Web Browser ActiveX Control
Although the Web Browser ActiveX control ships with the Office 97 Professional edition (and with any Office app that includes the ValuPack), it receives ample coverage in the Microsoft Office 97 Visual Basic Programmers Guide and Building Applications with Microsoft Access 97. I found the Developer Solutions sample database an excellent place to learn the basics of this very interesting control.

Before using the Web Browser control, you must install Internet Explorer 3.0. This control can open standard Web pages based on HTML code, dynamic Web pages based on either .idc/.htx or .asp files, and most ActiveX documents if it has the corresponding application or file reader registered. The documents it can open include Microsoft Excel workbooks, PowerPoint slide shows, and Word documents. While you cannot open an Access database directly (as you can with the other Office components), you can hyperlink to a database on a remote server. This downloads a copy of the database, then opens it in Access.

A key Web Browser method is Navigate. This method uses the syntax object.Navigate URL, where the object is a proper reference to the Web Browser, such as Me!ActiveXCtl, and URL is the target for a new address. It can be an Internet site, an intranet address, or even a file on your hard drive or LAN.

Figure 3 shows the MIND Web site viewed from the Web Browser control in a Microsoft Access app. The Web Browser control, Me!ActiveXCtl, appears below a simple text box control, Me!txtLinks. The Web Browser navigates to a default URL when the form opens. You can jump to a new URL by typing it in the text box.



Two simple event procedures manage the form's behavior. The first uses the Navigate method to point the form at the default URL in Me!txtLinks. The procedure launches as 
the form loads and fires whenever a user updates the value in Me!txtlinks. The second procedure again invokes the Navigate method to jump to the new URL indicated in the text box.

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Me!ActiveXCtl.Navigate Me!txtLinks
End Sub

Private Sub txtLinks_AfterUpdate()
    If Len(Me!txtLinks) > 0 Then
        Me!ActiveXCtl.Navigate Me!txtLinks
    End If
End Sub
The Developer Solutions sample database illustrates a wide variety of techniques for embellishing the behavior of this application. For example, it demonstrates how the GoForward, GoBack, and GoHome Web Browser methods cause the control to navigate among the pages visited during the current surfing session. These and other methods can be assigned to command buttons on a form so that users can readily invoke them. Read the complete documentation for this control at http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/sdk/docs/iexplore. It covers the broad range of properties, methods, and events associated with the Web Browser control.

Let's take a look at the action of the GoHome method to start you on your way to developing a fully customizable browser that integrates tightly with your corporate Office 97 applications. Figure 4 shows a new button on the browser with a caption of Go Home. Clicking this button invokes the Web Browser's GoHome method, causing the browser to show the default Start Page as specified on the Internet Explorer setting sheet.



My customization (shown below as Go_Home_Click) presents a message box that instructs the user how to change the default Start Page setting. It also places the current Start Page address into the form's text box. Without this closing assignment statement, the text box would be out of synch with the location in the browser's window.

Private Sub Go_Home_Click()
Dim Msg As String
        
    Me!ActiveXCtl.GoHome
    Msg = "Is this where you want to be?  If not, " & _
       "change Internet Explorer (IE) Start Page.  " & _
       "Choose View, Options from the" & _
       "IE menu.  Then, select the Navigation tab.  " & _
       "Edit the Start Page setting on the tab."
    MsgBox Msg
    Me!txtLinks = Me!ActiveXCtl.LocationURL
End Sub