Microsoft has announced the general availability of WebView2 for WinUI2 UWP applications. With this release, the developers will be able to use the Chromium engine, which was earlier running on EdgeHTML in WebView1, to embed web content in their Windows desktop apps.
The company also said that PowerApps is one of the first WinUI 2 apps to use WebView2 in their production app to power their entire UI experience.
For those who don't know about WebView2, it is a Chromium-based Microsoft Edge control that developers can use to embed web content (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) in their applications.
- Utilize the entire web platform, libraries, tooling, and talent within the web ecosystem.
- Web development allows for faster deployment and iteration.
- Support for a consistent user experience across Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11.
- Access the complete set of Native APIs.
- Adding web code to your codebase allows for increased reuse across multiple platforms.
- Microsoft provides support and adds new feature requests on supported platforms.
- Rely on an up-to-date version of Chromium with regular platform updates and security patches.
- Optionally package a specific version of the Chromium bits in your app.
- Add web components piece by piece to your app.