Open a URL in a new window

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Introduction

Ever wanted to open a URL without blatting the contents of an existing browser window?  Here's how - and it will only take you seconds.

First, include the header file:

 #include "url.h"

Then simply declare a CURL object and call the Open method:

CURL url;
url.Open(_T("http://www.codeproject.com/"));

If you want to re-use an existing browser window, then pass false as the second parameter:

CURL url;
url.Open(_T("http://www.codeproject.com/"), false);

That's it!  Easy - and you can use this code with any CString friendly framework (MFC, WTL, ATL7).

CURL

#pragma once

class CURL
{
private:
 // The default browser
 CString m_strBrowser;
public:
 // Open a URL
 void Open(LPCTSTR lpszURL, bool bNewWindow = true)
 {
  if (bNewWindow)
   ::ShellExecute(NULL, NULL, GetBrowser(), lpszURL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
  else
   ::ShellExecute(NULL, NULL, lpszURL, NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
 }

 // Get the default browser from the registry
 LPCTSTR GetBrowser(void)
 {
  // Have we already got the browser?
  if (m_strBrowser.IsEmpty())
  {
   // Get the default browser from HKCR\http\shell\open\command
   HKEY hKey = NULL;
   // Open the registry
   if (::RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, _T("http\\shell\\open\\command"),
     0, KEY_READ, &hKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
   {
    // Data size
    DWORD cbData = 0;
    // Get the default value
    if (::RegQueryValueEx(hKey, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, &cbData) 
        == ERROR_SUCCESS && cbData > 0)
    {
     // Allocate a suitable buffer
     TCHAR* psz = new TCHAR [cbData];
     // Success?
     if (psz != NULL)
     {
      if (::RegQueryValueEx(hKey, NULL, NULL,
       NULL, (LPBYTE)psz, &cbData) ==
       ERROR_SUCCESS)
      {
       // Success!
       m_strBrowser = psz;
      }
      delete [] psz;
     }
    }
    ::RegCloseKey(hKey);
   }
   // Do we have the browser?
   if (m_strBrowser.GetLength() > 0)
   {
    // Strip the full path from the string
    int nStart = m_strBrowser.Find('"');
    int nEnd = m_strBrowser.ReverseFind('"');
    // Do we have either quote?
    // If so, then the path contains spaces
    if (nStart >= 0 && nEnd >= 0)
    {
     // Are they the same?
     if (nStart != nEnd)
     {   
      // Get the full path
      m_strBrowser = m_strBrowser.Mid(nStart + 1, nEnd - nStart - 1);
     }
    }
    else
    {
     // We may have a pathname with spaces but
     // no quotes (Netscape), e.g.:
     //   C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETSCAPE\COMMUNICATOR\PROGRAM\NETSCAPE.EXE -h "%1"
     // Look for the last backslash
     int nIndex = m_strBrowser.ReverseFind('\\');
     // Success?
     if (nIndex > 0)
     {
      // Look for the next space after the final
      // backslash
      int nSpace = m_strBrowser.Find(' ', nIndex);
      // Do we have a space?
      if (nSpace > 0)
       m_strBrowser = m_strBrowser.Left(nSpace);    
     }
    }
   }
  }
  // Done
  return m_strBrowser;
 }
};