Embedding Gecko/WebKit in Java

Question

I\'d like to have Gecko, WebKit, or another webbrowser embedded in Java as a Swing/AWT control. I\'m looking for something different than JRex or JWebPane.

Answer 1

JCEF

JCEF (Java Wrapper for the Chromium Embedded Framework) is a Java wrapper around CEF, which is in turn a wrapper around Chrome:

• https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/java-cef
• https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef

Both projects seem quite active and the browser rendering is much faster than JavaFX's WebView (at least with JDK 8u20).

JFXPanel

It is also possible to use the JavaFX WebView in a Swing application via the JFXPanel.

public class JavaFxWebBrowser extends JFXPanel {
    private WebView webView;
    private WebEngine webEngine;

    public JavaFxWebBrowser() {
        Platform.runLater(() -> {
            initialiseJavaFXScene();
        });
    }

    private void initialiseJavaFXScene() {
        webView = new WebView();
        webEngine = webView.getEngine();
        webEngine.load("http://stackoverflow.com");

        Scene scene = new Scene(webView);
        setScene(scene);
    }
}

Answer 2

You could use JxBrowser. It features a Swing/JavaFX component that wraps the Chromium engine while providing a rich API and out-of-the-box hardware-acceleration through the GPU.

Unfortunately, they've dropped support for other engines (like Gecko and WebKit) since 4.0 version.
Note that it's not free, except for open-source projects.

Answer 3

If SWT is an option, you can use the SWT Browser widget, this will use a platform-specific browser (e.g. Mozilla, Webkit, IE) to actually display the content. Have a look at this Eclipse article for an overview.

If you don't want to use SWT, then I recommend JavaXPCOM. This allows you to embed Gecko in a Java application.