Embed an application (exe file) into another exe file (mozEmbed like)

Question

I would like to embed mozilla firefox into my application WITHOUT using any activex control (TWebBrowser wrapper, mozilla ActiveX...). I tried using TWebBrowser (actually bsalsa's embedded webBrowser wich is by far better), but all versions of IE seem incompatible with some features of popular javascript framework and libs (JQuery, ExtJS...).

My question is : can I call firefox's Exe from my application (is it possible with DDE or OLE) and above all SHOW IT inside my app using a TFrame or anything similar ?

waiting for your suggestions Regards, M

Answer 1

You'll need to clean up the code a bit and work out how you'll "talk" to Firefox.
But here is how you can embed any app inside a Delphi form.

DFM File

object frmMain: TfrmMain
  Left = 195
  Top = 154
  Width = 527
  Height = 363
  Caption = 'Containership Test'
  Color = clBtnFace
  Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
  Font.Color = clWindowText
  Font.Height = -11
  Font.Name = 'MS Sans Serif'
  Font.Style = []
  OldCreateOrder = False
  DesignSize = (
    519
    329)
  PixelsPerInch = 96
  TextHeight = 13
  object pnlTop: TPanel
    Left = 0
    Top = 0
    Width = 519
    Height = 292
    Align = alTop
    Anchors = [akLeft, akTop, akRight, akBottom]
    BevelInner = bvLowered
    TabOrder = 0
  end
  object btnLoadApp: TButton
    Left = 172
    Top = 297
    Width = 75
    Height = 25
    Anchors = [akLeft, akBottom]
    Caption = 'Load'
    TabOrder = 1
    OnClick = btnLoadAppClick
  end
  object btnKill: TButton
    Left = 260
    Top = 297
    Width = 75
    Height = 25
    Anchors = [akLeft, akBottom]
    Caption = 'Kill'
    TabOrder = 2
    OnClick = btnKillClick
  end
end

main.pas file

unit main;

interface

uses
  Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
  Dialogs, StdCtrls, ExtCtrls, ShellApi;

type
  TfrmMain = class(TForm)
    pnlTop: TPanel;
    btnLoadApp: TButton;
    btnKill: TButton;
    procedure btnLoadAppClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure btnKillClick(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
    AppWnd : DWORD;
  public
    { Public declarations }
  end;

var
  frmMain: TfrmMain;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TfrmMain.btnLoadAppClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  ExecuteFile : string;
  SEInfo: TShellExecuteInfo;
begin
  ExecuteFile:='c:\Windows\notepad.exe';

  FillChar(SEInfo, SizeOf(SEInfo), 0) ;
  SEInfo.cbSize := SizeOf(TShellExecuteInfo) ;
  with SEInfo do
  begin
    fMask := SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
    Wnd := pnlTop.Handle;
    lpFile := PChar(ExecuteFile) ;
    nShow := SW_HIDE;
  end;
  if ShellExecuteEx(@SEInfo) then
  begin
    AppWnd := FindWindow(nil, PChar('Untitled - Notepad'));
    if AppWnd <> 0 then
    begin
      Windows.SetParent(AppWnd, SEInfo.Wnd);
      ShowWindow(AppWnd, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);
      ShowWindow(AppWnd, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);
    end;
  end
  else
    ShowMessage('Error starting notepad!') ;
end;

procedure TfrmMain.btnKillClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  if (AppWnd <> 0) then
  begin
    PostMessage(AppWnd, WM_Close, 0, 0);
    AppWnd := 0;
  end;
end;

end.