How to obtain the default browser without registry lookup in .NET?

Does anybody knows a way how to get the default browser without doing a lookup on the registry using开发者_如何转开发 the .NET framework?

Well, you could just run System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(url); which will start the default browser and you could then check what executable the process ran, but I'm not sure if it makes much difference since Windows will be using the registry to decide which is the default.

Why do you want to avoid registry lookup?

You can use AssocQueryString Function but internally it uses registry to get the default browser. Here is an example in C#: Getting the Default Browser Path.

File association is the way an Operating System find associated program for extension. The registry is the central entry for file association in Windows. The default browser is the one associated with ".html" or .htm".

This is my code to find file association that include some checks to prevent from some common errors... Hope it helps :-)

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;

namespace HQ.Util.Unmanaged
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Usage: string executablePath = FileAssociation.GetExecFileAssociatedToExtension(pathExtension, "open");
    /// Usage: string command FileAssociation.GetExecCommandAssociatedToExtension(pathExtension, "open");
    /// </summary>
    public static class FileAssociation
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="ext"></param>
        /// <param name="verb"></param>
        /// <returns>Return null if not found</returns>
        public static string GetExecCommandAssociatedToExtension(string ext, string verb = null)
        {
            if (ext[0] != '.')
            {
                ext = "." + ext;
            }

            string  executablePath = FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Command, ext, verb);

            // Ensure to not return the default OpenWith.exe associated executable in Windows 8 or higher
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath) && File.Exists(executablePath) &&
                !executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith(".dll"))
            {
                if (executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith("openwith.exe"))
                {
                    return null; // 'OpenWith.exe' is th windows 8 or higher default for unknown extensions. I don't want to have it as associted file
                }
                return executablePath;
            }
            return executablePath;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="ext"></param>
        /// <param name="verb"></param>
        /// <returns>Return null if not found</returns>
        public static string GetExecFileAssociatedToExtension(string ext, string verb = null)
        {
            if (ext[0] != '.')
            {
                ext = "." + ext;
            }

            string executablePath = FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Executable, ext, verb); // Will only work for 'open' verb
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath))
            {
                executablePath = FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Command, ext, verb); // required to find command of any other verb than 'open'

                // Extract only the path
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath) && executablePath.Length > 1) 
                {
                    if (executablePath[0] == '"')
                    {
                        executablePath = executablePath.Split('\"')[1];
                    }
                    else if (executablePath[0] == '\'')
                    {
                        executablePath = executablePath.Split('\'')[1];
                    }
                }
            }

            // Ensure to not return the default OpenWith.exe associated executable in Windows 8 or higher
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath) && File.Exists(executablePath) &&
                !executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith(".dll"))
            {
                if (executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith("openwith.exe"))
                {
                    return null; // 'OpenWith.exe' is th windows 8 or higher default for unknown extensions. I don't want to have it as associted file
                }
                return executablePath;
            }
            return executablePath;
        }

        [DllImport("Shlwapi.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        static extern uint AssocQueryString(AssocF flags, AssocStr str, string pszAssoc, string pszExtra, [Out] StringBuilder pszOut, [In][Out] ref uint pcchOut);

        private static string FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr assocStr, string doctype, string verb)
        {
            uint pcchOut = 0;
            AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, verb, null, ref pcchOut);

            Debug.Assert(pcchOut != 0);
            if (pcchOut == 0)
            {
                return "";
            }

            StringBuilder pszOut = new StringBuilder((int)pcchOut);
            AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, verb, pszOut, ref pcchOut);
            return pszOut.ToString();
        }

        [Flags]
        public enum AssocF
        {
            Init_NoRemapCLSID = 0x1,
            Init_ByExeName = 0x2,
            Open_ByExeName = 0x2,
            Init_DefaultToStar = 0x4,
            Init_DefaultToFolder = 0x8,
            NoUserSettings = 0x10,
            NoTruncate = 0x20,
            Verify = 0x40,
            RemapRunDll = 0x80,
            NoFixUps = 0x100,
            IgnoreBaseClass = 0x200
        }

        public enum AssocStr
        {
            Command = 1,
            Executable,
            FriendlyDocName,
            FriendlyAppName,
            NoOpen,
            ShellNewValue,
            DDECommand,
            DDEIfExec,
            DDEApplication,
            DDETopic
        }



    }
}