Starting Default Browser with a Local File from a C# WFA app

Jerry Fike

I've been trying to make an application I'm working on launch my default browser and load a local help file. The code I'm using is:

string target = @"timers.htm";

try

{

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(target);

}

catch

(

System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception noBrowser)

{

if (noBrowser.ErrorCode == -2147467259)

MessageBox.Show(noBrowser.Message);

}

catch (System.Exception other)

{

MessageBox.Show(other.Message);

}

This works fine if I use IE or Edge as my default browser, but I really want to use Chrome. But with Chrome set as the default browser, it launches but gives me a "file not found" error.

I suspect I'm missing something simple here but can't seem to track it down. Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks, Jerry

2 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Amit Gupta9y ago
Accepted answer
@Jerry Try giving the full path of the file amd then start the process
Jerry Fike9y ago
Thanks Amit

I had tried that and it didn't work, but your answer got me to re-test and here's what I found:

1 (doesn't work) string target = @"timers.htm";
2 (doesn't work) string target = "C:\\DATA\\Programming\\VS2015\\Projects\\C#_WFA\\Timers\\Timers\\bin\\Debug\\timers.htm";
3 (works) string target = "C:\\timers.htm";
4 (doesn't work) string target = "C:\\DATA\\Programming\\VS2015\\Projects\\C#_WFA\\timers.htm";
5 (works) string target = "C:\\DATA\\Programming\\VS2015\\Projects\\CS_WFA\\timers.htm";

The problem shows itself in tries 4 & 5: the "#" in the path. It doesn't bother IE or Edge, but Chrome doesn't like it.