Two "Embedded" IE objects in one GUI

[lod3n]

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; I've since tried many variations, including creating "Shell.Explorer.2" objects on child GUIs. Same problem!
;
; What I'm doing here is creating two normal IE windows, modifying them to hide everything but the
; document window, attaching them to a parent AutoIt GUI as MDI children, and manually handling resize events.
;
; This is the worst workaround I've ever had to do. Thanks Microsoft! If you can think of a better
; way to crack this nut, do let me know. I'm not even close to happy with this, but this is the only
; thing I've tried that comes close to meeting the objective. If you have a need for this sort of thing,
; I think this is your best option.
;
; - lod3n, 9/15/2006
; updated 7/7/09 to work with IE8 and AutoIt 3.3.0.0

#include <GUIConstants.au3>
#include <windowsconstants.au3>
#include <IE.au3>

$realtitle = 'Dual "Embedded" IE Control Test'
$waittitle = "Creating and harvesting the controls from Internet Explorer, please wait..."
$gui = GUICreate($waittitle, 800, 600, -1, -1, BitOr($WS_SIZEBOX, $WS_MINIMIZEBOX, $WS_MAXIMIZEBOX, $WS_CAPTION, $WS_POPUP, $WS_SYSMENU, $WS_CLIPCHILDREN))

;set up two labels as reference points for resizing...
$label1 = GUICtrlCreateLabel ("",0,0,800,300)
GUICtrlSetBkColor ( -1,0xff0000)
GUICtrlSetState ( -1,$GUI_DISABLE)
GUICtrlSetState ( -1,$GUI_HIDE)
$label2 = GUICtrlCreateLabel ("",0,300,800,300)
GUICtrlSetBkColor ( -1,0x00ff00)
GUICtrlSetBkColor ( -1,$GUI_DISABLE)
GUICtrlSetState ( -1,$GUI_HIDE)

GUISetState()

;set up the first IE window
$oIE1 = _IECreate ("about:blank",0,1) ; creates an invisible instance of a regular browser window
$oIE1.AddressBar = 0 ; turn off all four IE Bars - works on 3rd party bars too, mostly.
$oIE1.MenuBar = 0
$oIE1.StatusBar = 0
$oIE1.ToolBar = 0
$uID1 = Random(1000, 100000000) ; give it a unique name so we can grab the correct handle and process ID
$oIE1.document.title = $uID1
WinWait($uID1)
$hoIE1 = WinGetHandle($uID1)
$pid1 = WinGetProcess ($hoIE1)
;~ DllCall("user32.dll", "long", "SetWindowLong", "hwnd", $hoIE1, "int", -16, "long",$WS_POPUP)
DllCall("user32.dll", "int", "SetParent", "hwnd", $hoIE1, "hwnd", $gui)    


; do it all over again for a second IE instance...
$oIE2 = _IECreate ("about:blank",0,1)
$oIE2.AddressBar = 0
$oIE2.MenuBar = 0
$oIE2.StatusBar = 0
$oIE2.ToolBar = 0
$uID2 = Random(1000, 100000000)
$oIE2.document.title = $uID2
WinWait($uID2)
$hoIE2 = WinGetHandle($uID2)
$pid2 = WinGetProcess($hoIE2)
;~ DllCall("user32.dll", "long", "SetWindowLong", "hwnd", $hoIE2, "int", -16, "long",$WS_POPUP)
DllCall("user32.dll", "int", "SetParent", "hwnd", $hoIE2, "hwnd", $gui)    

; find out where the labels are, and move the IE instances to the same locations
repositionIEs()

; show the gui and the IE windows
WinsetTitle($gui,"",$realtitle)
WinActivate($gui)
GUISetState()
;~ $oIE1.visible=1
;~ $oIE2.visible=1

; we've got object control of the instances thanks to _IECreate(), so...
_IENavigate ($oIE1,"http://www.google.com")
_IENavigate ($oIE2,"http://www.google.com")

; gui loop - you know the drill
While 1
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    Select
        case $msg = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            exitloop
        case sizeEvent($msg)
            repositionIEs()
    EndSelect
wend

