Switches not working with DotNetBrowser headless

Question

I opened a ticket with DotNetBrowser, but they will be at the office on Monday, hoping I can get some expert opnion on this from you guys.

I want to start DotNetBrowser with the chromium switches, but it is not working for me.

UPDATE #1:

My application is Console (not windows forms), Here is my full code

'Some kind of static class to hold some objects globally
Module GlobalObjects
   Public browserwindobj As BrowserWindow
   Public ChromeUserProfilePath as String
End Module

'Main Module
<STAThread>
Public Sub Main(args() As String)
   GlobalObjects.browserwindobj= New BrowserWindow()
   GlobalObjects.browserwindobj.BeginSession()
End Sub

'Browser Window Class
Public Class BrowserWindow
  Dim WithEvents wb As Browser
  Dim m_browsercontext As BrowserContext
  Dim WithEvents NetworkDelegateObj As DelegateNetworking

  Sub BeginSession()
      Start.AddUILog("Starting session...")
      Start.DelayCloser()          

      CreateBrowser()
      NavigateToURL()
      m_sessionstatus = TimerState.Running
  End Sub

   Private Sub CreateBrowser()
    Try
        Start.AddUILog("Creating internal browser...")
        BrowserPreferences.SetUserAgent("UserAgent_HERE")
        Dim chrmswitches As New List(Of String)
        chrmswitches.Add("--disable-web-security")            
        chrmswitches.Add("--reduce-security-for-testing")
        chrmswitches.Add("--allow-running-insecure-content")
        chrmswitches.Add("--ignore-certificate-errors")            
        chrmswitches.Add("--unsafe-pac-url")
        chrmswitches.Add("--no-sandbox")

        GlobalObjects.ChromeUserProfilePath = modGeneral.softwarePath & "\_temp\" & modGeneral.GenerateID("Profile ", True)
        Dim contextparam As New BrowserContextParams(ChromeUserProfilePath)

        If GlobalObjects.SettingsObj.EnableProxies = True Then                
            contextparam.ProxyConfig = New URLProxyConfig("http://PAC_FILE_URL")
        Else
            Start.AddUILog("Proxies usage is disabled by the user")
        End If

        Dim context As New BrowserContext(contextparam)
        context.NetworkService.ResourceHandler = New DelegateAjax
        context.NetworkService.CertificateVerifier = New DelegateCertificateVerifier
        NetworkDelegateObj = New DelegateNetworking()
        context.NetworkService.NetworkDelegate = NetworkDelegateObj
        m_browsercontext = context
        If GlobalObjects.SettingsObj.CPUBased = True Then
            chrmswitches.Add("--disable-gpu")
            chrmswitches.Add("--disable-gpu-compositing")
            chrmswitches.Add("--enable-begin-frame-scheduling")
            chrmswitches.Add("--software-rendering-fps=60")
            BrowserPreferences.SetChromiumSwitches(chrmswitches.ToArray)                
            wb = BrowserFactory.Create(context, BrowserType.LIGHTWEIGHT)
        Else
            BrowserPreferences.SetChromiumSwitches(chrmswitches.ToArray)
            wb = BrowserFactory.Create(context, BrowserType.HEAVYWEIGHT)
        End If

        wb.Preferences.AllowDisplayingInsecureContent = True
        wb.Preferences.AllowRunningInsecureContent = True
        wb.Preferences.PluginsEnabled = True
        wb.Preferences.WebAudioEnabled = True
        wb.Preferences.WebRTCIPHandlingPolicy = BrowserPreferences.WebRTCIPHandlingPolicyEnum.DisableNonProxiedUdp
        wb.Preferences.DatabasesEnabled = True
        mous = New MouseControler(wb)                        
    Catch ex As Exception
        Start.AddUILog("Create Browser: " & ex.Message)
        Process.GetCurrentProcess.Kill()
    End Try
End Sub
End Class

