Question

How can I find if IWebBrowser2::Navigate cannot open the URL I want?

I mean, the website may not exist at all, and IE simply display an Error 404, and return S_OK after the function.

How can I obtain details on the status of navigation request?

Answer 1

The method returns success because web browser indeed succeeded in navigating per your request. It did what it had to and being unable to locate the website it, as it is expected, displayed 404 page. Hence, S_OK.

The DWebBrowserEvents2::NavigateError Event gives you detail you need. You need to handle browser events to receive the detail you need.

This event fires before Windows Internet Explorer displays an error page due to an error in navigation. An application has a chance to stop the display of the error page by setting the Cancel parameter to VARIANT_TRUE. However, if the server contacted in the original navigation supplies its own substitute page navigation, when you set Cancel to VARIANT_TRUE, it has no effect, and the navigation to the server’s alternate page proceeds. For example, assume that a navigation to http://www.www.wingtiptoys.com/BigSale.htm causes this event to fire because the page does not exist. However, the server is set to redirect the navigation to http://www.www.wingtiptoys.com/home.htm. In this case, when you set Cancel to VARIANT_TRUE, it has no effect, and navigation proceeds to http://www.www.wingtiptoys.com/home.htm.