title: Download URL Contents Directly into String (VB6) WITHOUT Saving to Disk
body: <p>Basically, I want to download the contents of a particular URL (basically, just HTML codes in the form of a String) into my VB6 String variable. However, there are some conditions.</p>
  <p>I know about the URLDownloadToFile Function - however, this requires that you save the downloaded file/HTML onto a file location on disk before you can read it into a String variable, this is not an option for me and I do not want to do this.</p>
  <p>The other thing is, if I need to use an external library, it must already come with all versions of Windows from XP and onwards, I cannot use a control or library that I am required to ship, package and distribute even if it is free, this is not an option and I do not want to do this. So, I cannot use the MSINET.OCX (Internet Transfer) Control's .OpenURL() function (which simply returns contents into a String), as it does not come with Windows.</p>
  <p>Is there a way to be able to do this with the Windows API, URLMON or something else that is pre-loaded into or comes with Windows, or a way to do it in VB6 (SP6) entirely?</p>
  <p>If so, I would appreciate direction, because even after one hour of googling, the only examples I've found are references to URLDownloadToFile (which requires saving on disk before being ale to place into a String) and MsInet.OpenURL (which requires that I ship and distribute MSINET.OCX, which I cannot and don't want to do).</p>
  <p>Surely there has got to be an elegant way to be able to do this? I can do it in VB.NET without an issue, but obviously don't have the luxury of the .NET framework in VB6 - any ideas?</p>
  <p><strong>Update:</strong></p>
  <p>I have found this: <a href="http://www.freevbcode.com/ShowCode.asp?ID=1252" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.freevbcode.com/ShowCode.asp?ID=1252</a>
  however it says that the displayed function may not return the entire
  page and links to a Microsoft bug report or kb article explaining
  this. Also, I understand this is based off wininet.dll - and I'm
  wondering which versions of Windows does WinInet.dll come packaged
  with? Windows XP &amp; beyond? Does it come with Windows 7 and/or Windows
  8?</p>