IE Tabbed Browsing

[DangerousDan]

Hello,

I've been working on a script for work and have run into a brick wall trying to manage tabs in IE8. I've searched around and it seems there is no easy solution, or rather no solution that is within my current capabilities because DaleHomn referenced a lengthy workaround I couldn't quite grasp along with some very valuable information... so I created my own lengthy workaround

For my specific requirement the script is going to initiate the instance of IE that I will manipulate, so the hwnd will be known. As long as the user doesn't change the order of the tabs manually after they are opened I can resolve the correct control key to use. If they decide they want to see google as the first tab even though they opened yahoo in the first tab I have no way of knowing based on the method below... does anyone have any ideas???

To test, just open a bunch of tabs, or even multiple IE windows with multiple tabs, and run the code then reorder your tabs manually and run again... note that the msgbox text refers to the original order, not what is currently displayed. Thanks in advance for any input.

#include <IE.au3>
Local $aIE[1][4], $oIE_Prev_hwnd, $oIE, $oIE_hwnd, $i_TabCTRLNum, $oIE_LocationName, $i_IENum
$aIE[0][0] = 0
Local $i_Tabs = 1
While 1
$oIE = _IEAttach("", "instance", $i_Tabs) ; attach to each TAB in each open instance of IE
If @error = $_IEStatus_NoMatch Then ExitLoop ; if there are no more tabs remaining to loop through
$oIE_hwnd = _IEPropertyGet($oIE,"hwnd") ; get hwnd of the window corresponding to this tab
If $oIE_hwnd <> $oIE_Prev_hwnd Then ; determine if the hwnd/window is different from the last tab
  $i_TabCTRLNum = 1 ; used to determine what control key to use in the control send function, if hwnd changed this is reset
  $i_IENum += 1
  $oIE_Prev_hwnd = $oIE_hwnd
EndIf
$oIE_LocationName = _IEPropertyGet($oIE,"LocationName") ; this array should be dimmed to size according to your needs. for the purpose of this demo I'm using LocationName
ReDim $aIE[$i_Tabs + 1][4]
$aIE[$i_Tabs][0] = $oIE
$aIE[$i_Tabs][1] = $oIE_hwnd
$aIE[$i_Tabs][2] = $oIE_LocationName
$aIE[$i_Tabs][3] = '"^'&$i_TabCTRLNum&'"' ; for use in the controlsend function to select a specific tab in a specific instance of IE
$aIE[0][0] = $i_Tabs ; the number of open TABS
$aIE[0][1] = $i_IENum ; the number of instances of IE
$i_Tabs += 1 ; open tab counter
$i_TabCTRLNum += 1 ; tab control number counter
WEnd
For $i = 1 To UBound ($aIE) - 1
WinActivate($aIE[$i][1]) ; activates a specific instance of IE
WinWaitActive($aIE[$i][1])
WinActivate($aIE[$i][1]) ; I added this because with 10 tabs mixed HTTP and HTTPS open across 5 instances of IE
;sometimes the window wouldn't take focus even though the winwaitactive released the script
ControlSend($aIE[$i][1],"","DirectUIHWND1",$aIE[$i][3]) ; selects a specific tab in a specific instance of IE
MsgBox(0,"","the "&$aIE[$i][2]&" window should now be in focus")
Next
; **Please Note ** if the tabs are reordered the control keys correspond to the new order but the order of
;windows returned by _IEAttach is still the original order, the script is broken by manually reordering tabs