IWebBrowser2 Wrapper Class

The IEDocument class is used for storing pointers to the MSHTML objects of the active page. After telling your IEInstance object to navigate to a page, you call the GetDocument() function, which waits for navigation to complete and then populates the pointers in the IEDocument class so they are ready to query and use. This is done by querying the IWebBrowser2 for its IHTMLDocument2 interface, then calling the IHTMLDocument2::get_all() function and then iterating through each element underneath it. Each element is queried against all the MSHTML objects that the IEDocument class tracks to see if it finds a match. If so, a pointer is stored so that object can be easily accessed. In the midst of this, tables are organized into IETable objects, which store elements for each cell, organized by rows so you can easily access a particular row and column of a table.

 //Organize Tags into Types
varIndex.vt = VT_UINT;
for(i=0; i<pDocument->nElements; i++ ){
    //Release previous dispatch (if applicable)
    if(pDisp) pDisp->Release();
    pDisp=NULL;

    //Get dispatch to item i
    varIndex.lVal = i;
    VariantInit(&var);
    if(pDocument->pAll->item(varIndex, var, &pDisp)!=S_OK) throw 1110;

    //Get item i
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLElement, (void **)&pDocument->pElement[i])!=S_OK) throw 1120;

    //Get tag name
    pDocument->pElement[i]->get_tagName(&bstr);
    tag = bstr;
    SysFreeString(bstr);
    bstr=NULL;

    //HTML Tag
    if(!pDocument->pHTML){
        if(tag.CompareNoCase("HTML")==0) pDocument->pHTML = pDocument->pElement[i];
        continue; //Skip all tags before the HTML tag is found
    }

    //Body
    if(!pDocument->pBody){
        if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLBodyElement, (void **)&pDocument->pBody)==S_OK){
            continue;
        }
    }

    //Table
    if(tag.CompareNoCase("TABLE")==0){
        nTable = pDocument->nTables;
        pDocument->nTables++;
        pTable[nTable].pElement = pDocument->pElement[i];
        nRows[nTable] = 0;
        nCells[nTable] = 0;
        pDocument->pElement[i]->get_innerHTML(&bstr);
        tableHTML = bstr;
        SysFreeString(bstr);
        bstr=NULL;

        nLevels=0;
        find=0;
        while(find>=0){
            find = tableHTML.Find('<', find);
            if(find<0) break;
            if(find>=tableHTML.GetLength()-1) break;
            find++;
            if(tableHTML.Mid(find, 5).CompareNoCase("TABLE")==0){
                nLevels++;
                continue;
            }
            if(tableHTML.Mid(find, 6).CompareNoCase("/TABLE")==0){
                nLevels--;
                continue;
            }
            if(nLevels>0) continue;
            if(tableHTML.GetAt(find+1)=='/') continue;
            if(tableHTML.Mid(find, 2).CompareNoCase("TR")==0){
                pTable[nTable].nRows++;
                continue;
            }
            if(tableHTML.Mid(find, 2).CompareNoCase("TD")==0 || tableHTML.Mid(find, 2).CompareNoCase("TH")==0){
                pTable[nTable].nCells++;
                continue;
            }
        }

        //Prepare row and cell arrays
        if(pTable[nTable].nRows>0){
            pTable[nTable].pRow = new IHTMLElement*[pTable[nTable].nRows];
            if(!pTable[nTable].pRow) throw 1130;
        }
        if(pTable[nTable].nCells>0){
            pTable[nTable].pCell = new IHTMLElement*[pTable[nTable].nCells];
            pTable[nTable].cellRow = new int[pTable[nTable].nCells];
            if(!pTable[nTable].pCell || !pTable[nTable].cellRow) throw 1140;
        }
        continue;
    }

    //Row
    if(tag.CompareNoCase("TR")==0){
        //Should only need this when no cells exist in the last row of a table
        while(nRows[nTable]>=pTable[nTable].nRows) nTable--;
        if(nTable<0) throw 1008;

        pTable[nTable].pRow[nRows[nTable]] = pDocument->pElement[i];
        nRows[nTable]++;
        continue;
    }

