Programming the MSHTML Web Browser Control with C++

This makes it possible to have a web look and feel in a program. Because I thought this is quite interesting, I decided to write some C++ classes that make it possible to use MSHTML in an easy way. I found some ideas on how to do that on a now defunct link on codeproject.com (the title of the link was: Embed an HTML Control in your own window using plain C.).

Displaying an URL

The following program takes one argument which is an URL to be displayed:

#include <windows.h>
#include "HTMLWindow.h"

int CALLBACK WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, int) {

  if (__argc < 2) {
    ::MessageBox(0, "DisplayHTML.exe html-document", "Specify HTML document to be displayed", 0);
    return -1;
  }

  HTMLWindow* html_window = new HTMLWindow (
    __argv[1],
       "DisplayHTML", 
       hInstance,
       true  // it is an url 
     );

  MSG msg;
  while (GetMessage(&msg, 0, 0, 0)) {
    TranslateMessage(&msg);
    if (msg.message >= WM_KEYFIRST && 
        msg.message <= WM_KEYLAST) {
      ::SendMessage(html_window->hwnd_, msg.message, msg.wParam, msg.lParam);
    }
    DispatchMessage(&msg);
  }

  return 0;
}

Github repository cpp-MSHTML, path: /DisplayHTML.cpp

The executable can be called from cmd.exe like so:

C:\> DisplayHTML.exe www.your-favorite-url.zzz

Rendering HTML

Instead of an URL, it's also possible to render HTML (as text) with the following simple program:

#include <windows.h>
#include <string>

#include "HTMLWindow.h"

int CALLBACK WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE /*unused__*/, LPSTR /*lpszCmdLine*/, int /*nCmdShow*/) {

  char curDir[256];
  GetCurrentDirectoryA(255, curDir);

  std::string html = 
           "<html><head>"
           "<title>MSHTMLTest</title>"   // seems a little useless in this context
           "</head><body>"
           "<h1>This is a test</h1>"
           "I offer the following links:"
           "<ul>"
           "<li><a href='https://www.google.com'>Google</a>"
           "<li><a href='https://www.renenyffenegger.ch'>renenyffenegger.ch</a>"
           "<li><a href='https://github.com/ReneNyffenegger/cpp-MSHTML'>github repository</a>"
       //
       //  Unfortunately, file:// links don't seem to work:
       //
       //  "<li><a href='file://"; html += curDir;  html += "/test/index.html'>test/index.html</a>"
           ;
  html += "</ul>"
          "</body></html>",
        // Parameter title 
          "MSHTMLTest";
//MessageBox(0, html.c_str(), 0, 0);

  HTMLWindow* html_window = new HTMLWindow (
         html,         // HTML text (or url)
        "MSHTML Test", // Title
         hInstance,
         false  // indicates: this not an url, but html 
  );

  MSG msg;
  while (GetMessage(&msg, 0, 0, 0)) {
    TranslateMessage(&msg);
    if (msg.message >= WM_KEYFIRST && 
        msg.message <= WM_KEYLAST) {
      ::SendMessage(html_window->hwnd_, msg.message, msg.wParam, msg.lParam);
    }
    DispatchMessage(&msg);
  }

  return 0;
}

Github repository cpp-MSHTML, path: /MSHTMLTest.cpp

When executed, it will open a Window like so:

TODO: EventReceiverTest.cpp

EventReceiverTest.cpp is supposed to handle events (such as mouse clicks) in a MSHTML application.

However, I didn't find this file anymore somewhere in one of my backups but I was able to recover a version from archive.org.

EventReceiverTest.cpp also needs HTMLWindow.cpp etc. However, the version of HTMLWindow.cpp that I found on archive.org was different from the one in my local source code repository.

Therefore, I stored the archive.org version under HTMLWindow2.cpp and HTMLWindow2.h, respectively.

Also, when compiling EventReceiverTest.cpp along with HTMLWindow2, the produced executable does not work properly.

Programming the MSHTML Web Browser Control with C++

Displaying an URL

Rendering HTML

github repository

TODO: EventReceiverTest.cpp

See also