Article ID: 172998 - Last Review: July 15, 2004 - Revision: 4.1

How To Use WebBrowser HEADERS Param in Navigate Method

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SUMMARY

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 includes a custom ActiveX control called "WebBrowser." When you use WebBrowser in combination with Microsoft Visual Basic, you can design powerful custom solutions that include Internet Web browsing features. This article illustrates how to use the WebBrowser control HEADERS parameter in the Navigate method within Microsoft Visual Basic.

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MORE INFORMATION

The following example creates a mini-browser and uses the HEADERS parameter of the Navigate method. The HEADERS parameter has different options; this example uses the Authorization option. Adding this header allows you to gain access to a password protected URL without being asked for user name and password via a dialog box generated by the browser control. Note that code below applies only when Basic scheme is used. Please see HTTP Protocol specification (available at http://www.w3.org (http://www.w3.org) ) to get more details on HTTP Authentication process.

The format for Authorization header is as follow:

   Authorization: Basic XXXXXXX

Where XXXXXX is Base64 encoded string: "UserName:UserPassword." Base64 is described in RFC1113 and some public domain utilities for Base64 decoding/encoding are available.

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Step-by-Step Example

Create a new Standard .exe project in Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0. Form1 is created by default.
From the Project menu, click Components.
Select the Microsoft Internet Controls component. Click OK.

Add the following controls to Form1:

   Control           Name
   --------------    ---------
   Command Button    Command1
   WebBrowser        WebBrowser1

In Form1's code window, add the following code:

Option Explicit

Private Sub Command1_Click()

   WebBrowser1.Navigate  URL:= "http://www.microsoft.com" _
      ,Headers:= "Authorization: Basic XXXXXX" & chr$(13) & chr$(10)
   ' Note: All headers must be terminated with a
   ' carriage return linefeed pair.

   If WebBrowser1.Visible = False Then
      WebBrowser1.Visible = True
   End If
End Sub

From the File menu, click Save Project1.
From the Run menu, click Start. Note that when you click Command1, the WebBrowser appears and automatically loads the URL specified in the URL parameter of Navigate.