A simple message

[nziese]

I am just beginning, but my boss has given me a project he wants done now. He wants a simple message to pop up whenever anyone opens Internet Explorer. I am using VS .NET 2003 and am figuring this will require the creation of a Browser Help Object. Can anyone point me to some ready made code or examples that will help me make him happy without having to jump in at a point I am not ready for?

 

[m_ogden]

there are 2 ways off the top of my head that you could accomplish this: a Browser Helper Object like you mentioned, or a window-watcher type application. You could buy one of these apps and configure it to alert a message whenever IE opens... I have used a program called Automate, a very good program especially if you don't want to write all the code required to watch for windows to open. I don't have experience with developing a BHO so I would go the Automate route... since it's a commercially available application you could have it installed and working within a few days, but would have to buy it and deploy it to your clients.

The other option is to program this functionality. Here is an example of an app that does something similar... I'm sure with a little effort you could bend it to do what you want: http://www.vb-helper.com/howto_net_track_fg_window.html

 

[nziese]

Thanks

Thank you. I have checked out Automate and the price is too much for the simple task we need. If you know of any Windows watcher type programs that are cheaper let me know. In the mean time I will check out the other option you mentioned.

Thanks again.

 

[m_ogden]

I ran across an example of how to loop through windows using a win32 api call from a C# application. They even posted the sample code in full, so I was thinking you could reapply that into a windows app which launches on startup, uses a timer and every second or so uses this code to loop through all of the open windows and if IE is detected pop open a messagebox.

I'm sure you would prefer to trigger the message box on the event of the window opening, but I'm not sure how to do that... I thought this at least gives you an option to consider.

Here's the URL to the explanation of how to get the window looper to work. Scroll down just past halfway and look for the link to Figure 3 which contains the code example:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/08/CQA/

If you want to look for a win32 api function that could be used to handle a window open event, maybe you can find it here in the win32 api reference:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winprog/winprog/windows_api_start_page.asp