This article describes the "Shell Doc Object and Control Library"
("SHDocVw.dll"). The library contains the user interface (documents)
portions of both Internet Explorer and the file system. In this context, the
file system is the Windows Explorer accessory that you use to look at
Windows folders and files. The "SHDocVw.dll" library is a COM object, it is
not managed.
The executable file for Internet Explorer is IExplore.exe. It uses
"SHDocVw.dll" which uses Mshtml.dll and other Active Document components.
Mshtml.dll is the library for HTML. The "SHDocVw.dll" library is also known
as the WebBrowser Control, however it is the COM (unmanaged) version. The
.Net (managed) WebBrowser Control is a wrapper of the COM version.
For Internet Explorer, the two most common uses of the library are:
- Enumerate the open Internet Explorer browser windows
- Create a new instance of an Internet Explorer browser window outside
of our program
The open Internet Explorer browser windows can be enumerated using the
ShellWindows member. The items in the collection are InternetExplorer
objects. Most InternetExplorer objects are Internet Explorer browser windows
but some InternetExplorer objects are "Windows Explorer" (the application
for looking at files and folders) windows.
The InternetExplorer object can also be used to open a new instance of an
Internet Explorer browser window. We shall try doing that first. Before we
do, we must add a reference to "SHDocVw.dll". I will assume you know how to
create projects in Visual Studio and how to add references. Create a project
or use an existing project. In the "Reference Manager" window go to the
"COM" libraries as in the following:
Then click on the "Browse" button and browse to your "\Windows\System32"
folder and select "SHDocVw.dll" as in the following:
Be sure to place a checkmark next to the library, then click on "OK".
Next use the following code to create an Internet Explorer browser
window:
SHDocVw.InternetExplorer ie = new SHDocVw.InternetExplorer();
ie.Visible = true;
ie.Navigate("http://microsoft.com");
The open Internet Explorer browser windows can be enumerated as easily
as:
SHDocVw.ShellWindows ShellWindows = new SHDocVw.ShellWindows();
foreach (Object o in ShellWindows)
{
SHDocVw.InternetExplorer ie = o as SHDocVw.InternetExplorer;
if (ie != null)
{
try
{
if (ie.Document.GetType().Name == "HTMLDocumentClass")
// it is an Internet Explorer browser window
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// handle error
}
}
}
Note that if you have web sites in multiple tabs within an Internet
Explorer window then each tab will be a separate InternetExplorer object.
When enumerating or creating new browser windows this way, it is possible
to control them, at least somewhat. We will explore what we can do in future
articles.
References
About the Browser