Microsoft® Visual Basic® .NET Programmer's Cookbook

Drive Internet Explorer

Problem

You want to show a separate Internet Explorer window, but retain control over that window.

Solution

Use Automation and the Microsoft Internet Explorer control to drive Internet Explorer.

Discussion

Microsoft provides more than one way to access the functionality of Internet Explorer. You can host an Internet Explorer browser window directly on a form, as shown in recipe Display a Web Page with Internet Explorer, or you can use Automation to drive a standalone Internet Explorer window. In either case, the object model is virtually identical.

To use Automation with Internet Explorer, you must first add a reference to the necessary COM library. Right-click your project in the Solution Explorer, select Add Reference, and ...