Developing a Simple Web Browser with C++

This article will show you how to develop a simple web browser using C++. We will use the Qt framework to handle the graphical user interface (GUI) and network requests. Before we begin, ensure that the Qt SDK is installed on your system.

Environment Setup

1. Download and install the Qt SDK. You can obtain it from the official Qt website.
2. Create a new Qt Widgets Application project.

Project Structure

Before we start writing code, it is important to understand some key components in the project:

• <span>main.cpp</span>: The entry point of the application.
• <span>mainwindow.cpp</span> and <span>mainwindow.h</span>: The main window class that implements web browsing functionality.
• <span>ui_mainwindow.h</span>: The UI file designed using Qt Designer for the application interface.

Code Demonstration

1. Create the MainWindow Class

First, define the main window class in the <span>mainwindow.h</span> file. We will use QWebEngineView to load web pages.

#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QMainWindow>
#include <QWebEngineView>
namespace Ui {class MainWindow;}
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow {    Q_OBJECT
public:    explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = nullptr);    ~MainWindow();
private slots:    void on_loadButton_clicked();
private:    Ui::MainWindow *ui;    QWebEngineView *webView; // Web engine view};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H

2. Implement the MainWindow Class

In the <span>mainwindow.cpp</span> file, implement the methods we defined. This includes creating the UI and loading the URL input by the user.

#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"
#include <QVBoxLayout>
#include <QLineEdit>
#include <QPushButton>
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent)    : QMainWindow(parent), ui(new Ui::MainWindow) {
    ui->setupUi(this);
    // Create layout and controls    auto centralWidget = new QWidget(this);
    setCentralWidget(centralWidget);
    auto layout = new QVBoxLayout(centralWidget);
    webView = new QWebEngineView(this); // Initialize web view
    auto urlInput = new QLineEdit(this); // Text box for URL input    urlInput->setPlaceholderText("Enter URL");
    auto loadButton = new QPushButton("Load", this); // Load button
    layout->addWidget(urlInput);     layout->addWidget(loadButton);     layout->addWidget(webView);
    connect(loadButton, &QPushButton::clicked, [this, urlInput]() {         QString urlString = urlInput->text();          if (!urlString.startsWith("http://") && !urlString.startsWith("https://")) {             urlString.prepend("http://");          }         webView->setUrl(QUrl(urlString));      });}
MainWindow::~MainWindow() {   delete ui; }

3. Add the Main Function to main.cpp

Next, in the <span>main.cpp</span> file, we need to initialize QApplication and display our main window.

#include "mainwindow.h"
#include <QApplication>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {   QApplication a(argc, argv); 
   MainWindow w;    w.show(); 
   return a.exec();  }

4. Configure the .pro File

Finally, set up the appropriate modules for the Qt project. Add the following content to your <span>.pro</span> file to ensure the project includes the necessary modules:

QT += core gui webenginewidgets widgets
greaterThan(QT_MAJOR_VERSION, 4): QT += widgets
SOURCES += \
        main.cpp \
        mainwindow.cpp
HEADERS += \
        mainwindow.h
FORMS += \
      mainwindow.ui

Compile and Run

After completing all the steps, you can build and run the project directly using Qt Creator. After this, a simple web browser will launch. You just need to type the website address in the input box and click the “Load” button to view the accessed web page.

Conclusion

This article introduced how to develop a simple web browser using C++ and Qt. From creating the UI to implementing basic functionality, we experienced the entire development process. Of course, this is just the beginning; you can further expand this application by adding features like bookmarks and history for daily use. I hope you find this article beneficial and inspire more interesting software ideas.