Open tab in existing IE instance

Question

$ie = New-Object -com internetexplorer.application

Everytime i open a new website with this object(ie every time when script runs) it is opened in a new IE window and i don't want it to do that. I want it to be opened in a new tab but that too in a previously opened IE window. I want to reuse this object when the script runs next time. I don't want to create a new object

So is there any way like to check for the instances of internet explorer and to reuse its instance ???

I tried this as a solution:

First you have to attach to the already running Internet Explorer instance:

$ie = (New-Object -COM "Shell.Application").Windows() `
    | ? { $_.Name -eq "Windows Internet Explorer" }

Then you Navigate to the new URL. Where that URL is opened is controlled via the Flags parameter:

$ie.Navigate("http://www.google.com/", 2048)

but am not able to call navigate method on this newly created object $ie.

Solution 1

You can use Start-Process to open the URL. If a browser window is already open, it will open as a tab.

Start-Process 'http://www.microsoft.com'

Solution 2

First you have to attach to the already running Internet Explorer instance:

$ie = (New-Object -ComObject "Shell.Application").Windows() |
      Where-Object { $_.Name -eq "Windows Internet Explorer" }

Then you Navigate to the new URL. Where that URL is opened is controlled via the Flags parameter:

$ie.Navigate("http://www.google.com/", 2048)

Edit: In case 2 or more IE instances are running (additional tabs count as additional instances as well) the enumeration will return an array, so you have to select a particular instance from the array:

$ie[0].Navigate("http://www.google.com/", 2048)

Solution 3

You can use this if Internet Explorer is not your default browser:

Function Open-IETabs {
    param (
        [string[]]$Url
    )
    begin {
        $Ie = New-Object -ComObject InternetExplorer.Application
    }
    process {
        foreach ($Link in $Url) {
            $Ie.Navigate2($Link, 0x1000)
        }
    }
    end {
        $Ie.Visible = $true
    } 
}

I found this on PowerShell.com

Comments

[Rohit2194017]

but m not able to call navigate method on this newly created object,ie. on $ie

[Ansgar Wiechers]

The IE object is not newly created. How exactly are you "not able to call the Navigate method"? Do you get an error? Does the first command return an object at all? What is the output of $ie.GetType() and $ie | Get-Member?

[Rohit2194017]

the first command was successful and it returned the object of the same kind, i already checked it with get-member, everything looks to be fine with the object creation but still m not able to call navigate function, it shows an error which is given below: Method invocation failed because [System.Objec At line:1 char:14 + $ie3.navigate <<<< ("www.google.com") + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodNotFound

[Rohit2194017]

the first command was successful and it returned the object of the same kind, i already checked it with get-member, everything looks to be fine with the object creation but still m not able to call navigate function, it shows an error which is given below: Method invocation failed because [System.Object[]] doesn't contain a method named 'navigate'. At line:1 char:14 + $ie3.navigate <<<< ("www.google.com") + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: <navigate:string>[], RuntimeException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodNotFound

[Rohit2194017]

i checked the type of both the objects and it appeared to be of different types: the newly created was of type Object[] and with a base type of System.Array. And the one which was created using without callinig window() method (that is the one which should be created) was of type _ComObject and with a base of System.MarshalByRefObject

[Ansgar Wiechers]

Use $ie[0].Navigate(...). Apparently you have more than one IE instance running, so the enumeration returns an array instead of a single object.

[Rohit2194017]

hey yaa, thankzzzz mate, it worked, thanxx a lot :) :) :) :) :)

[John P]

This assumes that Internet Explorer is the default web browser.

[jonsinfinity]

I'm fairly certain Start-Process just sends the URL to whatever the default browser is on the system. It works for me with Firefox as my default browser.

[John P]

Yes, it does open in the default browser, Chrome, FF, IE or whatever. However the question was focused on IE, so I just wanted to point out that IE has to be set to the default browser.

[jonsinfinity]

You are correct. I interpreted your first comment to mean it only worked if IE is the default browser.

[jonsinfinity]

I'd appreciate an explanation of what the downvoter doesn't like about this answer. I know it won't happen, but still...