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TitleSee what URL Internet Explorer is displaying
Description
KeywordsInternet Explorer, IE, address, URL
CategoriesInternet, Software Engineering
 
Use the EnumWindows and GetWindowText API functions to look for a window with title ending in " - Microsoft Internet Explorer".
 
Public Function EnumProc(ByVal app_hwnd As Long, ByVal _
    lParam As Long) As Boolean
Dim buf As String * 1024
Dim title As String
Dim length As Long
Dim txt As String

    ' Get the window's title.
    length = GetWindowText(app_hwnd, buf, Len(buf))
    title = Left$(buf, length)

    ' See if the title contains the target text.
    If InStr(title, g_Contains) > 0 Then
        ' This is the target. Search for the desired path.
        If FollowChildPath(txt, app_hwnd, _
            LCase$("IEFrame/WorkerA/ReBarWindow32/ComboBoxEx32/ComboBox/Edit/")) _
            Then
            frmWindowList.txtAddress.Text = txt
        Else
            frmWindowList.txtAddress.Text = "<not found>"
        End If

        ' Stop searching.
        EnumProc = 0
    Else
        ' Continue searching until we find it.
        EnumProc = 1
    End If
End Function
 
Function FollowChildPath follows a path of child classes starting from a specified parent window. For example, the path IEFrame/WorkerA/ReBarWindow32 looks for an IEFrame child, that has a WorkerA child, that has a ReBarWindow32 child. The path to find an Internet Explorer address is:

    IEFrame/WorkerA/ReBarWindow32/ComboBoxEx32/ComboBox/Edit

Function FollowChildPath finds the current window's class and verifies that its current path matches the target path so far. If the current and target paths match completely, then the function is done so it calls function WindowText to get the window's text value and stops searching.

If the current path matches the target path so far but is not finished, the function lists the window's children. It then calls itself recursively to search the children for the target path.

 
' Search this window's children for the specified path.
' If we find the path, return the final window's text
' through parameter window_text and return True.
Public Function FollowChildPath(ByRef window_text As _
    String, ByVal window_hwnd As Long, ByVal target_path As _
    String, Optional ByVal current_path As String = "") As _
    Boolean
Dim txt As String
Dim buf As String
Dim buflen As Long
Dim child_hwnd As Long
Dim children() As Long
Dim num_children As Integer
Dim i As Integer

    ' Assume we will not find the target path.
    FollowChildPath = False

    ' Get the class name.
    buflen = 256
    buf = Space$(buflen - 1)
    buflen = GetClassName(window_hwnd, buf, buflen)
    buf = Left$(buf, buflen)

    ' Add the class name to the current path.
    current_path = current_path & LCase$(buf) & "/"

    ' See if we're on the right track.
    If Left$(target_path, Len(current_path)) <> _
        current_path Then
        ' We are off the path. Don't search it.
    ElseIf target_path = current_path Then
        ' We are on the path and have reached the end.
        ' Set the window's text and stop searching.
        If buf = "Edit" Then
            window_text = WindowText(window_hwnd)
        Else
            window_text = "<not an Edit window>"
        End If

        FollowChildPath = True
    Else
        ' We are on the path but have not reached the end.
        ' Make a list of the child windows.
        num_children = 0
        child_hwnd = GetWindow(window_hwnd, GW_CHILD)
        Do While child_hwnd <> 0
            num_children = num_children + 1
            ReDim Preserve children(1 To num_children)
            children(num_children) = child_hwnd
    
            child_hwnd = GetWindow(child_hwnd, GW_HWNDNEXT)
        Loop

        ' Search the child windows.
        For i = 1 To num_children
            If FollowChildPath(window_text, children(i), _
                target_path, current_path) Then
                ' We found the result. Stop searching.
                FollowChildPath = True
                Exit For
            End If
        Next i
    End If
End Function
 
Function WindowText uses the SendMessage API function to return a window's text.
 
' Return the text associated with the window.
Public Function WindowText(window_hwnd As Long) As String
Dim txtlen As Long
Dim txt As String

    WindowText = ""
    If window_hwnd = 0 Then Exit Function
    
    txtlen = SendMessage(window_hwnd, WM_GETTEXTLENGTH, 0, _
        0)
    If txtlen = 0 Then Exit Function
    
    txtlen = txtlen + 1
    txt = Space$(txtlen)
    txtlen = SendMessage(window_hwnd, WM_GETTEXT, txtlen, _
        ByVal txt)
    WindowText = Left$(txt, txtlen)
End Function
 
 
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