Context Menu Extensions For Internet Explorer

The subject of this article is obsolete or outdated. It is retained here for tinkerers of vintage software.

These IE extensions, created in 2004, are testimony to the fact that my objections to IE are based on sound facts. Yes, I was a fan of Internet Explorer (once). I used to hate Firefox because it was very slow while IE was very quick. It was only after I became a webmaster on a professional basis that I realized what a poor browser IE was. (Even before that, I had moved to Opera fulltime.)

Although I object to the use of IE, I understand that some people will be forced to use IE, say, as part of their work. These Internet Explorer Context Menu Extensions are for those people.

Introduction

To copy the address of a link in Internet Explorer, it takes 2 clicks. But to copy the address of an image, it takes at least 5 clicks. A bit tedious, don't you think? To make things like this more easier, I had created the Context Menu Extensions For IE. After you install this, the context menu will have 15 new menu options inside Internet Explorer

Download

Download
cmes.zip
for Windows IE (Size: 12 KB)

Software Requirements

Internet Explorer 6 or later.

Installation

Download the zip file mentioned above and extract all files starting with "CMES" to the root of your C:\ drive. Next, extract the Install_CMES.reg file from the zip file to some location. Right-click the file and select Merge.

If you wish to install the CMES??.htm files to some other location, then you need to edit the Install_CMES.reg in Notepad. I suggest you do not do this unless of course you are a techie.

Uninistallation

Extract the Uninstall_CMES.reg file from the download zip file to some location on your computer. Right-click the file and select Merge. This will remove the context menu options. After this, you need to manually delete the CMES??.htm files from the C:\.

Context Menu Options

• CMES1.htm - Copies URLs of all the images on a web page to the clipboard.
• CMES2.htm - Copies URLs of all hyperlinks on a web page to the clipboard.
• CMES3.htm - Copies the URL of an image to the clipboard.
• CMES4.htm - Sets text size to Medium for selected text.
• CMES5.htm - Copies underlying HTML code for selected text.
• CMES6.htm - Opens frame in a new window.
• CMES7.htm - Highlights selected text in yellow.
• CMES8.htm - Overrides default setting and opens link in the same window.
• CMES9.htm - Performs Google Search on selected text.
• CMES10.htm - Performs Altavista Search on selected text.
• CMES11.htm - Performs MSN Search on selected text.
• CMES12.htm - Performs AOL Search on selected text.
• CMES13.htm - Performs DayPop Search on selected text.
• CMES14.htm - Automatically Google Translate foreign language page.
• CMES15.htm - Opens an encoded (outside) link in a new window rather than inside a (HotMAIL) frame.

While performing the searches, hold down the SHIFT key to open the search results page in a new window. When using this feature, make sure you do not have popup blockers activated. Otherwise, the operation will generate an error.

THANKS

• Some code was obtained after hacking into Google, MSN & Altavista toolbars for IE.
• MSDN
  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/browser/ext/overview/overview.asp
  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/methods/execcommand.asp
  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/commandids.asp
• My blog post titled "How To Add Your Favourite Applications To The IE Toolbar"

Further Hacking for Programmers

The CMES??.htm files contain Javascript. The SCRIPT tags use the DEFER attribute. Menu extensions are enabled by adding certain registry keys (using Install_CMES.reg). The keys are added at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt\. The names of the keys are same as displayed in the context menu. The "Default" value of the keys should contain a string referring the path to the path of the Javascript file. The "Contexts" value for the keys should contain any one of the following binary values.

• For default appearance - 0x1
• For images - 0x2
• For controls - 0x4
• For tables - 0x8
• For selected text - 0x10
• For hyperlinks - 0x20