    //Cell
    if(tag.CompareNoCase("TD")==0 || tag.CompareNoCase("TH")==0){
        //Last cell has been assigned go back to closest non-full table
        while(nCells[nTable]>=pTable[nTable].nCells) nTable--;
        if(nTable<0) throw 1150;

        pTable[nTable].pCell[nCells[nTable]] = pDocument->pElement[i];
        pTable[nTable].cellRow[nCells[nTable]] = nRows[nTable];
        nCells[nTable]++;
        continue;
    }

    //Hyperlinks
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLAnchorElement, (void **)&pAnchorElem)==S_OK){
        pHyperlink[pDocument->nHyperlinks] = pDocument->pElement[i];
        pDocument->nHyperlinks+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Forms
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLFormElement, (void **)&pForm[pDocument->nForms])==S_OK){
        pDocument->nForms+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Buttons
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLButtonElement, (void **)&pButtonElem)==S_OK){
        pButton[pDocument->nButtons] = pDocument->pElement[i];
        pDocument->nButtons+=1;
        continue;
    }
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLInputButtonElement, (void **)&pInputButtonElem)==S_OK){
        pButton[pDocument->nButtons] = pDocument->pElement[i];
        pDocument->nButtons+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Select Drop Down Menus
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLSelectElement, (void **)&pDropDownMenu[pDocument->nDropDownMenus])==S_OK){
        pDocument->nDropDownMenus+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Image Inputs
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLInputImage, (void **)&pInputImageElem)==S_OK){
        pInputImage[pDocument->nInputImages] = pDocument->pElement[i];
        pDocument->nInputImages+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Option Buttons
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLOptionButtonElement, (void **)&pOptionButton[pDocument->nOptionButtons])==S_OK){
        pDocument->nOptionButtons+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Text Areas
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLTextAreaElement, (void **)&pTextArea[pDocument->nTextAreas])==S_OK){
        pDocument->nTextAreas+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //Text Boxes
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLInputTextElement, (void **)&pTextBox[pDocument->nTextBoxes])==S_OK){
        pDocument->nTextBoxes+=1;
        continue;
    }

    //File Boxes
    if(pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLInputFileElement, (void **)&pFileBox[pDocument->nFileBoxes])==S_OK){
        pDocument->nFileBoxes+=1;
        continue;
    }
}

With these object pointers now stored for easy access, the IEDocument class contains a lot of functions that can be used to click hyperlinks or buttons or fill text boxes or areas. For example, find a particular button by name using the ButtonByName() function. It will return an index to the button you want, then call the ButtonClick() function and pass this index in to click the button.

int IEDocument::ButtonByName(const char *name)
{
    int i;


    for(i=0; i<nButtons; i++){
        if(ButtonName(i)==name) return i;
    }
    
    return -1; //Not found
} 

As you can imagine, you can use these functions to navigate to a web form, fill out the form, then submit it.

Using the code

These three classes and other supporting classes are compiled into a static library, which you can link to your project by simply adding

#include "IEInstance.h"

to your source code or header file.

You can then create an IEInstance object and call the Open() function to launch Internet Explorer. You can choose to set its only argument, visible, to true or false to make the window visible or hidden.

You can then proceed to work with the browser, calling the Navigate() function to go to a url, then pragmatically clicking links, collecting text or other functions as you need to.

After calling a function that causes the browser to navigate, you'll need to call the GetDocument() function. You'll need to do this regardless of whether you want the IEInstance to collect the document objects into its IEDocument object since this function is also the means of waiting for the navigation to complete before proceeding. It is also recommended to check for a navigation error using the IsErrorPage() function.

When you are finished with the browser, you can either call the Release() function to disconnect the browser window from the object before deleting it or Close() to close the browser window.

History

Version 1.0: Initial Release