What exactly am I implementing when using WebKit in C #?

Question

As I understand it, both Safari and Chrome use WebKit. There are many projects that allow you to embed WebKit, but I want to really want to embed Chrome (for Windows) in a C # application so that my application displays equally in Chrome on Windows.

So, when I embed, say, AwesomiumDotNet , will there be rendering, CSS support, Javascript engine, font rendering, etc. Chrome for Windows or the basic WebKit engine?

WebKit presumably doesn't handle things like font and rendering control, or Chrome and Safari on Windows look the same, and yet they don't (Safari has this fuzzy text thing, among other differences).

So, is WebKit responsible for the layout and calculated styles, and does a browser built on top of WebKit provide the actual rendering? Or is it even more so that the projects used by Apple and Google have long been distorted, and why are they different?

Answer 1

WebKit handles all these things and actually has its own JS engine (JavaScriptCore). In fact, it also makes controls, etc., although in a different way than you might expect. Safari and Chrome really look different, but that is because they both have different WebKit implementations. AwesomiumDotNet provides its own implementation (like Chrome and Safari) of rendering management.

In every sense and purpose, when you insert AwesomiumDotNet, you implement a full, pre-built browser. However, WebKit itself does not have to use each of the components of a full browser. For example, Chrome implements its own JavaScript engine (V8).

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Chrome cannot be embedded in a C # application. You can look at the Chromium Source and convert it to a COM or ActiveX object, but this is probably too much trouble. Instead, you can try pasting a WebBrowser object and see if you can get a Chrome Frame to work on it.

Update: perhaps this is what Awesomium is .... Not sure if it wraps Webkit or wraps Chromium though.