Using IELaunchURL in C# to launch a protected mode Internet Explorer 7 window
September 25, 2008
By popular demand, here's the C# equivalent of the C/C++ program I posted earlier today. As things work in the Windows native code world, the C# equivalent takes about 80 lines of code (vs 30). Might be the XML comments though.
The main method to the program; if the URL is passed in as a parameter, it will be sent to IE.
class Program { static int Main(string[] args) { string url = args.Length > 0 ? args[0] : null; return ProtectedModeHelper.LaunchInternetExplorer(url); } }
Structures that need to be defined:
IELAUNCHURLINFO (can be found in the Windows SDK iepmapi.h header file)
PROCESS_INFORMATION (used by CreateProcess, found on PInvoke.net)
Safe native methods:
ieframe.dll: IELaunchURL
Here's the helper class and native methods that I came up with. The return value of LaunchInternetExplorer is the PID, or 0. If the machine is not running Windows Vista, then you'll receive a NotSupportedException.
ProtectedModeHelper.cs
using System; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; namespace YourNamespaceHere { // Engineered from iepmapi.h in the Windows SDK [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] internal struct IELAUNCHURLINFO { public int cbSize; public int dwCreationFlags; } // PInvoke.net // http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/Structures/PROCESS_INFORMATION.html [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] internal struct PROCESS_INFORMATION { public IntPtr hProcess; public IntPtr hThread; public int dwProcessId; public int dwThreadId; } /// <summary> /// Native methods class. /// </summary> internal static class SafeNativeMethods { /// <summary> /// The Internet Explorer UI library. /// </summary> private const string InternetExplorerUILibrary = "ieframe.dll"; /// <summary> /// Launch a URL with Internet Explorer. Works with IE's protected /// mode. /// </summary> /// <param name="url">The URI to navigate to.</param> /// <param name="pProcInfo">Process information struct by reference /// that will contain the opened process ID.</param> /// <param name="lpInfo">The launch information struct.</param> /// <returns>Returns a value indicating whether the native call was /// successful.</returns> [DllImport(InternetExplorerUILibrary)] internal static extern bool IELaunchURL( [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string url, ref PROCESS_INFORMATION pProcInfo, ref IELAUNCHURLINFO lpInfo); } /// <summary> /// Launch a protected mode IE and provide the process ID. /// </summary> public static class ProtectedModeHelper { /// <summary> /// Launch Internet Explorer and return the PID. Requires Vista; an /// Exception will be thrown on platforms prior to it. /// </summary> /// <param name="url">The url to navigate to. Providing null will /// navigate the browser to the user's homepage.</param> /// <returns>Returns the IE process ID if successful, or 0.</returns> public static int LaunchInternetExplorer(string url) { if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6) { PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = new PROCESS_INFORMATION(); IELAUNCHURLINFO li = new IELAUNCHURLINFO(); li.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(IELAUNCHURLINFO)); return SafeNativeMethods.IELaunchURL(url, ref pi, ref li) ? pi.dwProcessId : 0; } else { throw new NotSupportedException("Protected Mode requires Windows Vista or later."); } } /// <summary> /// Launch Internet Explorer and returns the PID. /// </summary> /// <returns>Returns the IE process ID if successful, or 0.</returns> public static int LaunchInternetExplorer() { return LaunchInternetExplorer(null); } } }
Hope this helps!