DDE-like communication with Internet Explorer

[Dave Mullen]

I need to write a program that would interact with a specific IE browser
window, maybe by looking at the title bar to decide which window. It would
need to set the URL to navigate to with a value in the query string. If I
were writing this in vb6 I would use DDE. What are my options now?

PS - I know one of the options is to SendKeys information to the window, but
that is my least desired option.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Tian Min Huang]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your post. In VB .NET, we are able to use P/Invoke to call
unmanaged APIs, that is, you can still use DDE. Please refer to the
following MSDN article for detailed information:

Consuming Unmanaged DLL Functions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/htm
l/cpconconsumingunmanageddllfunctions.asp

In addition, the following article is also helpful:
Open URL in existing IE Window
http://www.codeguru.com/vb/articles/2342.shtml

Hope this helps.

Regards,

HuangTM
Microsoft Online Partner Support
MCSE/MCSD

Get Secure! -- www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

 

[Dave Mullen]

Thanks for the response.

I would really prefer not to use DDE. I found the article using the window
messages interesting and it worked great, but I noticed that it does rely on
the address bar in IE. My web app may be used in a kiosk fashion where the
person wouldn't have the address bar.

I was hoping there was another way using something a little newer like
automation or remoting to do this. Can you think of anything else?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Tian Min Huang]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your feedback. We are able to automate IE in .NET application,
however, we cannot attach to an existing IE window with automation. Based
on my experience and research, DDE may be the only solution for this issue.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any problems or concerns.

Have a nice day!
Regards,

HuangTM
Microsoft Online Partner Support
MCSE/MCSD

Get Secure! -- www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.