I'm posting another answer to the question as this involves a completely different approach.
The Context
When JavaScript tries to access the location object in IE 10 you are presented with the security bar asking for you to allow the access to your location. The difference for a file which is on the local drive or a network share is that you are not presented with the option to always allow access, but only once (Allow once).
For whatever reason, this security bar doesn't show up in the WebBrowser
control (even if I've tried setting the Information Bar Handling for the aplication's .exe
, but it seems not to have any effect).
This is why every time when the script executes nothing happens in the web browser control. It is actually blocked by the information bar.
The Solution
What needs to be done:
Emulate a web server inside the application. I've used a Simple C# Web Server class to serve the content. This way, even if there is no web server on the local machine, we may intercept requests to a specific URL address and port and serve the content we want to.
Add the test1.html
document to the project and use it's content in the server response. Just add the file into your project, next to the "Program.cs" file and set it's Copy to Output Directory property value to Copy always.
How It Works
First, we need to instantiate a web browser control. Then, navigate to the test1.html
file. When the document is loaded, we first check if the web server is not instantiated. If this, we create an instance of it and then we read and store the web browser's HTMl source in the response
variable, which we pass to the WebServer
constructor.
The http://localhost:9999
registers the HttpListener
to that prefix, so every request to this address will be served by our simple web server.
Next, we navigate to that address. When the web server will receive the request, it will deliver the content of the _staticContent
variable, which had it's value assigned in the web server's constructor.
After the server delivers the document to the web browser, the webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted
handler is triggered. But this time, we already have the web server's instance, so execution goes through the else
branch. The important thing to notice is that we will asynchronously wait for the JavaScript to execute, get the location and save it to the hidden input
elements in the HTML.
One important remark: the first time you launch the application you will not get any location. You first have to leave the application open, so that you have the custom HTTP listener available, and then, perform the steps I described in my other answer, the browsing location being http://localhost:9999
. Once you do that, close and reopen the application.
That's it. Everytime you run the application, you will get the location coordinates in a message box.
The Form1
class file (Form1.cs):
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
WebServer _ws;
WebBrowser _webBrowser1;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
_webBrowser1 = new WebBrowser();
_webBrowser1.Visible = false;
var location = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
_webBrowser1.Navigate(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location) + @"est1.html");
_webBrowser1.DocumentCompleted += webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted;
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
async void webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e)
{
if (_ws == null)
{
var html = _webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("html");
var response = html[0].OuterHtml;
_ws = new WebServer(response, "http://localhost:9999/");
_ws.Run();
_webBrowser1.Navigate("http://localhost:9999/");
}
else
{
string latitude = "";
string longitude = "";
await Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
while (string.IsNullOrEmpty(latitude))
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
if (this.InvokeRequired)
{
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
var latitudeEl = _webBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("latitude");
var longitudeEl = _webBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("longitude");
latitude = latitudeEl.GetAttribute("value");
longitude = longitudeEl.GetAttribute("value");
});
}
}
});
MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Latitude: {0} Longitude: {1}", latitude, longitude));
}
}
// credits for this class go to David
// http://www.codehosting.net/blog/BlogEngine/post/Simple-C-Web-Server.aspx
public class WebServer
{
private readonly HttpListener _listener = new HttpListener();
static string _staticContent;
public WebServer(string[] prefixes, string content)
{
_staticContent = content;
foreach (string s in prefixes)
_listener.Prefixes.Add(s);
_listener.Start();
}
public WebServer(string content, params string[] prefixes)
: this(prefixes, content) { }
public void Run()
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((o) =>
{
try
{
while (_listener.IsListening)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((c) =>
{
var ctx = c as HttpListenerContext;
try
{
byte[] buf = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(_staticContent);
ctx.Response.ContentLength64 = buf.Length;
ctx.Response.OutputStream.Write(buf, 0, buf.Length);
}
catch { } // suppress any exceptions
finally
{
// always close the stream
ctx.Response.OutputStream.Close();
}
}, _listener.GetContext());
}
}
catch { } // suppress any exceptions
});
}
public void Stop()
{
_listener.Stop();
_listener.Close();
}
}
}
The HTML source (test1.html)
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=10" />
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function () {
var latitude = document.getElementById("latitude");
var longitude = document.getElementById("longitude");
function getLocation() {
if (navigator.geolocation) {
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showPosition);
}
else { }
}
function showPosition(position) {
latitude.value = position.coords.latitude;
longitude.value = position.coords.longitude;
}
getLocation();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<input type="hidden" id="latitude" />
<input type="hidden" id="longitude" />
</body>
</html>