
Private Sub czWebview1_InitComplete(ByVal Success As Boolean, ByVal ErrorCode As Long)
If Success Then
czWebview1.Navigate "https://www.google.com"
Else
MsgBox "WebView2 init failed: &H" & Hex$(ErrorCode), vbCritical
End If
End Sub
Private Sub czWebview1_TitleChanged(ByVal Title As String)
Me.Caption = Title
End Sub
Private Sub czWebview1_NavigationCompleted(ByVal IsSuccess As Boolean, ByVal WebErrorStatus As Long)
lblStatus.Caption = IIf(IsSuccess, "Done", "Error: " & WebErrorStatus)
End Sub
Private Sub czWebview1_WebMessageReceived(ByVal Message As String, ByVal IsJSON As Boolean)
Debug.Print "From JS: " & Message
End Sub
[/CODE]
3. JavaScript Bridge:
[CODE=vb6]
' VB6 ? JavaScript
Dim result As String
result = czWebview1.ExecuteScript("document.title")
' result = """My Page Title"""
' Send message to page
czWebview1.PostWebMessageAsString "Hello from VB6!"
czWebview1.PostWebMessageAsJSON "{""action"":""update"",""value"":42}"
[/CODE]
[CODE=javascript]
// JavaScript ? VB6
chrome.webview.postMessage("Hello from JavaScript!");
// Listen for messages from VB6
chrome.webview.addEventListener('message', function(e) {
console.log('From VB6:', e.data);
});
[/CODE]
More Examples
Screenshot to file:
[CODE=vb6]
Dim baPng() As Byte
baPng = czWebview1.CapturePreview(czCaptureAs_PNG)
Open "screenshot.png" For Binary As #1
Put #1, , baPng
Close #1
[/CODE]
Save page as PDF:
[CODE=vb6]
If czWebview1.PrintToPdf("C:\output\page.pdf") Then
MsgBox "PDF saved!"
End If
[/CODE]
Cookie management:
[CODE=vb6]
' Add a cookie
czWebview1.AddOrUpdateCookie "session", "abc123", ".example.com", "/", , True, True
' Get all cookies for a URL
Dim cCookies As Collection
Set cCookies = czWebview1.GetCookies("https://example.com")
Dim cItem As Collection
For Each cItem In cCookies
Debug.Print cItem("Name") & " = " & cItem("Value")
Next
' Clear all cookies
czWebview1.DeleteAllCookies
[/CODE]
Block specific URLs (ad-blocking, etc.):
[CODE=vb6]
Private Sub Form_Load()
czWebview1.AddWebResourceRequestedFilter "*.ads.example.com/*"
End Sub
Private Sub czWebview1_WebResourceRequested(ByVal URI As String, _
ByVal ResourceContext As czWebView2ResourceFilter, _
Permit As czWebView2PermissionState)
Permit = czPERMISSION_STATE_DENY
End Sub
[/CODE]
Serve local files via virtual hostname:
[CODE=vb6]
czWebview1.SetVirtualHostNameToFolderMapping "app.local", App.Path & "\www", czHostResourceAccess_ALLOW
czWebview1.Navigate "https://app.local/index.html"
[/CODE]
DevTools Protocol — Emulate mobile device:
[CODE=vb6]
Dim sResult As String
sResult = czWebview1.CallDevToolsProtocolMethod("Emulation.setDeviceMetricsOverride", _
"{""width"":375,""height"":812,""deviceScaleFactor"":3,""mobile"":true}")
[/CODE]
Project Structure
Code:
czWebview/
??? src/
? ??? czWebview.ctl ' Main UserControl — public API
? ??? czWebviewCallback.cls ' Internal callback handler (44 interfaces)
??? typelib/
? ??? czWebview.odl ' Interface definitions (ODL source)
? ??? czWebview.tlb ' Compiled type library
? ??? compile_tlb.bat ' Auto-compile script (uses MIDL)
??? External/
? ??? WebView2Loader.dll ' Microsoft x86 loader (~115 KB)
??? demo/
? ??? SimpleTest/ ' Simple browser demo
? ??? WhatsappBot/ ' WhatsApp Web bot demo
??? README.md
Included Demos
- SimpleTest — A minimal browser with navigation (back, forward, reload, address bar). Good starting point to see how the control works.
- WhatsappBot — A practical demo showing WhatsApp Web automation via JavaScript bridge. Demonstrates real-world usage of ExecuteScript, WebMessageReceived, and DOM interaction.
Architecture Notes
The control is split into two files for clean separation of concerns:
- czWebview.ctl (~1,650 lines) — The public-facing UserControl. Contains all properties, methods, events, and the synchronous message pump (SpinThreadMessagePump) that enables blocking calls while still allowing COM callbacks to arrive.
- czWebviewCallback.cls — Implements all 44 COM callback interfaces required by the WebView2 API. Events are forwarded to the UserControl via Friend subs.
This design keeps the callback plumbing out of your face — you only interact with the clean .ctl API surface.
Credits
- Interface patterns inspired by cWebView2 by wqweto
- WebView2 Runtime by Microsoft
License
MIT — use it, modify it, ship it. No restrictions.
Source code and full documentation on GitHub: https://github.com/cyberzilla/czWebview
Feedback, bug reports, and contributions are welcome! :cool:
