InternetExplorer object

Controls an instance of Windows Internet Explorer through automation.

Members

The InternetExplorer object has these types of members:

  • Events
  • Methods
  • Properties

Events

The InternetExplorer object has these events.

Event Description
BeforeNavigate

Fires before navigation occurs in the given object (on either a window or frameset element).

CommandStateChange

Fires when the enabled state of a command changes.

DocumentComplete

Fires when a document is completely loaded and initialized.

DownloadBegin

Fires when a navigation operation begins.

DownloadComplete

Fires when a navigation operation finishes, is halted, or fails.

NavigateComplete

Fires after a navigation to a link is completed on either a window element or a frameSet element.

NavigateComplete2

Fires after a navigation to a link is completed on a window element or a frameSet element.

NewProcess

Creates a new process to handle the navigation.

NewWindow

Fires when a new window is to be created.

NewWindow2

Fires when a new window is to be created.

NewWindow3

Raised when a new window is to be created. Extends NewWindow2 with additional information about the new window.

OnFullScreen

Fires when the FullScreen property is changed.

OnMenuBar

Fires when the MenuBar property is changed.

OnQuit

Fires before the Internet Explorer application quits.

OnStatusBar

Fires when the StatusBar property is changed.

OnTheaterMode

Fires when the TheaterMode property is changed.

OnToolBar

Fires when the ToolBar property is changed.

OnVisible

Fires when the Visible property of the object is changed.

PrintTemplateInstantiation

Fires when a print template is instantiated.

PrintTemplateTeardown

Fires when a print template is destroyed.

ProgressChange

Fires when the progress of a download operation is updated on the object.

PropertyChange

Fires when the PutProperty method of the object changes the value of a property.

StatusTextChange

Fires when the status bar text of the object has changed.

TitleChange

Fires when the title of a document in the object becomes available or changes.

UpdatePageStatus
WindowActivate
WindowMove
WindowResize
WindowStateChanged

Fires when the visibility state of a content window, such as the browser window or a tab, changes.

 

Methods

The InternetExplorer object has these methods.

Method Description
ExecWB

Executes a command and returns the status of the command execution using the IOleCommandTarget interface.

GetProperty

Gets the value associated with a user-defined property name.

GoBack

Navigates backward one item in the history list.

GoForward

Navigates forward one item in the history list.

GoHome

Navigates to the current home or start page.

GoSearch

Navigates to the current search page.

Navigate

Navigates to a resource identified by a URL or to a file identified by a full path.

Navigate2

Navigates the browser to a location that might not be expressed as a URL, such as a PIDL for an entity in the Windows Shell namespace.

PutProperty

Associates a user-defined name/value pair with the object.

QueryStatusWB

Queries the object for the status of commands using the IOleCommandTarget interface.

Refresh

Reloads the file that is currently displayed in the object.

Refresh2

Reloads the file that is currently displayed with the specified refresh level.

Stop

Cancels a pending navigation or download, and stops dynamic page elements, such as background sounds and animations.

 

Properties

The InternetExplorer object has these properties.

Property Description

AddressBar

Sets or gets a value indicating whether the address bar of the object is visible or hidden.

Application

Gets the automation object for the application that is hosting the WebBrowser Control.

Busy

Gets a value that indicates whether the object is engaged in a navigation or downloading operation.

Container

Gets an object reference to a container.

Document

Gets the automation object of the active document, if any.

FullName

Note   FullName may be altered or unavailable in subsequent versions of the operating system or product.
 

Retrieves the fully qualified path of the Internet Explorer executable.

FullScreen

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether Internet Explorer is in full-screen mode or normal window mode.

Height

Sets or gets the height of the object.

Left

Sets or gets the coordinate of the left edge of the object.

LocationName

Retrieves the path or title of the resource that is currently displayed.

LocationURL

Gets the URL of the resource that is currently displayed.

MenuBar

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the Internet Explorer menu bar is visible.

Offline

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the object is operating in offline mode.

Parent

Gets the parent of the object.

Path

Note   Path may be altered or unavailable in subsequent versions of the operating system or product.
 

Retrieves the system folder of the Internet Explorer executable.

ReadyState

Gets the ready state of the object.

RegisterAsBrowser

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the object is registered as a top-level browser window.

RegisterAsDropTarget

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the object is registered as a drop target for navigation.

Resizable

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the object can be resized.

Silent

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the object can display dialog boxes.

StatusBar

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the status bar for the object is visible.

TheaterMode

Sets or gets whether the object is in theater mode.

ToolBar

Sets or gets whether toolbars for the object are visible.

Top

Sets or gets the coordinate of the top edge of the object.

TopLevelContainer

Gets a value that indicates whether the object is a top-level container.

Type

Gets the user type name of the contained document object.

Visible

Sets or gets a value that indicates whether the object is visible or hidden.

Width

Sets or gets the width of the object.

 

Remarks

Windows Internet Explorer 8. On Windows Vista, to create an instance of Internet Explorer running at a medium integrity level, pass CLSID_InternetExplorerMedium (defined in exdisp.idl) to CoCreateInstance. The resulting InternetExplorerMedium object supports the same events, methods, and properties as the InternetExplorer object.

Examples

The following example uses CreateObject in Visual Basic to launch an instance of Internet Explorer.

Dim IE As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer

Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")

The following C# example launches an instance of Internet Explorer and navigates to a Web page. The code also demonstrates how to create an event handler to listen for the BeforeNavigate2 event. The project requires a reference to the Microsoft Internet Controls (SHDocVw) type library.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class EventHandlers
    {
        public void OnBeforeNavigate2(object sender, ref object URL, 
                                      ref object Flags, ref object Target, 
                                      ref object PostData, ref object Headers, 
                                      ref bool Cancel) 
        {
            Console.WriteLine("BeforeNavigate2 fired!");
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            EventHandlers e = new EventHandlers();
            SHDocVw.InternetExplorer IE = new SHDocVw.InternetExplorer();
            object Empty = 0;
            object URL = "http://www.live.com";

            // override BeforeNavigate2 event
            IE.BeforeNavigate2 += new
                 SHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_BeforeNavigate2EventHandler(
                         e.OnBeforeNavigate2);

            IE.Visible = true;
            IE.Navigate2(ref URL, ref Empty, ref Empty, ref Empty, ref Empty);

            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);

            IE.Quit();
        }
    }
}