ACC: How to Explore an Internet Site from MS Access 2.0 or 95

• Microsoft Access, versions 2.0, 7.0

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article describes a technique for using the Shell() function in Microsoft Access 2.0 or 7.0 to start Microsoft Internet Explorer by double- clicking a Web address field on a form.

In Microsoft Access 97, this functionality is built-in. The label, command button, and image form controls contain Hyperlink properties that allow you to jump to a Web address just by clicking the control.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access for Windows 95" manual.

NOTE: Visual Basic for Applications is called Access Basic in Microsoft Access version 2.0. For more information about Access Basic, please refer to the "Building Applications" manual.

MORE INFORMATION

This technique enables you to run Microsoft Internet Explorer without using special ActiveX controls or Windows application programming interface (API) procedures in your application. It passes the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to Microsoft Internet Explorer as a command-line argument. For example, "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe www.microsoft.com." You can modify this example to work with any Web browser software that accepts a URL as a command-line argument.

To start Microsoft Internet Explorer using this technique, you must know the full path to the file Iexplore.exe, or the file's path must be set in your computer's PATH variable.

The following example shows you how to start Microsoft Internet Explorer by double-clicking a field on a form.

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB in version 2.0).

2. Create the following new table:

         Table: WebTable
         ----------------------------------------------------
         Field Name: ID
            Data Type: AutoNumber (or Counter in version 2.0)
         Field Name: Site
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 255
         Field Name: SiteDesc
            Date Type: Text
            Field Size: 255
   
         Table Properties: WebTable
         --------------------------
         PrimaryKey: ID
   
   

3. Open the table in Datasheet view and enter the following records:

         Site                                SiteDesc
         -----------------------------------------------------------------
         www.microsoft.com                   Microsoft Home Page
         www.microsoft.com/MSAccessSupport   Microsoft Access Support Page
   
   

4. Create the following new form based on the WebTable table:

         Form: WebForm
         ---------------------------------
         RecordSource: WebTable
         Caption: Web Form
   

         Text Box:
            Name: txtID
            ControlSource: ID
         Text Box:
            Name: txtSite
            ControlSource: Site
            OnDblClick: [Event Procedure]
         Text Box: txtSiteDesc
            Name: txtSiteDesc
            ControlSource: SiteDesc
   
   

5. Type the following event procedure in the OnDblClick property of the txtSite text box control:

         Private Sub txtSite_DblClick (Cancel As Integer)
         Dim PATH As String, CMD As String, X As Integer
         ' Type the path where Iexplore.exe is located on your computer.
         PATH = "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\"
         ' Default command line for Microsoft Internet Explorer.
         CMD = Chr(34) & PATH & "Iexplore.exe" & Chr(34) & " " & Me![txtSite]
         ' Start Internet Explorer.
         X = Shell(CMD, 1)
         End Sub
   

6. Save the WebForm form and open it in Form view. Double-click the txtSite field on the record representing Microsoft Home Page. Note that Internet Explorer opens and displays the Microsoft Home Page.

7. Move to the next record representing Microsoft Access Support Page and double-click the txtSite field. Note that a second instance of Internet Explorer opens and displays the Microsoft Access Support page.

REFERENCES

For more information about using the Shell() function, search the Help Index for "Shell function."

For information about opening files or hyperlinks using Windows API calls, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q148632
   TITLE     : ACC: Start Files or Hyperlinks with Windows API
               ShellExecute()

Keywords          : kbusage PgmHowTo FmsHowTo IntpWeb
Version           : 2.0 7.0
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbhowto