Launching a page in the default browser

Launching a page in the default browser

• Koray Samsun

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• Biju S Melayil

  sorry try this

  var shell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
  shell.Run("http://www.google.com");

  
  

• Karrar

  There's probably an easier way, but you can find it in the registry:
  
  The default value of "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html" will give you the browser reference.
  From that, look up the default value of "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\<browser reference>\shell\open\command"
  That will give you the EXE which you can run via Shell.execute. You thenl need to strip it down to the EXE and pass the parameters.
  
  I've coded it for you below:
  
  var browserEXE, browserParameters;
  
  var oShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
  
  findBrowser();
  openBrowser("www.microsoft.com");
  
  function findBrowser() {
  var browserClass = oShell.RegRead("HKCR\\.html\\");
  var browserShell = oShell.RegRead("HKCR\\" + browserClass + "\\shell\\open\\command\\");
  var exeSplit = browserShell.toLowerCase().indexOf(".exe") + 4;
  browserEXE = browserShell.substring(0, exeSplit);
  browserParameters = browserShell.substring(exeSplit);
  }
  
  
  function openBrowser(url) {
  System.Shell.execute(browserEXE, browserParameters.replace("%1", url));
  }
  
  

• ykgreene

  This does not seem to work on Vista.

  I installed firefox and set it as the default browser but the

  htmlfile\shell\open\command was still related to internet explorer.

  Did MS changed the file association mechanism in Vista>

  Regards.

  
  

• Jason D. Camp

  The file association mechanism hasn't changed in Vista. It's always been by user, then system wide - that's how the registry works.
  
  As per my code above, you need to get the default value from "HKCR\.Html". This is the application class associated with .HTML files. If you look that up in HKCR, you'll have the default application path.
  
  To change the file association, just Right Click on an HTML file and select Open With\Choose Default Program...
  
  

• Bill Foust

  Thanks to both of you for your help.
  
  Tom's way was much shorter because I don't actually need to find out what the default browser is, just launch it. Worked a treat.
  
  Thanks again,
  
  Andy
  
  
  

• mumle

  I've come a long way since then
  
  toniolie, to launch a web page in the default browser you should just use System.Shell.execute("http://someurl.com");
  Jonathan Abbott's method will allow you to find the exe of the default browser, but performing the execute method on a URL launches the default browser anyway.

  Andy

  
  
  

• jv_getmore

  Andy,

  Is there a way to know if an specific extension is associated to a particular application

  In windows XP I used to go through the registry in order to ontain that information, but in Windows Vista it they changes the association to be bu user. I could have special code to do the same in Vista but I was looking for a way to do it programatically without having to check the registry, I searched un der the Shell32 API and I was not ablt to find anything.

  I know that ShellExecuteEx() returns an error if the file extension is not associated, but I would like to know whether the extension is associated or not before trying to execute it.

  Regards.

  
  
• Launching a page in the default browser