How do you open a local html file in a web browser when the path contains an url fragment

Question

I am trying to open a web browser via the following methods. However, when the browser opens the url / file path, the fragment piece gets mangled (from "#anchorName" to "%23anchorName") which does not seem to get processed. So basically, the file opens but does not jump to the appropriate location in the document. Does anyone know how to open the file and have the fragment processed? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

an example path to open would be "c:\MyFile.Html#middle"

    // calls out to the registry to get the default browser
    private static string GetDefaultBrowserPath()
    {
       string key = @"HTTP\shell\open\command";
       using(RegistryKey registrykey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(key, false))
       {
          return ((string)registrykey.GetValue(null, null)).Split('"')[1];
       }
    }

    // creates a process and passes the url as an argument to the process
    private static void Navigate(string url)
    {
       Process p = new Process();
       p.StartInfo.FileName = GetDefaultBrowserPath();
       p.StartInfo.Arguments = url;
       p.Start();
    }

Maybe try prepending `file:///` to the URL? – Ry- Aug 25 '11 at 22:31 — Ry-, Aug 25 '11 at 22:31
thanks, i tried this b/f i posted. it does not work. – user248450 Aug 26 '11 at 13:32 — user248450, Aug 26 '11 at 13:32

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 29 '11 at 14:58

Thanks to all that tried to help me with this issue. I have since found a solution that works. I have posted it below. All you need to do is call navigate with a local file path containing a fragment. Cheers!

    private static string GetDefaultBrowserPath()
    {
       string key = @"HTTP\shell\open\command";
       using(RegistryKey registrykey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(key, false))
       {
          return ((string)registrykey.GetValue(null, null)).Split('"')[1];
       }
    }

    private static void Navigate(string url)
    {
       Process.Start(GetDefaultBrowserPath(), "file:///{0}".FormatWith(url));
    }

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 25 '11 at 23:10

3

All you need is:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(url);

answered Aug 25 '11 at 23:10

arviman

5,087
41
48

i tried this before i posted and it throws a file not found exception because of the fragment. – user248450 Aug 26 '11 at 13:19
@user248450: Try quoting the URL. Anyways, +1. – Ry- Aug 26 '11 at 22:07
In this, it starts the Process, but file not appearing in Browser. – GaneshKumar Feb 19 '14 at 08:09
@GaneshKumar You can check [this link](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2796329/how-do-i-open-a-web-browser-from-a-net-program-process-start-isnt-working) – arviman Feb 19 '14 at 08:21
@arviman It is howing this error "The system cannot find the file specified" – GaneshKumar Feb 25 '14 at 11:28
@GaneshKumar change the path to where IExplore.exe is on your machine – arviman Feb 26 '14 at 08:02
The fragment part of the URL gets stripped with this method. – Clément Aug 05 '15 at 17:01

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 25 '11 at 22:43

1

Try relying on the system to resolve things correctly:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Process p = new Process();
        p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
        p.StartInfo.FileName = "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/c%23?sort=newest&pagesize=50";
        p.StartInfo.Verb = "Open";
        p.Start();
    }

answered Aug 25 '11 at 22:43

Philipp Schmid

5,778
5
44
66

thanks for the info phillip, but the example you have provided here is an link to an external website. i am opening a file on my hard drive which does not use the same process. when its a local file the process looks to the registry to determine what default program is used to open a file with the given extension. because your example is external web page, windows can determine that its dealing with an url and handle it appropriately. Above, im forcing some of that by looking up the users preferred program since windows cant decipher the extension when there is a fragment – user248450 Aug 26 '11 at 13:36
1

I just tried this for good measure and the fragment gets stripped using @"C:\Test.html#middle" results in "file:///C:/Test.html" thanks again for your suggestion. – user248450 Aug 26 '11 at 13:42
1

It actually crashes the app with a file not found exception. i tried it the first time without the fragment. woops. – user248450 Aug 26 '11 at 13:53

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

0

I am not a C# programmer, but in PHP I would do a urlencode. When I did a Google search on C# and urlencode it gave this page here at StackOverflow... url encoding using C#

edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Community

1
1

answered Aug 25 '11 at 22:42

user424678

41
1

That doesn't make any sense, it's a URL already, he's not appending parameters in this code... – Ry- Aug 26 '11 at 22:07

How do you open a local html file in a web browser when the path contains an url fragment

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