Internet explorer end of life: impacts on programs using SHDocVw.DLL

Question

Our application is using Delphi 5 which is interacting with IE runtime using SHDocVw.DLL.

As per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/internet-explorer-microsoft-edge, the users IE desktp application, via Windows 10 Semi Annual Channel, will no longer be supported.

What we are trying to understand is what will happen if, past June 15, an application try to load/leverage SHDocVw.DLL:

1. will this DLL still be available on the workstation?
2. for the calling program, will the behavior of the DLL still be the same?

Thanks in advance,

Regards
dc

Answer 1

IE as you know it is a Windows app that wraps the internal browser engine. The internal engine isn't going anywhere as many apps rely on it. Just IE, the application, is going away. Therefore if you rely on MSHTML then you should be fine. In fact the IE Mode that Edge supports to eliminate the need for having IE installed is using this very engine as well.

Having said that though it is not completely clear what all functionality ShDocvw you are relying on such that it should continue to work. You should probably go ahead and test your app on a machine without IE installed to ensure it works correctly. For cases where it triggers the browser then now you would expect it to load Edge instead. If a web app doesn't work in Edge then that is where IE mode comes in.

I should also point out that MS has mentioned in their FAQ that some COM scenarios were broken with this change. You should ensure you are testing against a pre/post-patched system.