Microsoft Edge WebView2 - Sample crashes on Load

Question

I took the latest version of Microsoft.Web.WebView2 (0.9.515-prerelease) and added to a test C# WinForms application. Am using VS 2019, .NET framework is 4.7.2. Placed the WebView2 control on a form, compiled and ran. The application crashed on Load, at the below point in Form1.designer.cs.

    // webView21
    // 
    this.webView21.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(153, 66);
    this.webView21.Name = "webView21";
    this.webView21.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(492, 253);
    this.webView21.Source = new System.Uri("about:blank", System.UriKind.Absolute);
    this.webView21.TabIndex = 0;
    this.webView21.Text = "webView21";
    this.webView21.ZoomFactor = 1D;
    // 
    // Form1
    // 
    this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
    this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
    this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(800, 450);
    this.Controls.Add(this.webView21); //CRASHED HERE WITH BELOW EXCEPTION -

When I run this in Release mode, get the following exception trace - System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

   at Microsoft.Web.WebView2.WinForms.WebView2.OnVisibleChanged(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnParentVisibleChanged(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnVisibleChanged(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.OnVisibleChanged(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnVisibleChanged(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

If I take the latest stable version of WebView2 (v 0.9.488), it throws a compilation error as it does not reflect Microsoft.Web

Please let me know how to fix this error. Appreciate your help very much. Came across this question 8 months ago but am hoping Microsoft has gone beyond that now. How can I use the Microsoft Edge WebView2 control in C# windows application

The Sample solution Microsoft created does have C# version as well for WinForms. https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples

Tried this sample given by Microsoft as well. It too crashes. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/gettingstarted/winforms

Answer 1

you need to make sure 1) the Edge version is right. try download Canary version Edge from Url https://c2rsetup.officeapps.live.com/c2r/downloadEdge.aspx?ProductreleaseID=Edge&platform=Default&version=Edge&source=EdgeInsiderPage&Channel=Canary&language=en

and 2) set x86 as the target platform will fix the problem.

Answer 2

I faced the same issue but I was able to solve it. It crashes any time the traget CPU is "Any CPU" but if you change it to either "x86" or "x64", it runs successfully in my case. Seems it is not able to check and work with unspecified target CPU architecture.

I hope this saves someone lots of headaches