; closing the gui does NOT implicitly close the IE instances, so I must close them manually.
; you'd think _IEQuit() would be the way to go, but not so much, no.
GUIDelete($gui)
While ProcessExists($pid1)
    ProcessClose($pid1)
WEnd
While ProcessExists($pid2)
    ProcessClose($pid2)
WEnd


func sizeEvent($event)
    ; there are four events I can hook that should trigger a resize
    if $event = $GUI_EVENT_MAXIMIZE or _
    $event = $GUI_EVENT_MINIMIZE or _
    $event = $GUI_EVENT_RESTORE or _
    $event = $GUI_EVENT_RESIZED then
        return True
    Else
        return False
    EndIf
EndFunc

func repositionIEs()
    ; sadly, there is no GUICtrlGetPos, so I must use ControlGetPos. Poor, poor me.
    $pos1 = ControlGetPos($gui, "", "Static3")
    $pos2 = ControlGetPos($gui, "", "Static4")
    WinMove($hoIE1, "", $pos1[0], $pos1[1], $pos1[2], $pos1[3])
    WinMove($hoIE2, "", $pos2[0], $pos2[1], $pos2[2], $pos2[3])
EndFunc

Edited July 7, 2009 by lod3n

[heibel]

Hi,

Just thinking "loud"...

What do you want to establish, besides using (the usual) frames... since: using frames you can control on whatever you want, interact between them etc.. You could even make a 3th-inbetween frame with only a "looks like two separated windows now"-picture/background...

Just thinking "loud"...

Harry

[lod3n]

Using a framed document is not a bad idea in many cases, but you can run in to trouble if someone has a Javascript in their head document that asks the browser to break out of frames. Like this:

<head>
<script>
function breakout(){
  if (top.location != location) {
    top.location.href = document.location.href;
  }
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="breakout()">
<h1>Nah, nah, na-na-nah! You'll have to disable Javascript to load me as a frame!</h1></body></html>

So if you have anything in one frame that you want to protect, well, don't use frames.

[JRSmile]

the example does not work on my pc,even after adding #include <windowsconstants.au3> no windows apear, could you please validate if the example still works?

best regards,

J.

[lod3n]

Yes, it looks like this example only works with IE6.

Here's an example of embedding Calculator in an AutoIt GUI though:

#include <GUIConstants.au3>
#include <windowsconstants.au3>

$realtitle = '"Embedded" Calc Test'
$gui = GUICreate($realtitle, 800, 600, -1, -1, BitOr($WS_SIZEBOX, $WS_MINIMIZEBOX, $WS_MAXIMIZEBOX, $WS_CAPTION, $WS_POPUP, $WS_SYSMENU, $WS_CLIPCHILDREN))
GUISetState()

$pid = Run("Calc.exe")
WinWait("Calculator")
$hwnd = WinGetHandle("Calculator")
DllCall("user32.dll", "int", "SetParent", "hwnd", $hwnd, "hwnd", $gui)    

While 1
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    Select
        case $msg = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            exitloop
    EndSelect
wend

ProcessClose($pid)

[lod3n]

I've updated the example at the top to work with IE8 and AutoIt 3.3.0.0.

[Michel Claveau]

Hi!

I suggest you change "about:blank" by "file: ///C:/myblank.htm" (without the space)

Because "about:blank" send the IE instance in internet zone, and "file: ///..." send IE instance in local zone (and you have a better control/rights on the object).

@-salutations

--

Michel Claveau

P.-S. don't forget to create your C:\myblank.htm ;-)

[JRSmile]

I've updated the example at the top to work with IE8 and AutoIt 3.3.0.0.

nice example, is there a way to remove the borders of the child windows again as done in the old example?

[Will66]

Not really sure what you need? but this is another way.

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <IE.au3>

_IEErrorHandlerRegister ()
Dim $oIE = _IECreateEmbedded ()
Dim $oIE2 = _IECreateEmbedded ()

Opt("GUIResizeMode", 1)
Opt("GUIOnEventMode", 1)  ; OnEvent mode
Dim $gui = GUICreate("resizable", 800, 600,-1,-1,$WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW)
GUISetOnEvent($GUI_EVENT_CLOSE, "CLOSEClicked")

Dim $GUIActiveX = GUICtrlCreateObj($oIE, 0, 0,800,250)
_IENavigate ($oIE, "http://google.com")
Dim $GUIActiveX2 = GUICtrlCreateObj($oIE2, 0, 300,800,250)
_IENavigate ($oIE2, "http://images.google.com")
GUISetState ()


While 1
  Sleep(1000)  ; Idle around
WEnd


Func CLOSEClicked()
        GUIDelete($gui)
        Exit
EndFunc

[JRSmile]

not really, i need to remove the border of any application window you could imagine of, then set my gui as parrent and include the app into my gui, something like mremote for putty.

http://www.mremote.org/wiki/