[python-win32] How do I get the URL of the active tab in Internet Explorer

[Mike Driscoll]

On 1:59 PM, He Jibo wrote:
> Hi,
> I am writing a small program, which needs to get the URL of the active
> tab in either of firefox, internet exploerer or chrome.
> My need is similar as the one posted at,
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3631216/how-do-i-get-the-url-of-the-visible-tab-in-firefox-ie-chrome 
> <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3631216/how-do-i-get-the-url-of-the-visible-tab-in-firefox-ie-chrome>
>
> I did a lot of Googling, and get the following code. The following
> code can get the url of the first tab in internet explorer. My
> question is, how can I get the url of the current active tab? Thanks.
>
> '''
> http://efreedom.com/Question/1-2555905/Get-Internet-Explorer-Address-Bar-Python
> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2005/07/05/435657.aspx
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-win32/2004-June/002040.html
> http://code.activestate.com/recipes/302324-browser-automation-tool-py-class-file/
> '''
> from win32com.client import Dispatch
> import win32api, win32con,win32gui
>
>
> SHELL = Dispatch("Shell.Application")
>
> def get_ie(shell):
>    for win in shell.Windows():
> #        print win
>        if win.Name == "Windows Internet Explorer":
>            return win
>    return None
>
> def main():
> ie = get_ie(SHELL)
>    if ie:
>        print ie.LocationURL
>        print ie.LocationName
>        print ie.ReadyState
>        print ie
>        print ie.Document.title
>        print ie.Document.location
>        print ie.Document.forms
>
> #        title = win32gui.GetWindowText(ie)
> #        print title
>
>    else:
>        print "no ie window"
>
> if __name__ == '__main__':
>    main()
> ---------------------------
> He Jibo
> Department of Psychology,
> Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign,
> 603 East Daniel St.,
> Champaign, IL 61820
> website: www.hejibo.info <http://www.hejibo.info>
>

It will probably be frowned on here, but one of the easiest ways would 
be to use SendKeys in combination with some Windows hackery. I have 
attached some code I came up with after getting help from several of the 
fine people on this list. It shows how to bring a window into focus by 
just passing in an expected string. In this case, you would want to use 
something like "Windows Internet Explorer" and have it search for that.

Once that's in focus, you can use the SendKeys package 
(http://www.rutherfurd.net/python/sendkeys/) to send an ALT+D to select 
the url and then CTRL+C to copy it. Then you can use the win32clipboard 
module from PyWin32 to grab the text from the clipboard.

It's a hack, but it's kind of fun. Of course, you can't use your PC 
while the script runs or you might interrupt the process and send the 
keys to the wrong window.


-- 
Mike Driscoll
Applications Specialist
Blog:   http://blog.pythonlibrary.org
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