Automating IE
Connect to a running instance of Internet Explorer
1. Using ObjectFromLResult.
You can use function ObjectFromLResult to obtain an interface to IHtmlDocument2 or IWebbrowser2 from a running instance of IE, if you have a "Internet Explorer_Server" HWND.
The following shows a Spyxx-picture of the structure of a running instance of IE.
To reach Internet Explorer_Server we need to go from
IEFrame -> Shell DocObject View -> Internet Explorer_server.
In this example there is also another instance you can connect to:
IEFrame -> BaseBar -> RebarWindow32 -> OCHost -> Shell Embeddeding -> Shell DocObject View -> Internet Explorer_server.
It is because the Search Explorer is opened and contain a Webbrowser document.
The following sample will do the following:
If a instance of Internet Explorer is running, we will connct to it - using the ObjectFromLResult function - and direct the browser to IE & Delphi Homepage.
Then we will open the Search Explorer Bar in the browser and replace the normal content with a different content - using the same function.
ObjectFromLResult is a MSAA function (Microsoft Active Accessibility) and is located in oleacc.dll. In Windows 2000 and Windows NT with Service Pack 6 MSAA is part of the operating system, but on older version you might need to install MSAA runtime components:
MSAA Runtime Components (RDK)
type
TObjectFromLResult = function(LRESULT: lResult; const IID: TIID; WPARAM: wParam; out pObject): HRESULT; stdcall;
function GetIEFromHWND(WHandle: HWND; var IE: IWebbrowser2): HRESULT;
var
hInst: HWND;
lRes: Cardinal;
MSG: Integer;
pDoc: IHTMLDocument2;
ObjectFromLresult: TObjectFromLresult;
begin
hInst := LoadLibrary('Oleacc.dll');
@ObjectFromLresult := GetProcAddress(hInst, 'ObjectFromLresult');
if @ObjectFromLresult <> nil then begin
try
MSG := RegisterWindowMessage('WM_HTML_GETOBJECT');
SendMessageTimeOut(WHandle, MSG, 0, 0, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 1000, lRes);
Result := ObjectFromLresult(lRes, IHTMLDocument2, 0, pDoc);
if Result = S_OK then
(pDoc.parentWindow as IServiceprovider).QueryService(IWebbrowserApp, IWebbrowser2, IE);
finally
FreeLibrary(hInst);
end;
end;
end;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
Wnd: HWND;
WndChild: HWND;
x: Olevariant;
vaClsID, vaEnabled, vaDummy: Olevariant;
BarIE, IE: iwebbrowser2;
begin
Wnd := FindWindow('IEFrame', nil);
if Wnd = 0 then //No running instance of Internet Explorer so stop!
begin
showmessage('No Running instance of Internet Explorer');
exit;
end;
// walk Shell DocObject View->Internet Explorer_Server
WndChild := FindWindowEX(Wnd, 0, 'Shell DocObject View', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then begin
WndChild := FindWindowEX(WndChild, 0, 'Internet Explorer_Server', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then
begin
GetIEFromHWnd(WndChild, IE); //Get Iwebbrowser2 from Handle
//Navigate to IE & Delphi
IE.Navigate('http://www.euromind.com/iedelphi', x, x, x, x);
vaCLSID := '{30D02401-6A81-11D0-8274-00C04FD5AE38}';
vaEnabled := True;
vaDummy := 0;
// open Search Explorer Bar
IE.ShowBrowserBar(vaCLSID, vaEnabled, vaDummy);
// find Internet Explorer_Server for Search Explorer Bar
WndChild := FindWindowEX(Wnd, 0, 'Basebar', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then begin
WndChild := FindWindowEX(WndChild, 0, 'RebarWindow32', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then begin
WndChild := FindWindowEX(WndChild, 0, 'OCHost', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then begin
WndChild := FindWindowEX(WndChild, 0, 'Shell Embedding', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then begin
WndChild := FindWindowEX(WndChild, 0, 'Shell DocObject View', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then begin
WndChild := FindWindowEX(WndChild, 0, 'Internet Explorer_Server', nil);
if WndChild <> 0 then
begin
GetIEFromHWnd(WndChild, BarIE); //Get Iwebbrowser2 from Handle
BarIE.Navigate('www.euromind.com/iedelphi/ie5tools/automate.htm', x, x, x, x);
//Navigate Search Explorer Bar
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
2. Using IShellWindows
Click Button1 to have the locationurls from all running instances of Internet Explorer - including open folders and Windows Explorer - shown in a listbox.
uses
shdocvw_tlb;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
x: Integer;
Sw: IShellWindows;
begin
sw := CoShellWindows.Create;
for x := 0 to SW.Count - 1 do
Listbox1.Items.Add((Sw.Item(x) as IWebbrowser2).LocationUrl);
end;
Sinking events from IShellWindows.
DShellWindowsEvent has two events OnWindowRegistered (called when a new instance of IE is created) and OnWindowRevoked (called whel an instance of IE is closed).
Drop a DShellWindowEvent-component on your form and connect it to your instance of IShellwindows:
var
sw : Ishellwindows;
begin
sw := CoShellWindows.Create;
DshellwindowsEvents1.Connect(sw);
end;
The following code will keep track of running instances of Internet Explorer - add or remove them from a listbox based on information from OnWindowRegistered and OnWindowRevoked
uses
shdocvw_tlb;
procedure TForm1.DShellWindowsEvents1WindowRegistered(Sender: TObject;lCookie: Integer);
begin
Listbox1.Items.Add('Instance with Cookie no: '+InttoStr(lCookie));
end;
procedure TForm1.DShellWindowsEvents1WindowRevoked(Sender: TObject;lCookie: Integer);
begin
Listbox1.Items.Delete(Listbox1.Items.IndexOf('Instance with Cookie no: '+InttoStr(lCookie)));
end;
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
sw : Ishellwindows;
begin
FormStyle:=fsStayOnTop;
sw := CoShellWindows.Create;
DshellwindowsEvents1.Connect(sw);
end;
Sending commands to a running instance of IE
You can obtain an IWebbrowser2-interface from each of the running instances listed in IShellwindows by simple typecasting if
WB:=Shellwindows.Items(x) as IWebbrowser2;
The following code will close all running instances of IE when Button1 is clicked:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
x : Integer;
sw: Ishellwindows;
wb: IWebbrowser2;
begin
sw := CoShellWindows.Create;
for x := 0 to sw.count do
begin
WB := Sw.Item(x) as IWebbrowser2;
if wb<>nil then WB.Quit;
end;
end;
Sinking Events from a running instance of IE.
Drop a DWebbrowserEvents2-component on your form and connect it to an instance of IE by using
DWebbrowserEvents21.Connect(IE);
var
ShellWin : shdocvw_tlb.IShellWindows;
IE : IWebbrowser2;
begin
IE:=shellwin.Item(Shellwin.Count-1) as IWebbrowser2;
DWebbrowserEvents21.Connect(IE);
end;
The following code opens a new instance of IE, lets it navigate and captures the statustext-change in a listbox:
uses
shdocvw_tlb;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
x: Olevariant;
sw: Ishellwindows;
wb: IWebbrowser2;
begin
WB := CoInternetExplorer.Create;
WB.Visible := True;
DWebbrowserEvents21.Connect(WB);
WB.Navigate('http://www.euromind.com/iedelphi', x, x, x, x);
end;
procedure TForm1.DWebBrowserEvents21StatusTextChange(Sender: TObject;const Text: WideString);
begin
listbox1.items.add(text);
end;
procedure TForm1.DWebBrowserEvents21Quit(Sender: TObject);
begin
DWebbrowserEvents21.DisConnect;
end;
The demo LogView demonstrates how to log events from all running instances of IE to a common log-listbox. The demo uses DWebbrowserEvents2 and ShellWindowEvents: