Web Browser Control in WPF

Question

My goal is similar to this question
But still I didn't get answer to my problem

So, I need make an app with WYSIWYG HTML editing support for designing and generating report template. And like question above, I used WebBrowser control in WPF. The biggest problem is WPF WebBrowser always set null to HTML body after designMode set to on. So I host WinForm WebBrowser into my app. And to set or to get HTML document to be processed from WebBrowser is incredibly hard.

Q:

1. Is there any way to make this (HTML Editor using WebBrowser Control) happen using WPF without change to WinForm ?
2. Or, if not. Is there any workaround, article, code or any whatever to make WYSIWYG HTML Editor with visual editor ?

UPDATE:
I have these 2 attached property for MVVM purposes. So I can get/set HTML with HTMLSource and set Design Mode when app launched.

IsDesignMode

public static readonly DependencyProperty IsDesignModeProperty =
    DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("IsDesignMode", typeof (Boolean), typeof (WebBrowserHelper),
                                        new UIPropertyMetadata(false, IsDesignModePropertyChanged));

public static Boolean GetIsDesignMode(DependencyObject obj)
{
    return (Boolean)obj.GetValue(IsDesignModeProperty);
}

public static void SetIsDesignMode(DependencyObject obj, Boolean value)
{
    obj.SetValue(IsDesignModeProperty, value);
}

public static void IsDesignModePropertyChanged(DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
{
    WebBrowser browser = obj as WebBrowser;
    if (browser != null)
    {
        Boolean designMode = (Boolean) args.NewValue;
        if(designMode)
        {
            browser.LoadCompleted += (s, e) =>
            {
                var htmlDoc = (s as WebBrowser).Document as IHTMLDocument2;
                htmlDoc.body.setAttribute("contenteditable", "true");
                htmlDoc.designMode = "On";
            };
        }
        else
        {
            browser.LoadCompleted += (s, e) =>
            {
                var htmlDoc = (s as WebBrowser).Document as IHTMLDocument2;
                htmlDoc.body.setAttribute("contenteditable", "false");
                htmlDoc.designMode = "Off";
            };
        }
    }
}

HTMLSource

public static readonly DependencyProperty HTMLSourceProperty =
    DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("HTMLSource", typeof (String), typeof (WebBrowserHelper),
                                        new UIPropertyMetadata(null, HTMLSourcePropertyChanged));

public static String GetHTMLSource(DependencyObject obj)
{
    return (String)obj.GetValue(HTMLSourceProperty);
}

public static void SetHTMLSource(DependencyObject obj, String value)
{
    obj.SetValue(HTMLSourceProperty, value);
}

public static void HTMLSourcePropertyChanged(DependencyObject o, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
{
    WebBrowser browser = o as WebBrowser;
    if (browser != null)
    {
        browser.NavigateToString(args.NewValue as String);
    }
}

VIEW

<UserControl x:Class="Delay.View.LayoutView"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:browser="clr-namespace:Delay.Helper"
             xmlns:cal="http://www.caliburnproject.org"
             xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity">
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <Style x:Key="ButtonStyle" TargetType="Button">
            <Setter Property="Width" Value="100" />
            <Setter Property="Height" Value="40" />
            <Setter Property="Margin" Value="2.5,0" />
            <Setter Property="ContentTemplate">
                <Setter.Value>
                    <DataTemplate>
                        <StackPanel>
                            <ContentPresenter Content="{TemplateBinding Content}"
                                              TextBlock.FontSize="15" />
                        </StackPanel>
                    </DataTemplate>
                </Setter.Value>
            </Setter>
        </Style>
    </UserControl.Resources>
    <Grid Background="Lavender">
        <DockPanel>
            <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Center" Text="Layout Designer"
                       DockPanel.Dock="Top" FontSize="20" />
            <WebBrowser Name="webBrowser" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" DockPanel.Dock="Top" Margin="8" Height="435"
                        browser:WebBrowserHelper.HTMLSource="{Binding HtmlPage}" browser:WebBrowserHelper.IsDesignMode="True" />
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" HorizontalAlignment="Center">
                <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="5,0">
                    <ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding LayoutTags}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedTag}"
                              HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Margin="0,5" MinWidth="100">
                        <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
                            <DataTemplate>
                                <TextBlock FontSize="12" Text="{Binding TagName}" />
                            </DataTemplate>
                        </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
                    </ComboBox>
                    <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding LayoutValueTypes}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedType}"
                             Width="{Binding ElementName=cmbTag, Path=ActualWidth}" Height="70">
                        <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                            <DataTemplate>
                                <TextBlock FontSize="12" Text="{Binding TypeName}" />
                            </DataTemplate>
                        </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                    </ListBox>
                </StackPanel>
                <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
                    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                        <CheckBox Name="IsDesignMode" Content="Design Mode" TextBlock.FontSize="12">
                            <i:Interaction.Triggers>
                                <i:EventTrigger EventName="Checked">
                                    <cal:ActionMessage MethodName="DesignModeOnOff">
                                        <cal:Parameter Value="{Binding ElementName=webBrowser}" />
                                        <cal:Parameter Value="{Binding IsDesignMode}" />
                                    </cal:ActionMessage>
                                </i:EventTrigger>
                            </i:Interaction.Triggers>
                        </CheckBox>
                    </StackPanel>
                    <Button Name="PutComponent" Style="{StaticResource ButtonStyle}"
                         Content="Put" />
                    <Button Name="SaveLayout" Style="{StaticResource ButtonStyle}"
                        Content="Save" />
                </StackPanel>
            </StackPanel>
        </DockPanel>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Answer 1

Did you try some open source alternatives instead of the WInForms one?

I think this one has good interaction, and can handle javascript callbacks into wpf too.

http://wpfchromium.codeplex.com/

Answer 2

I wrote a very simple WPF app that used an embedded resource as HTML and included the following code:

  Stream s = GetType().Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("WpfApplication5.HTMLPage1.htm");
  webBrowser1.NavigateToStream(s);
  IHTMLDocument2 doc = webBrowser1.Document as IHTMLDocument2;
  doc.designMode = "On";

The code worked as expected an I could edit the content of the page - it was not nulled out once I set it to designMode as you suggested. Perhaps start with the code above and check you can get that to work.