Displaying an html web page without using the web browser control in Windows Phone 8

Question

There are many applications out there that are displaying html content using XAML controls rather than displaying a web browser. Does anyone know if there is control used for this? If no control is available, what's the best way to do this?

I found this article but that seems to be overkill... Or is it?

http://thewp7dev.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/html-textblock/

I would like to keep the exact format of a web page (i.e. text, images, formatting, etc...) but I'd like if possible at all not use the web browser.

I have a pivot that requires 4 websites to be displayed but it would seem very heavy to create 4 web browser, not to mention I'd like to add different touch functionality that I'm struggling to do using the web browser.

I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

Answer 1

There is no XAML controls for windows phone, except WebBrowser Control (WebView in WP8.1), which can display HTML as it is.

Your article describes exactly what you have to do, to display HTML in some other XAML controls (RichTextBox for example).

You have to parse HTML to XAML format. You can use thrid party components for this (HTML agility Pack http://htmlagilitypack.codeplex.com/) or implement your own parsing.

Also, I don't think, that combining WebBrowser control with Pivot (or Panorama) is a good idea, because it just consumes to much memory and there could be problems with scrolling and touch interaction. The simple path I think is to reconsider your navigation model and use webbrowser control to display HTML. Maybe you can provide one WebBrowser and 4 links on top to switch between souces.