How can I tell if msHtml.dll is available onto client computer when deploying with clickonce?

Question

Having been told msHtml mustn't be copied with my own clickonce app, I would like to:

Detect if the client's computer has msHtml.dll installed and if yes, be able to use it in my application

If it has NOT msHtml installed, prevent the code from running the portion that needs msHtml.

And of course, avoid any nasty error message like "missing dll", etc.

Do I need 2 different versions of the compiled code?

How to tell about the msHtml prerequisite prior to launching the application and prior to download it if 2 versions are needed?

Answer 1

mshtml will be on any windows system other than the original Windows 95 that shipped 16 years ago, and is long since unsupported.

It's also possible it might not be on a system that someone has run something like nLite or similar tools that remove internet explorer, but I would consider such tools to be corrupting the operating system and I would not support my app in such situations.

Answer 2

mshtml is a system component and will be on any windows system. A more important verification would be checking if the version that is currently on the system meets your requirements.