Option Explicit

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long

Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowExA" (ByVal hWnd1 As Long, ByVal hWnd2 As Long, ByVal lpsz1 As String, ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Long

Private Declare Function SendMessageAny Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As Any) As Long



Private Const WM_GETTEXT As Long = &HD

Private Const WM_GETTEXTLENGTH As Long = &HE





Private Function GetIE8AddressBar(ByVal MyClassName As String, Optional ByVal MyTitle As String) As Long



    Dim RetParent As Long

    Dim RetChild As Long

    

    RetParent = FindWindow(MyClassName, MyTitle)

    If RetParent Then

        RetChild = FindWindowEx(RetParent, 0&, "WorkerW", vbNullString) 'Caption= Navigation Bar

        RetChild = FindWindowEx(RetChild, 0&, "ReBarWindow32", vbNullString) 'previous child is the parent of this child

        RetChild = FindWindowEx(RetChild, 0&, "Address Band Root", vbNullString) 'previous child is the parent of this child

        RetChild = FindWindowEx(RetChild, 0&, "Edit", vbNullString)

        GetIE8AddressBar = RetChild

    End If



End Function



Private Sub Command1_Click()



    Dim MyIE8AddyBar As Long

    Dim RetStr As String

    

    MyIE8AddyBar = GetIE8AddressBar("IEFrame", vbNullString) 'call my function

    

    If MyIE8AddyBar Then 'if child editbox found

        RetStr = GetText(MyIE8AddyBar)

        Me.Caption = RetStr

    End If



End Sub



'gets the text of a textbox or a caption of most controls

'most people use GetWindowText API, but it doesnt seem to work for the IE8 editbox in my tests.

Private Function GetText(pHandle As Long) As String

       

    Dim Buffer As String

    Dim TextLength As Long

   

    TextLength = SendMessageAny(pHandle, WM_GETTEXTLENGTH, 0&, 0&)

    

    Buffer = String$(TextLength, 0&)

    SendMessageAny pHandle, WM_GETTEXT, TextLength + 1, Buffer

    GetText = Buffer

    

End Function