Question

I am working with the Internet Explorer object in Visual Basic. Is there a way to copy the current URL IE is displaying so I can paste it elsewhere with my clipboard?

Answer 1

Assuming you already have the IE window identified, which itself is a little more complicated – I can elaborate on this if needed:

Dim ieIEWindow As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
Dim sIEURL As String

'Set your IE Window

sIEURL = ieIEWindow.LocationURL

To get the IE window, you’ll need to reference the Microsoft Internet Controls library (ieframe.dll) in the VBA editor by going to Tools=>References... and selecting it from the list. If that item is not available, the .dll file for me is located at C:\Windows\System32\ieframe.dll.

Once the reference is set, you’ll have access to the so-called SHDocVw library in your code.

You can grab the IE window (assuming only one open) using the following (untested, modified/reduced from my own working code):

Public Function GrabIEWindow() As SHDocView.InternetExplorer

Dim swShellWindows As New SHDocVw.ShellWindows
Dim ieOpenIEWindow As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer

    Set GrabIEWindow = Nothing

    ' Look at the URLs of any active Explorer windows 
    ' (this includes WINDOWS windows, not just IE)
    For Each ieOpenIEWindow In objShellWindows

        ' Check the I.E. window to see if it's pointed 
        ' to a web location (http)
        If Left$(ieOpenIEWindow.LocationURL, 4) = "http" Then
            ' If so, set this window as the one to use. 
            ' This will need to be modified to create
            ' a list if you want to select from more
            ' than one open window

            ' Optional grab the HWND for later reference...
            Dim lWindowID As Long
            lWindowID = ieOpenIEWindow.HWND

            Set GrabIEWindow = ieOpenIEWindow

            Exit Function
        End If

    Next OpenIEWindow 

End Function

The above can also be modified to allow for a selection of multiple open IE windows.