I have created a macro/userform that creates an html file and want Internet Explorer 11 to show the page.
When you use the userform you create new data that should be shown on the page. How do I refresh the page on IE11?
I tried using meta refresh, but if the userform writes the page at the moment IE refreshes the page goes blank and stops from refreshing.
Another method I tried is sendkeys but it doesn't seem to work.
AppActivate "The page - Internet Explorer"
SendKeys "{F5}", True
nothing happens.
Are there any other options to make sure the page is refreshed and always visible? (meaning don't refresh when the file is in use by the userform)
If page is already opened then you need to find that specific page and then you can try to refresh it. you can try to find the page by its title.
See the example code below.
Sub demo1()
flag = 0
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
IE_count = objShell.Windows.Count
For x = 0 To (IE_count - 1)
On Error Resume Next
my_url = objShell.Windows(x).Document.Location
my_title = objShell.Windows(x).Document.Title
If my_title Like "Microsoft" & "*" Then
Set ie = objShell.Windows(x)
ie.Refresh
flag = 1
Exit For
Else
End If
Next
If flag = 0 Then
Debug.Print ("A matching webpage was NOT found")
Else
Debug.Print ("A matching webpage was found")
End If
End Sub
Try to modify the title in code to match with your web page.
Thanks in advance for your answers.
I have a little Excel document that is made so that the naïve user can enter web pages in an Excel sheet, hit a button, and play the videos from that page in their browser, in full screen, and automatically loop the videos without any further user interaction. It basically creates a slide show of videos.
I originally made it for YouTube and it works fine there. I'm now trying to expand it to use another site. It works as planned but needs an extra step.
Whereas YouTube was made with a Full Screen mode that I can access programatically, this website has embedded videos. (An example: https://www.sharecare.com/video/health-topics-a-z/copd/what-can-i-do-to-prevent-my-copd-from-getting-worse).
You can see in the code that I open IE in full screen mode (which it does) but that's the full web page (header, side banner etc.). I want the video from that page to be the only element, full screen.
If I physically go into the page I can select for the video to play full screen. I've tried searching for various ways to do this, but most of the posts are for something else or how to get a video to play inside Excel rather than what I'm doing.
Sub StartLooping()
Dim IEapp As Object
Dim VidAddr1, VidAddr2 As String
Dim AddrStrStart, AddrStrEnd As Long
Dim AddrFudge1, AddrFudge2 As Integer
Dim TimeStart, DurMin, DurSec, DurTot As Single
Dim LRAll, LRVid, LRMin, LRSec, LRVidB, LRMinB, LRSecB As Integer
Dim I As Integer
Application.EnableCancelKey = xlErrorHandler
On Error GoTo ErrorHandle
'Review Sheet
LRVid = Cells(Rows.Count, "D").End(xlUp).Row
LRMin = Cells(Rows.Count, "E").End(xlUp).Row
LRSec = Cells(Rows.Count, "F").End(xlUp).Row
LRVidB = Cells(Rows.Count, "I").End(xlUp).Row
LRMinB = Cells(Rows.Count, "J").End(xlUp).Row
LRSecB = Cells(Rows.Count, "K").End(xlUp).Row
LRAll = Cells(Rows.Count, "S").End(xlUp).Row
If LRVid <> LRMin Then
MsgBox "You have to include video address and how long (the minutes and the seconds - use 0 if needed)"
Exit Sub
End If
If LRVid <> LRSec Then
MsgBox "You have to include video address and how long (the minutes and the seconds - use 0 if needed)"
Exit Sub
End If
If LRVidB <> LRMinB Then
MsgBox "You have to include video address and how long (the minutes and the seconds - use 0 if needed)"
Exit Sub
End If
If LRVidB <> LRSecB Then
MsgBox "You have to include video address and how long (the minutes and the seconds - use 0 if needed)"
Exit Sub
End If
'Start of For-Next Loop
For I = 20 To LRAll
'Set Addr
'VidAddr1
If Len(Range("S" & I).Text) = 0 Then
Exit Sub
Else
VidAddr1 = Range("S" & I).Text
End If
VidAddr2 = VidAddr1
'Set Timer
TimeStart = Timer 'Start time
DurMin = Range("T" & I).Value
DurSec = Range("U" & I).Value
DurTot = (DurMin * 60) + DurSec
'Open the web page
Set IEapp = CreateObject("Internetexplorer.Application") 'Set IEapp = InternetExplorer
With IEapp
.Silent = True 'No Pop-ups
.Visible = True
.FullScreen = True
.Navigate VidAddr2 'Load web page
'Keep it open for the duration
Do While Timer < (TimeStart + DurTot)
'Check for Esc - refers to a public function
If KeyDown(vbKeyEscape) Then
IEapp.Quit
Set IEapp = Nothing
Exit Sub
End If
Loop
'Close the page
IEapp.Quit
Set IEapp = Nothing
End With
If I = LRAll Then I = 19
Next I
ErrorHandle:
MsgBox Err.Number & " " & Err.Description
Exit Sub
End Sub
I copied the code. It works fine. It's just that extra bit of "Oh, I did that, here's how to go about it" that I need.
