Referencing the HttpWatch Automation Library

In a .NET Framework project in Visual Studio, add a reference to the HttpWatch automation library before using its types.

The HttpWatch automation library is packaged as a COM component, so add it in the same way as any other COM reference:

1. Choose Project > Add Reference in Visual Studio.

2. In Reference Manager, select COM.

3. Find and select HttpWatch Automation Library, as shown here:
   
   

After it is added, the COM reference appears under the project's Dependencies or References node, depending on the project type.

HttpWatch Namespace

The namespace for the library is HttpWatch. Source code modules that access the library must either contain a using statement that references the library:

using HttpWatch;   // Reference the HttpWatch namespace

...

Controller controller = new Controller();

or else each reference to a class in the library must be prefixed by the namespace name:

// Qualify each class reference with "HttpWatch."

HttpWatch.Controller controller = new HttpWatch.Controller();

HttpWatch.Log log = controller.OpenLog(@"c:\temp\test.hwl");

Communicating with the HttpWatch Extension

You can only directly create an instance of one class in the library - the Controller class.

All communication with the HttpWatch extension stems from this class, so the first step is to create an instance of it:

// Controller is the only creatable class in the HttpWatch automation interface

HttpWatch.Controller controller = new HttpWatch.Controller();

Having created a Controller object, the next step is to create an instance of the extension and attach it to a browser instance. The exact code depends on whether you are using Edge or Chrome, but the principles are the same in either case. The Controller object has a property named Chrome. This property returns a reference to the Chrome object.

The Chrome and Edge objects have a New method that creates a new instance of the browser with the HttpWatch extension enabled for automation.

The following code creates a new instance of Chrome with the HttpWatch extension: 

HttpWatch.Controller controller = new HttpWatch.Controller();

HttpWatch.Plugin plugin = controller.Chrome.New();

HttpWatch.Controller controller = new HttpWatch.Controller();

HttpWatch.Plugin plugin = controller.Edge.New();

All of these code fragments return a reference to a Plugin object, through which the HttpWatch extension can be controlled.