Question

I’m trying to use WebBrowser class, but of course it doesn’t work.

My code:

WebBrowser browser = new WebBrowser();
browser.Navigate("http://www.google.com");

while(browser.DocumentText == "")
{
    continue;
}
string html = browser.DocumentText;

browser.DocumentText is always "". Why?

Answer 1

The WebBrowser isn’t going to do it’s job until the current thread finishes it’s work, if you changed it to be something like this:

        WebBrowser browser = new WebBrowser();
        browser.Navigate("http://www.google.com");
        browser.Navigated += (s, e) =>
            {
                var html = browser.DocumentText;
            };

The variable will be set.

But, as others have mentioned, the document completed is a better event to attach to, as at that time, the entire document will be completed (appropriate name!)

        WebBrowser browser = new WebBrowser();
        browser.Navigate("http://www.google.com");

        browser.DocumentCompleted += (s, e) =>
            {
                var html = browser.DocumentText;
                html.ToString();
            };