how to get the browser history in program using c#

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2014-01-22

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_{Wednesday, January 22, 2014 6:07 AM}

All replies (4)

_{Wednesday, January 22, 2014 7:00 AM ✅Answered}

Hello,

An article was all it took to serve your purpose.

public class InternetExplorerUrls
{
        // List of URL objects
        public List<URL> URLs { get; set; }
        public IEnumerable<URL> GetHistory()
        {
            // Initiate main object
            UrlHistoryWrapperClass urlhistory = new UrlHistoryWrapperClass();

            // Enumerate URLs in History
            UrlHistoryWrapperClass.STATURLEnumerator enumerator =
                                               urlhistory.GetEnumerator();

            // Iterate through the enumeration
            while (enumerator.MoveNext())
            {
                // Obtain URL and Title
                string url = enumerator.Current.URL.Replace('\'', ' ');
                // In the title, eliminate single quotes to avoid confusion
                string title = string.IsNullOrEmpty(enumerator.Current.Title)
                          ? enumerator.Current.Title.Replace('\'', ' ') : "";

                // Create new entry
                URL U = new URL(url, title, "Internet Explorer");

                // Add entry to list
                URLs.Add(U);
            }

            // Optional
            enumerator.Reset();

            // Clear URL History
            urlhistory.ClearHistory();

            return URLs;
        }
    }

if the reply help you mark it as your answer.
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_{Thursday, January 23, 2014 8:38 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Hi myknowledge,

For IE:

UrlHistoryLibrary.dll file which provides type-safe classes to access and manipulate IE's browsing history. If you are using IE, try the below code:

public class InternetExplorer
{
        // List of URL objects
        public List<URL> URLs { get; set; }
        public IEnumerable<URL> GetHistory()
        {
            // Initiate main object
            UrlHistoryWrapperClass urlhistory = new UrlHistoryWrapperClass();


            // Enumerate URLs in History
            UrlHistoryWrapperClass.STATURLEnumerator enumerator =

                                               urlhistory.GetEnumerator();

            // Iterate through the enumeration
            while (enumerator.MoveNext())
            {
                // Obtain URL and Title
                string url = enumerator.Current.URL.Replace('\'', ' ');
                // In the title, eliminate single quotes to avoid confusion
                string title = string.IsNullOrEmpty(enumerator.Current.Title)
                          ? enumerator.Current.Title.Replace('\'', ' ') : "";

                // Create new entry
                URL U = new URL(url, title, "Internet Explorer");

                // Add entry to list
                URLs.Add(U);
            }

            // Optional
            enumerator.Reset();

            // Clear URL History
            urlhistory.ClearHistory();

            return URLs;
        }
}

For Firefox

If you are using Firefox, try the below code:

public class Firefox
{
        public List<URL> URLs { get; set; }
        public IEnumerable<URL> GetHistory()      
  {
            // Get Current Users App Data
            string documentsFolder = Environment.GetFolderPath
                             (Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);

            // Move to Firefox Data
            documentsFolder += "\\Mozilla\\Firefox\\Profiles\\";


            // Check if directory exists
            if (Directory.Exists(documentsFolder))
           {
                 // Loop each Firefox Profile
                 foreach (string folder in Directory.GetDirectories
                                                    (documentsFolder))
                 {
                       // Fetch Profile History
                       return ExtractUserHistory(folder);
                 }
            }
            return null;
        }

        IEnumerable<URL> ExtractUserHistory(string folder)
        {
            // Get User history info
            DataTable historyDT = ExtractFromTable("moz_places", folder);

            // Get visit Time/Data info
            DataTable visitsDT = ExtractFromTable("moz_historyvisits",folder);
           // Loop each history entry
            foreach (DataRow row in historyDT.Rows)
            {
                  // Select entry Date from visits
                  var entryDate = (from dates in visitsDT.AsEnumerable()
                                  where dates["place_id"].ToString() == row["id"].ToString()
                                   select dates).LastOrDefault();
                  // If history entry has date
                  if (entryDate != null)
                  {
                         // Obtain URL and Title strings
                         string url = row["Url"].ToString();
                         string title = row["title"].ToString();       

                         // Create new Entry
                         URL u = new URL(url.Replace('\'', ' '),
                                         title.Replace('\'', ' '),
                                         "Mozilla Firefox");


