Create An Internet Explorer Toolbar Plugin

This document provides steps to port and debug an existing Internet Explorer plug-in project from Code Project to Visual Studio 2008. It describes resolving errors by adding include statements, changing arguments, removing options causing exceptions, setting breakpoints and modifying configuration settings. The end result is a working RSS reader plug-in toolbar for IE.

Uploaded by

Arjun Saini

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

49 views19 pages

Create An Internet Explorer Toolbar Plugin

Uploaded by

Arjun Saini

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 19

Create an Internet Explorer Plug-In Toolbar Part I

This is Part I of a new series on creating IE plug-ins. In this article, I will show you how I ported and debugged an existing project from Code Project. So lets go! This is what final product will look like.

Here are the steps I took to get this plug-in working. 1. Search for available ways/templates to create an IE plug-in Unfortunately I could not find any Internet Explorer plug-in template, neither from Visual Studio 2008 nor from MSDN nor from googling. 2. Search for open source code snippets or project After a bit digging, I found a relevant and promising project: Prafulla Tekawades RSS Reader Plug-in for Internet Explorer.

Getting RSSReaderPlugin to build I first tried using Visual C++ 2008 Express but to no avails because of missing libraries. I finally had to download and install the 90-day trial version of Microsoft Visual Studio, which I highly recommended. Its very easy to use and its free!! Three months should be enough time for you to get your feet wet (very wet) with developing Visual C++ programs. I had to make the following changes to port this RssReaderPlugin, a Visual Studio 6.0 project, to a Visual Studio 2008 project. First, double click RssReaderPlugin.sln to start Visual Studio 2008.

The Visual Studio Conversion Wizard would pop up. Click Next.

Keep the default setting (create a backup file) and click Next to continue.

Click Finish.

Then click Close to close the windows.

When the solution is open, build it by Build->Build Solution.

But you will see this error: Error C2061: syntax error : identifier IWebBrowser2. Double click the error to get to the violating line.

The IWebBrowser2 class is included in <Exdist.h>. Add the include statement to get rid of all IWebBrowser2 related errors.

Build again. This time you will get another error :error C2664: ATL:CWindowImpl<T,TBase>::Create : cannot convert parameter 2 from int to RECT &. Double click to get to the violating line.

Change the second argument from NULL to rect.

Build again. This time it should build without error.

Note that at this point, not only is this project built, the DLL also has been installed, because the author very considerably adding Custom Build Steps. To view, right click the project name and select Property from the drop down list.

This is the full Command Line entry for Custom Build Step.

Another way you can register the DLL is by using the register.bat already in the Debug directory.

Start a new Internet Explorer instance. The Rss Reader Toolbar already has been enabled. To view the Rss Reader entry from the list of Internet Explorer Add-ons, click Tools>Manager Add-ons->Enable or Disable Add-ons.

There is Rss Reader Toolbar.

To add it to the viewable panel, go to View->Toolbars, then click Rss Reader Toolbar to check it.

Then you should see a RssReader toolbar.

Now lets try running it. Click Top Story button.

Ouch! You would see a Debug Assertion Failed message. Dont worry we will take care of it. Click Retry.

Make sure that RssReaderPlugin project is open and select it from the Possible Debuggers list.

Click Break.

Go to the source panel. You should see a small Yellow Arrow, indicating the breakpoint. This line tells us that uFormat contains DT_MODIFYSTRING option, which tells DrawText to modify the specified string to match the displayed text. This value has no effect unless DT_END_ELLIPSIS or DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS is specified. This option is only allowed for Windows CE platform (_WIN32_WCE).

To find out where DT_MODIFYSTRING option is set (we need to unset it), use the Find and Replace tool from Visual Studio (also available in the Express edition). Go to Edit->Find and Replace.

Click the first find, which is on line 263 of RRPNewsButton.cpp and delete all DT_MODIFYSTRING from the OR combo.

Click the second find, which is on line 347 of RRPNewsButton.cpp and delete all DT_MODIFYSTRING from the OR combo.

To compile, click the Stop Debugging button.

Click Continue to keep running to the end.

Then now rebuild and re-register the DLL. This time it should work without throwing exception.

To view the RSS feed from shallwelearn.com, click the RSS feed button.

You will be taken to the RSS page of shallwelearn.com, which is: http://shallwelearn.com/index.php?format=feed&type=rss

To set the RSS page to shallwelearns RSS feed, click Rss Reader to open the Configuration Settings Window.

Right now the code will always just shows the first one in the RSS item list, which is Top Stories, so we copy and paste the ShallWeLearn RSS feed as the Link of the RSS of the Top Stories. Click Save to save.