Question

For years I’ve been using ShellExecute() API to launch the default web browser from within my applications. Like this:

ShellExecute( hwnd, _T('open'),      _T('http://www.winability.com/home/'),      NULL, NULL, SW_NORMAL ); 

It’s been working fine until a couple of weeks ago, when Google released its Chrome browser. Now, if Chrome is installed on the computer, the ShellExecute API no longer opens a web page.

Has anyone figured out yet how to solve this problem? (Short of detecting Chrome and displaying a message telling the user it’s Chrome’s fault?)

EDIT: the code provided by Sergey seems to work, so I’ve accepted it as ‘the’ answer. Except that I don’t like the call to WinExec: MSDN reads that WinExec is provided only for compatibility with 16-bit applications. IOW, it may stop working with any Service Pack. I did not try it, but I would not be surprised if it has already stopped working with Windows x64, since it does not support 16-bit applications at all. So, instead of WinExec, I’m going to use ShellExecute, with the path taken from the registry like Sergey’s code does, and the URL as the argument. Thanks!

Answer 1

Here is the code that works across all browsers. The trick is to call WinExec if ShellExecute fails.

HINSTANCE GotoURL(LPCTSTR url, int showcmd) {     TCHAR key[MAX_PATH + MAX_PATH];      // First try ShellExecute()     HINSTANCE result = 0;      CString strURL = url;      if ( strURL.Find('.htm') <0 && strURL.Find('http') <0 )         result = ShellExecute(NULL, _T('open'), url, NULL, NULL, showcmd);      // If it failed, get the .htm regkey and lookup the program     if ((UINT)result <= HINSTANCE_ERROR) {          if (GetRegKey(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, _T('.htm'), key) == ERROR_SUCCESS) {             lstrcat(key, _T('\\shell\\open\\command'));              if (GetRegKey(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,key,key) == ERROR_SUCCESS) {                 TCHAR *pos;                 pos = _tcsstr(key, _T('\'%1\''));                 if (pos == NULL) {                     // No quotes found                     pos = strstr(key, _T('%1'));       // Check for %1, without quotes                     if (pos == NULL)                   // No parameter at all...                         pos = key+lstrlen(key)-1;                     else                         *pos = '\0';                   // Remove the parameter                 }                 else                     *pos = '\0';                       // Remove the parameter                  lstrcat(pos, _T(' \''));                 lstrcat(pos, url);                 lstrcat(pos, _T('\''));                 result = (HINSTANCE) WinExec(key,showcmd);             }         }     }      return result; }