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There’s a bunch of EdgeHTML WebView based browsers in the Microsoft Store but I’ve tested several of them and none of them could connect to a localhost. Get a Windows 10 Virtual MachineĪs we concluded that WebView inside native apps is the most critical scenario for us, it’s only natural to test our code in a WebView inside a native Windows app. Good news is that you still have at least 3 options to test your code in EdgeHTML.
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Bad news is that you are right - if you got the new Chromium-based Edge you no longer have access to the old Edge browser. Good question! I have both good and bad news for you. But how do I test my code when “legacy” Edge browser is gone on my machine!? If a browser library gets even remotely popular it inevitably is used in some hybrid apps, and on Windows 10 those apps will run your code inside a WebView.
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You can probably still forget about the “legacy” Edge and never hit any issues.īut who of us doesn’t dabble in creating, maintaining, or contributing to open-source JavaScript libraries? And that’s where it gets you. What does this mean for you?įor those of us developing end-user web applications exclusively, this isn’t that big of a deal. Existing apps will likely stay on the EdgeHTML for a long long time. And still, that will only affect greenfield projects.
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While Microsoft made serious advances in development of WebView2 (WebView based on the Chromium Edge) over the last year, you still can’t use it in UWP apps (at the time of this writing).Īnd UWP is what tools like Cordova use as the platform for their Windows 10 builds.Įven when WebView2 is fully supported in UWP it will likely take years for Cordova and other tools to switch to using it. While the actual EdgeHTML-based browser is hard to find these days, its WebView engine is deeply ingrained in most native/hybrid Windows 10 applications. You may have different opinions about this in the long run (monoculture, etc.) but in the short-term this clearly makes life of web developers easier. About a year ago Microsoft started rolling out the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge to all the Windows 10 users and by now the “legacy” or “classic” Edge is almost gone from the face of the earth.
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