                         // Add entry to list
                         URLs.Add(u);
                  }
            }
            // Clear URL History
            DeleteFromTable("moz_places", folder);
            DeleteFromTable("moz_historyvisits", folder);


            return URLs;
        }
 
        void DeleteFromTable(string table, string folder)
        {
            SQLiteConnection sql_con;
            SQLiteCommand sql_cmd;


            // FireFox database file
            string dbPath = folder + "\\places.sqlite";


            // If file exists
            if (File.Exists(dbPath))
            {
                // Data connection
                sql_con = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + dbPath +

                                    ";Version=3;New=False;Compress=True;");


                // Open the Conn
                sql_con.Open();


                // Delete Query
                string CommandText = "delete from " + table;


                // Create command
                sql_cmd = new SQLiteCommand(CommandText, sql_con);


                sql_cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();


               // Clean up
                sql_con.Close();
            }
        }


        DataTable ExtractFromTable(string table, string folder)
        {
            SQLiteConnection sql_con;
            SQLiteCommand sql_cmd;
            SQLiteDataAdapter DB;
            DataTable DT = new DataTable();


            // FireFox database file
            string dbPath = folder + "\\places.sqlite";


            // If file exists
            if (File.Exists(dbPath))
            {
                // Data connection
                sql_con = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + dbPath +

                                    ";Version=3;New=False;Compress=True;");


                // Open the Connection
                sql_con.Open();
                sql_cmd = sql_con.CreateCommand();


                // Select Query
                string CommandText = "select * from " + table;


                // Populate Data Table
                DB = new SQLiteDataAdapter(CommandText, sql_con);
                DB.Fill(DT);


                // Clean up
                sql_con.Close();
            }
            return DT;
        }
    }

For more information, see this:http://hardcodedblog.blogspot.in/2009/10/obtaining-browser-visited-url-history.html

For Chrome

The History file for Chrome is an SQLite database, but without the .sqlite extension. In fact, it does not have any extension. Its name is just History.

If you are using Google Chrome, below is a tiny code snippet for getting Chrome history in C#:

public class HistoryItem
{
    public string URL { get; set; }

    public string Title { get; set; }

    public DateTime VisitedTime { get; set; }
}

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string chromeHistoryFile = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData))
        + @"\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\History";
        if (File.Exists(chromeHistoryFile))
        {
            SQLiteConnection connection = new SQLiteConnection
            ("Data Source=" + chromeHistoryFile + ";Version=3;New=False;Compress=True;");

            connection.Open();

            DataSet dataset = new DataSet();

            SQLiteDataAdapter adapter = new SQLiteDataAdapter
            ("select * from urls order by last_visit_time desc", connection);
            adapter.Fill(dataset);
            if (dataset != null && dataset.Tables.Count > 0 & dataset.Tables[0] != null)
            {
                DataTable dt = dataset.Tables[0];

                allHistoryItems = new List<HistoryItem>();

                foreach (DataRow historyRow in dt.Rows)
                {
                    HistoryItem historyItem = new HistoryItem();
                    {
                        URL = Convert.ToString(historyRow["url"]),
Title = Convert.ToString(historyRow["title"])
                    };

                    // Chrome stores time elapsed since Jan 1, 1601 (UTC format) in microseconds
                    long utcMicroSeconds = Convert.ToInt64(historyRow["last_visit_time"]);

                    // Windows file time UTC is in nanoseconds, so multiplying by 10
                    DateTime gmtTime = DateTime.FromFileTimeUtc(10 * utcMicroSeconds);

                    // Converting to local time
                    DateTime localTime = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeFromUtc(gmtTime, TimeZoneInfo.Local);
                    historyItem.VisitedTime = localTime;

                    allHistoryItems.Add(historyItem);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

For more information, see this:http://hardcodedblog.blogspot.in/2012/01/get-web-browser-history-in-c-google.html

Hope it can help you.

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_{Wednesday, January 22, 2014 9:27 AM}

see the link, describing similar issue

http://www.codeproject.com/Questions/558545/Howplustoplusgetplusallplusbrowser-27splusinternet

Please mark as answer, if you find this post helpful. Thanks Deepak Kalra

_{Thursday, November 9, 2017 6:55 AM}

hi Eason_H!

thanks for your info, it's very helpful!

And could you make a example for get Edge history in C# ?

most of browser I've done, expect Edge I have no ideal how to do it...

Thanks a lot!

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how to get the browser history in program using c#

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