RE: Launch a URL from RPGLE

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tim,

> CHGVAR &CMD +
>  VALUE('rundll32.exe url.dll,FileProtocolHandler ' *bcat +
> 'http://www.site.com')
> STRPCCMD   PCCMD(&cmd) PAUSE(*no)

I recently stumbled over this exact same technique (in fact, I was 
planning to mention it in a newsletter that I'm writing for Thursday).
I like this method better than using the "start" command, because "start" 
is an MS-DOS command, and it causes the ugly MS-DOS window to open!  The 
"start" command also chokes on any embedded ampersands (the & character) 
in the URL, and that's often a problem.  So I really like the rundll 
method because it solves all of these, yet still will invoke the user's 
default browser.

I did want to point out that you can save a few precious characters in 
your URL string by leaving off the "exe" and "dll".  For example:

code for LAUNCH *CMD:

CMD        PROMPT('Launch Browser')

PARM       KWD(URL) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(90) MIN(1) +
           EXPR(*YES) PROMPT('URL to launch')

code for LAUNCH CL program:

PGM  PARM(&URL)

     DCL VAR(&CMD) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(123)
     DCL VAR(&URL) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(90)

     STRPCO PCTA(*NO)
     MONMSG IWS4010

     CHGVAR VAR(&CMD) +
     VALUE('rundll32 url,FileProtocolHandler ' *BCAT &URL)

     STRPCCMD PCCMD(&CMD) PAUSE(*NO)

ENDPGM

Whenever I want to launch a browser window with this technique, I simply 
do the following:

    LAUNCH URL('http://www.scottklement.com')

Of course, this technique will only work if the attached terminal supports 
STRPCCMD, and is running a 32-bit version of Windows.  And it's still 
limited to 90 characters for a URL.  But, that's often adequate.