LabVIEW Web Browser Control Intermittently Fails to Load in Executable

Issue Details

When using the Web Browser Control in a built LabVIEW executable on Windows, I find that the control periodically fails to load during application startup. Instead of rendering the expected web content, the control area remains completely white.

This issue does not occur in the LabVIEW Development Environment, where the same VI loads correctly every time. The problem appears only in my built executables and occurs intermittently when I launch the application. The behavior happens even when I am loading custom HTML or JavaScript files.

How can I resolve this issue and ensure the web content renders consistently in my built application?

Solution

This behavior is caused by a race condition within the Chromium framework and is not a behavior tied to LabVIEW. In a built application, the VI often loads already reserved and may catch the Load Finished event on the web control’s default startup URL (e.g., about:blank) before the intended page has finished loading. Because starting the Chromium framework is resource-intensive at application launch, this timing window is increased.

To resolve this, implement a check within your Event Structure to verify that the correct URL has loaded:

1. Monitor the Load Finished event for the Web Browser Control.
2. In the event case, check the URL parameter.
3. If the URL is empty or matches about:blank, rewrite the intended URL to the indicatorl.
4. Ensure that you do not attempt to call JavaScript code until the event confirms the intended URL (not about:blank) has successfully loaded.