Question

I have tried everything I can think of and every code sample imaginable but I cannot get any type of output using Process.Start when opening a browser. I have tried just looking at error output and eliciting 404 errors and Standard Output using actual URLs – nothing works. Here is the simplest example – although it fails as well even though the browser launches every time…

        //Default Browser
        RegistryKey key = null;
        string defaultPath = "";

        try
        {
            key = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey("HTTP\\shell\\open\\command", false);
            defaultPath = key.GetValue("").ToString().ToLower().Replace("\"", "");
            if (!defaultPath.EndsWith(".exe"))
                defaultPath = defaultPath.Substring(0, defaultPath.LastIndexOf(".exe") + 4);
        }
        catch { }
        finally
        {
            if (key != null)
                key.Close();
        }

None Working Code:

        ProcessStartInfo browserInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
        browserInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
        browserInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
        browserInfo.FileName = defaultPath;
        browserInfo.Arguments = "http://www.google.com";
        browserInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
        browserInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
        browserInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
        string error = "";
        string output = "";
        String strProcessResults;

        try
        {
            // Start the child process.

            Process p = new Process();

            // Redirect the output stream of the child process.
            p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
            p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
            p.StartInfo.FileName = defaultPath;
            p.StartInfo.Arguments = "http://www.google.com/NoneYa.html";
            p.Start();

            // Read the output stream first and then wait.
            strProcessResults = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
            p.WaitForExit();
        }
        catch (System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception BrowserX)
        {
            //We ignore the error if a browser does not exist!
            if (BrowserX.ErrorCode != -2147467259)
                throw BrowserX;
        }

OR

        try
        {
            // Start the child process.

            Process p = new Process();

            // Redirect the output stream of the child process.
            p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
            p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
            p.StartInfo.FileName = defaultPath;
            p.StartInfo.Arguments = "http://www.google.com";
            p.Start();

            // Read the output stream first and then wait.
            strProcessResults = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
            p.WaitForExit();
        }
        catch (System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception BrowserX)
        {
            //We ignore the error if a browser does not exist!
            if (BrowserX.ErrorCode != -2147467259)
                throw BrowserX;
        }

Answer 1

I’ve never actually checked, but I’d be surprised if your browser printed anything to stdout. It’s a Windowed application.