Video in webbrowser control in Access Form

**Cyber_Learning** · 04-27-2025, 11:18 PM

Hello Forum Members:

I have a webbrowser control in a Form.
WebBrowser1.Application = Me.Location.Value
or
Me.WebBrowser1.Hyperlink = Me.Location.Value

I put it in Private Sub Form_Current(), Private Sub OpenFile_Click(), or Private Sub Play_Click(), but it does not play inside the webbrowser control.
Instead it tries to open in Windows Media Player.

Location has PDF, JPEG, GIF, MP4, AVI, etc.
Webrowser1 can show PDF, JPEG, GIF, but cannot play a video inside.

Would you please guide me to a right direction?
Thank you.

**CJ_London** · 04-28-2025, 12:07 AM

The original web browser definitely won’t, not sure about the new web browser. If that is what you are using then I suspect not possible.

**Welshgasman** · 04-28-2025, 12:12 AM

It would appear you have to use different code for the file types?
ChatGPT shows for video files

Code:

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim filePath As String
    Dim htmlPath As String
    Dim fileNum As Integer
    Dim htmlContent As String
    
    ' Path to media file (MP4/MP3)
    filePath = "C:\Media\sample.mp4"
    
    ' Path to temporary HTML file
    htmlPath = Environ("TEMP") & "\playmedia.html"
    
    ' HTML content with embedded video tag
    htmlContent = "<html><body>" & _
                  "<video width='600' controls autoplay>" & _
                  "<source src='file:///" & Replace(filePath, "\", "/") & "' type='video/mp4'>" & _
                  "Your browser does not support the video tag." & _
                  "</video></body></html>"
    
    ' Write HTML to temp file
    fileNum = FreeFile
    Open htmlPath For Output As #fileNum
    Print #fileNum, htmlContent
    Close #fileNum


    ' Load HTML file into WebBrowser
    Me.WebBrowser0.Navigate htmlPath
End Sub

and comments For audio files, just use <audio> instead of <video>.

To show files

Code:

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim filePath As String
    
    ' Set path to the file you want to show
    filePath = "C:\Users\YourName\Documents\sample.pdf"  ' Can also be .html, .jpg, .txt, etc.
    
    ' Check if file exists
    If Dir(filePath) <> "" Then
        Me.WebBrowser0.Navigate filePath
    Else
        MsgBox "File not found: " & filePath, vbExclamation
    End If
End Sub

In both it appears you need to use the .Navigate method.

**isladogs** · 04-28-2025, 02:02 AM

Yes you can play a video in an Edge browser control. For example:

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The code used here is very simple.
The listbox after update event selects the URL and displays it in a textbox.
The browser control then navigates to that URL

Code:

Private Sub lstURL_AfterUpdate()    
    Me.txtWebAddress2 = Me.lstURL
    DoEvents    

    Me.EdgeBrowser2.Navigate Me.txtWebAddress2    
End Sub

The videos must be stored online for this to work
It doesn't work for local video files even when prefixing with the URL with https://msaccess

However another approach that does work for local and online files is to embed a media player ActiveX control on your form

**Cyber_Learning** · 04-28-2025, 10:44 AM

Hello everyone,

Thank you very much for posing various suggestions.
I am using Access on Office 2021 and this version does not offer the newer web browser control, so I am out of luck.
I even tried to change to new web browser control, but Access just crashes.
Then, I changed as follows:
Web Browser Control with Location1 (JPEG, GIF, PDF, etc.), which is located on local drive.
Windows Media ActiveX Control with Location2 (MPEG, AVI, etc.), which is located on local drive.
Now, I have 2 smaller windows on one screen instead.

Thank you gain, everyone!

**June7** · 04-28-2025, 11:28 AM

I have Office 2021.
Form with Windows Media Player
Code loads file then I have to click Play twice although it should play automatically. I watched a demo which does.

Code:

Sub btnLoadVideo_Click()
Me.wmp1.URL = "C:\Users\June\test.mp4"
End Sub

Might find this of interest https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...es-not-support

**Cyber_Learning** · 04-28-2025, 04:03 PM

Hello June7

My Media ActiveX Control automatically plays video in a Form.
I put the following:
Private Sub Form_Current()
Me.WMP.URL = Me.Location.Value
End Sub
Then, it should play the video automatically.

Thank you.

**June7** · 04-28-2025, 04:29 PM

My code is in a button Click event on unbound form.
Me.wmp1.URL = "C:\Users\June\test.mp4"

When form opens, the player looks like it tried to play but stops partway. I then have to click the play button twice.

At least it works properly for you. Not something I really need, just testing.

**jojowhite** · 04-29-2025, 04:10 AM

you can Overlap those two ActiveX controls (Webbrowser and WMP).
and on just Hide the WMP first.
on the Load event, check the Extension of the file.
If the extension is a Video file extension, just Hide the webbrowser and Unhide the WMP
and play the media using WMP control.
Same with other extensions, just check first and Hide/Unhide appropriate controls.

**moke123** · 04-29-2025, 08:20 AM

You could try something along the lines of this quick example.

When you open the app it will create a folder "MyFiles" in the same folder as the app. Put some pdf and video files in the MyFiles folder and click on the Reload list button.

**jojowhite** · 04-29-2025, 09:13 PM

here is a single webbrowser (A2021).
part of the code was from Mr.Gasman code.
if you see Yellow warning message, when you select a Video,
just Click on the yellow message and Choose "Allow blocked content..." to play it.

will show Images, PDFs and video files.

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**Cyber_Learning** · 04-30-2025, 12:00 AM

Hello Everyone

Thank you for suggesting a couple of ideas.
The tab control (PDF + Vide) is a good idea, and it is functioning. Just positioning or anchoring the Windows Media Player Control inside the tab is not working well. I just need to spend some time to figure this out.
Once again, thank you very much!!

**moke123** · 04-30-2025, 04:57 AM

I don't believe you can size the media player by dragging it to size. It must be done by code. If you notice in my example I set the height and width. It's done in twips so I use 6*1440 to represent 6"

Also note that if you want to add commands like pause or stop, etc. you need to reference the media player object
WindowsMediaPlayer0.Object.Controls.stop
WindowsMediaPlayer0.Object.Controls.pause

Video in webbrowser control in Access Form

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Video in webbrowser control in Access Form

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