Update #2

Here is the DotNetBrowser Logs:

4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Browser - OS name: Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Standard Evaluation []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Browser - OS version: 10.0.14393 []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Browser - DotNetBrowser build: 1.14.2.0 []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Browser - Verifying Chromium binaries... []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Browser - Chromium binaries are OK. []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information IPC - Starting IPC... []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information IPC - Starting IPC Server... []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information IPC - Starting IPC Process... []
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Process - Start Chromium process... [IPC Process Thread]
4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Process - Command line: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\2\dotnetbrowser-chromium\60.0.3112.113.1.14.2.0.523c\browsercore32.exe"--port=61259" "--no-sandbox" "--pid=8172" "--crash-dump-dir=C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\DotNetBrowser\dotnetbrowser.dmp.dir" "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; Trident/7.0; MALCJS; rv:11.0) like Gecko" "--disable-surfaces" "--noerrdialogs" "--enable-logging" "--disable-web-security" "--reduce-security-for-testing" "--unsafe-pac-url" "--disable-gpu" "--disable-gpu-compositing" "--enable-begin-frame-scheduling" "--software-rendering-fps=60"  [IPC Process Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Shared Memory Name: 7e8897cf-0d60-45fa-9411-da1ab3467321 [IPC Server Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Creating IPC connection. Connection ID: 0 [IPC Server Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - IPC connection has been established. Connection ID: 17099024 [IPC Server Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - READ:  OnHelloMessage{type=OnHelloMessage, uid=1, message='cid:0,type:Main'},  []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: SetNetworkDelegateConfigMessage{type=SetNetworkDelegateConfig, uid=0, browserContextId=0, DisableMessages=False, DisableResourceMessages=False}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - IPC is started. []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: SetAuthServerWhiteListMessage{type=SetAuthServerWhiteList, uid=1, BrowserContextId=0, ServerWhiteList=, DelegateWhiteList=}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Socket connection checker started for ‬‪‬⁭⁯‍⁫‌⁪‌⁪‭⁬⁭‭⁪⁮‬⁯‎⁮‎⁯‪‍⁮⁭⁫⁪‫‫‏‎‭‬‎‏‮‮ [Socket Connection Checker SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: CreateBrowserMessage{type=CreateBrowser, uid=2, channelId=0, contextId=0, cacheDir='C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\LKBrowser\_temp\Profile 21417577722\Cache', memoryDir='', dataDir='C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\LKBrowser\_temp\Profile 21417577722', currentLocale='en-us', proxyType=2, proxyRules='', proxyBypassRules='', proxyAutoConfigURL='http://PACFILEURL_OMITTED', defaultZoomLevel='0', isOffScreenMode='True', storageType='DISK}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - READ:  OnNetworkDelegateReadyMessage{type=OnNetworkDelegateReady, uid=2, browserContextId=0}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: SetNetworkDelegateConfigMessage{type=SetNetworkDelegateConfig, uid=3, browserContextId=0, DisableMessages=False, DisableResourceMessages=False}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Shared Memory Name: 2747a61b-8340-42d3-950a-f88e01c4c4e8 [IPC Server Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Creating IPC connection. Connection ID: 0 [IPC Server Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: SetAuthServerWhiteListMessage{type=SetAuthServerWhiteList, uid=4, BrowserContextId=0, ServerWhiteList=, DelegateWhiteList=}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - READ:  OnNetworkDelegateReadyMessage{type=OnNetworkDelegateReady, uid=3, browserContextId=0}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: SetNetworkDelegateConfigMessage{type=SetNetworkDelegateConfig, uid=5, browserContextId=0, DisableMessages=False, DisableResourceMessages=False}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: SetAuthServerWhiteListMessage{type=SetAuthServerWhiteList, uid=6, BrowserContextId=0, ServerWhiteList=, DelegateWhiteList=}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} [Memory Writer SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - IPC connection has been established. Connection ID: 17100944 [IPC Server Thread]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - READ:  OnHelloMessage{type=OnHelloMessage, uid=4, message='cid:0,bid:0,type:Browser'},  []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Channel is connected: SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=0, channelType=Browser} []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - Socket connection checker started for ‬‪‬⁭⁯‍⁫‌⁪‌⁪‭⁬⁭‭⁪⁮‬⁯‎⁮‎⁯‪‍⁮⁭⁫⁪‫‫‏‎‭‬‎‏‮‮ [Socket Connection Checker SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=0, channelType=Browser}]
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - READ:          
OnBeforeSendHeadersMessage{type=OnBeforeSendHeaders, uid=5, browserContextId=0, RequestId=1, url=PACURL_OMITTED, method=GET, originalHeaders='User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; Trident/7.0; MALCJS; rv:11.0) like Gecko
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-Language: en-us

