IWebBrowser2 interface

Exposes methods that are implemented by the WebBrowser control (Microsoft ActiveX control) or implemented by an instance of the InternetExplorer application (OLE Automation). For the Microsoft .NET Framework version of this control, see WebBrowser Control (Windows Forms).

Members

The IWebBrowser2 interface inherits from the IDispatch interface. IWebBrowser2 also has these types of members:

• Methods
• Properties

Methods

The IWebBrowser2 interface has these methods.

Properties

The IWebBrowser2 interface has these properties.

Remarks

Many of these methods apply only to the InternetExplorer application, such as the ClientToWindow method and the ShowBrowserBar method. The WebBrowser control either returns an error for those methods that it does not implement, or stores the input value but otherwise ignores it.

The IWebBrowser2 interface derives from IDispatch indirectly; that is, IWebBrowser2 derives from IWebBrowserApp, which in turn derives from IWebBrowser, which finally derives from IDispatch.

Note  The IWebBrowser and IWebBrowserApp interfaces are deprecated.

The following code demonstrates how to launch Internet Explorer from within a host application. When the InternetExplorer object is first created, the application window is hidden. You must set IWebBrowser2::Visible to VARIANT_TRUE to display the application. Also, because the OLE Automation server launches Internet Explorer as a separate application, the host must call the IWebBrowser2::Quit method to close Internet Explorer, if necessary. In this example, the browser continues running after the function exits if the navigation is successful.

if (SUCCEEDED(OleInitialize(NULL)))
{
   IWebBrowser2*    pBrowser2;

   CoCreateInstance(CLSID_InternetExplorer, NULL, CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER, 
                       IID_IWebBrowser2, (void**)&pBrowser2);
   if (pBrowser2)
   {
       VARIANT vEmpty;
       VariantInit(&vEmpty);

       BSTR bstrURL = SysAllocString(L"https://microsoft.com");

       HRESULT hr = pBrowser2->Navigate(bstrURL, &vEmpty, &vEmpty, &vEmpty, &vEmpty);
       if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
       {
           pBrowser2->put_Visible(VARIANT_TRUE);
       }
       else
       {
           pBrowser2->Quit();
       }

       SysFreeString(bstrURL);
       pBrowser2->Release();
   }

   OleUninitialize();
}

Alternatively, the Internet Explorer application can create a new window (similar to window.open) by passing the navOpenInNewWindow flag. In this case, it is necessary to call IWebBrowser2::Quit to properly close the hidden browser window. This method allows you to open several browser windows at one time; however, because no interface reference is returned, there is no immediate way to further navigate or control the new instances of Internet Explorer.

CoCreateInstance(CLSID_InternetExplorer, NULL, CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER, 
                   IID_IWebBrowser2, (void**)&pBrowser2);
if (pBrowser2)
{
    VARIANT vEmpty;
    VariantInit(&vEmpty);

    VARIANT vFlags;
    V_VT(&vFlags) = VT_I4;
    V_I4(&vFlags) = navOpenInNewWindow;
    
    BSTR bstrURL = SysAllocString(L"https://microsoft.com");

    pBrowser2->Navigate(bstrURL, &vFlags, &vEmpty, &vEmpty, &vEmpty);
    pBrowser2->Quit();

    SysFreeString(bstrURL);
    pBrowser2->Release();
} 

Note  Windows Internet Explorer 7 and later. It is not possible to use CoCreateInstance to open an instance of Internet Explorer as a new tab in an existing window. In general, the ShellExecute function is the preferred way to open links because it respects the user preferences both with regard to default browser and expected tab behavior.

Requirements

See also

IDispatch