Is there a function that opens an internet web page?

[DiCri]

Hi Pascal Word,
I work with SDL unit. In a program, imagine there is a button and if the player press the button, google chrome starts with a specified url. Is this possible? Thanks! 

[howardpc]

Add LCLIntf to your uses clause, then use the function

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. function OpenURL(AURL: String): Boolean;

[DiCri]

Add LCLIntf to your uses clause, then use the function

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. function OpenURL(AURL: String): Boolean;

I am using FreePascal so i have not LCLIntf unit..

[Bart]

If on Windows you can use:

Code: [Select]

  ShellExecuteW(0, nil, PWideChar(TheUrl), nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL).

It will launch the default browser (which may or may ot be Chrome), with the specified URL.

(TheUrl must be a UnicodeString or WideString).
The returnvalue (of type HInst) must be > 32, otherwise the function failed.

Bart

[Ñuño_Martínez]

Problem with ShellExecute is that it is Windows only.

There's no simple way to do it in a cross platform way.  I was looking for something like that, so I read the LCL sources to see how they do it and it's quite complicated.  Each operating system uses a very different way.

Linux seems to be the worst case.  It scans different functions and locations to find a webbrowser executable then run it passing the appropriate command-line options.

[wp]

TProcess? (http://wiki.freepascal.org/Executing_External_Programs)

Code: Text  [Select][+][-]

1. uses
2.   Process;
3.  
4. var
5.   AProcess: TProcess;
6. begin
7.   AProcess := TProcess.Create(nil);
8.   try
9.     AProcess.Executable := 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe';
10.     AProcess.Parameters.Add('somefile.html');
11.     AProcess.Options := AProcess.Options + [poWaitOnExit];
12.     AProcess.Execute;
13.   finally
14.     AProcess.Free;
15.   end;  

[Leledumbo]

Linux seems to be the worst case.  It scans different functions and locations to find a webbrowser executable then run it passing the appropriate command-line options.

Unless you're using a very cryptic distro, you can assume that Linux is XDG compliant. In that case:

Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]

1. $ xdg-open <url>

should suffice.

[Handoko]

Add LCLIntf to your uses clause, then use the function

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. function OpenURL(AURL: String): Boolean;

I am using FreePascal so i have not LCLIntf unit..

So use Lazarus instead of FPC. I understand the extra 'fat' some people dislike. But fat can be delicious. Lazarus can really speed up your development a lot. Otherwise, write the function yourself using FPC, you can always look into the code of available solutions.

wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Webbrowser

[Bart]

Unless you're using a very cryptic distro, you can assume that Linux is XDG compliant. In that case:

Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]

1. $ xdg-open <url>

should suffice.

AFAIK that's exactly what LCLIntf.OpenUrl() does on *nix platform.

Bart

[Leledumbo]

AFAIK that's exactly what LCLIntf.OpenUrl() does on *nix platform.

Extended to widely known browsers for non-XDG compliant distros:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. {%MainUnit ../lclintf.pas}
2.  
3. // Locates the default browser associated in the system
4.  
5. function FindBrowserExecutable(const ShortFilename: String; out ABrowser: String): Boolean; inline;
6. begin
7.   ABrowser := SearchFileInPath(ShortFilename + GetExeExt, '',
8.                     GetEnvironmentVariableUTF8('PATH'), PathSeparator,
9.                     [sffDontSearchInBasePath]);
10.   Result := (ABrowser <> '');
11. end;
12.  
13. const
14.   PredefinedBrowserStrings: array[1..10] of String = (
15.     'xdg-open',
16.     'htmlview',
17.     'firefox',
18.     'mozilla',
19.     'galeon',
20.     'konqueror',
21.     'safari',
22.     'netscape',
23.     'opera',
24.     'iexplore'
25.   );
26.  
27. function FindPredefinedBrowser(out ABrowser, AParams: String): Boolean;
28. var
29.   i: Integer;
30. begin
31.   ABrowser := '';
32.   AParams := '"%s"';
33.   for i := Low(PredefinedBrowserStrings) to High(PredefinedBrowserStrings) do
34.     if FindBrowserExecutable(PredefinedBrowserStrings[i], ABrowser) then Break;
35.   Result := (ABrowser <> '');
36. end;
37.  

[Bart]

AFAIK that's exactly what LCLIntf.OpenUrl() does on *nix platform.

Extended to widely known browsers for non-XDG compliant distros:

I know, take a look at svn log 

FWIW: Here is some code that tries to find a default browser in *nix (got (parts of) it from Graeme).

Bart