', overrideHeaders='', renderProcessId=-1, renderFrameId=-1}, SocketInfo{channelId=0, browserId=-1, channelType=Main} []
4/21/2018 2:57:08 PM Information IPC - WRITE: OnBeforeSendHeadersMessage{type=OnBeforeSendHeaders, uid=5, browserContextId=0, RequestId=1, url=PACURL_OMITTED, method=GET, originalHeaders='User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; Trident/7.0; MALCJS; rv:11.0) like Gecko
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-Language: en-us

I took all the switches in the log and ran them aganist chrome.exe manually using cmd, and the switches did work (had to add space before the --port switch)

I then also using cmd, tested the switches aganist the browsercore32.exe but I got a cmd error saying that I need to add space before --port, once I added that space, the browsercore process starts.

I was wondering, is the problem is with this line:

4/21/2018 5:57:08 PM Information Process - Command line: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\2\dotnetbrowser-chromium\60.0.3112.113.1.14.2.0.523c\browsercore32.exe"--port=61259" "--no-sandbox" "--pid=8172" "--crash-dump-dir=C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\DotNetBrowser\dotnetbrowser.dmp.dir" "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; Trident/7.0; MALCJS; rv:11.0) like Gecko" "--disable-surfaces" "--noerrdialogs" "--enable-logging" "--disable-web-security" "--reduce-security-for-testing" "--unsafe-pac-url" "--disable-gpu" "--disable-gpu-compositing" "--enable-begin-frame-scheduling" "--software-rendering-fps=60" [IPC Process Thread]

The "--port is right after the .exe without a space separating them.

So shouldn't it be browsercore32.exe" --port=61259"

Well, that's the only thing I see why switches are not being read.

Anyway, maybe it's something else I am missing totally.

Update #3:

Chromium logs contain only this:

[0421/191430.232:ERROR:command_processor.cpp(337)] IPC: unhandled callback with ID=568
[0421/191430.299:WARNING:pref_notifier_impl.cc(23)] Pref observer found at shutdown.
[0421/191430.299:WARNING:pref_notifier_impl.cc(23)] Pref observer found at shutdown.
[0421/191430.314:WARNING:pref_notifier_impl.cc(23)] Pref observer found at shutdown.
[0421/191430.314:WARNING:pref_notifier_impl.cc(23)] Pref observer found at shutdown.

Also if I ran --unsafe-pac-url using cmd aganist chrome.exe, it works perfectly fine.

You can enable DotNetBrowser logging and check the logs to see if the switch itself is properly passed to the Chromium engine (browsercore.exe). Could you please also update your question with a complete .NET sample demonstrating the approach? It is not clear when the BrowserContext instance is created. — Anna Dolbina, Apr 21 '18 at 16:50
@AnnaDolbina I updated my question and included the full code, I did enable Chromium logs but I couldn't find anything related to switches there, what should I look for? Also please keep in mind that I am using headless mode (i.e. without browser view) — Ibrahim D., Apr 21 '18 at 21:23

Switches not working with DotNetBrowser headless

0 Answers0