The browser used is IE so I can keep it simple, but if this were possible in another common browser that would be good to know.
Here's the second set that I tried today (9/12)
Dim IEapp As Object
Dim IEAppColl As HTMLButtonElement
'Open doc
Set IEapp = CreateObject("Internetexplorer.Application") 'Set IEapp = InternetExplorer
With IEapp
.Silent = True 'No Pop-ups
.Visible = True
'.FullScreen = True
.navigate "https://www.sharecare.com/video/health-topics-a-z/copd/got-copd-ask-your-doctor-about-vitamin-d"
Do While .readyState < 4 Or .Busy
Loop
Set IEAppColl = IEapp.Document.getElementsByTagName("BUTTON")
If IEAppColl.Name = "Fullscreen" Then
IEAppColl.Click
End If
End With
For the example COPD page given this works with Selenium basic. You install from here and then go VBE > Tools > References > and add a reference to Selenium Type Library. You can also use an IEDriver to work with InternetExplorer rather than Chrome (which uses ChromeDriver).
Option Explicit
Public Sub PlayFullScreen()
Dim d As WebDriver, t As Date, ele As Object
Const MAX_WAIT_SEC As Long = 10
Set d = New ChromeDriver
Const URL = "https://www.sharecare.com/video/health-topics-a-z/copd/what-can-i-do-to-prevent-my-copd-from-getting-worse"
With d
.Start "Chrome"
.get URL
Do
DoEvents
On Error Resume Next
Set ele = .FindElementByCss("[title='Accept Cookies']")
If Timer - t > MAX_WAIT_SEC Then Exit Do
On Error GoTo 0
Loop While ele Is Nothing
Application.Wait Now + TimeSerial(0, 0, 1)
If Not ele Is Nothing Then ele.Click
.FindElementByCss("#myExperience").Click
Application.Wait Now + TimeSerial(0, 0, 1)
.FindElementByCss("[Title=Fullscreen]", timeout:=7000).Click
Stop '<==Delete me later
.Quit
End With
End Sub
My suggestion is to, instead of using a browser to play video, use a video player.
Under "More Controls" you should have a "Windows Media Player", and likely others, depending on what you have installed.
For example, I've used the VLC control on Access forms. When you install VLC it automatically adds the control to Office (so I assume Office has to be installed first.)
Here's a tutorial I found online:
Link: How to Play Video on Access Form
Random Tip Time:
It can be tricky to Google about a website because, for example, using the search term *YouTube* in a Google search results in a list of YouTube content (videos).
Exclude results from a specific site with Google's site: and - operators like:
"microsoft access" form play youtube video -site:youtube.com
...which is how I found the tutorial above, and several others.
Using the search term access can also be tricky to search for since it's such a common word, which is why I'll often enclose it in quotes like "MS Access" or "Microsoft Access" (like above), which makes Google search for those words in that order.
(More Google tips)
Suppose I have a list of identical URLs in spreadsheet column.
I navigate to the URL manually, then I want my macro to open every URL in separate IE tab and also click a specific button in it.
I use custom function FindIEObject to grab browser window by name or URL.The problem is that obviously each tab will have the same name and URL, so I need to find another way to differentiate between them and set each one as current IE object. My first thought was to assign a dummy name or a number to each tab as it gets created. I suppose this part should go somewhere after IE.Navigate Cell.Value in the loop.
Here is my code, currently opening all the tabs, but clicking the element only in the first one:
Private page_title As String
Public IE As InternetExplorerMedium
Sub intercept()
FindIEObject ("Allegro")
For Each Cell In Columns("A").Cells.SpecialCells(xlConstants)
IE.Navigate Cell.Value, CLng(2049) ' open URL in new tab
'Call MyWait
For Each element In IE.Document.GetElementsByTagName("img")
If element.GetAttribute("src") = "https://assets.allegrostatic.com/opbox/allegro.pl/homepage/Main%20page%20-%20new_SG_categories%20-%20icons/c4c8134ad8ae75c9d1070e7bee8cbeea.svg" Then
element.Click
Exit For
End If
Next element
Next Cell
End Sub
Sub MyWait()
Do While IE.Busy Or IE.ReadyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE
DoEvents
Loop
End Sub
Public Function FindIEObject(target As String) As InternetExplorerMedium
marker = 0
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
IE_count = objShell.Windows.Count
For x = 0 To (IE_count - 1)
On Error Resume Next ' sometimes more web pages are counted than are open
page_url = objShell.Windows(x).Document.Location
page_title = objShell.Windows(x).Document.Title
If page_title Like target & "*" Then 'compare to find if the desired web page is already open
Set IE = objShell.Windows(x)
marker = 1
Exit For
End If
Next
If marker = 0 Then
MsgBox ("A matching webpage was NOT found")
Else
MsgBox ("A matching webpage was found")
End If
End Function
I would be grateful for any suggestions.
Currently I have 2 pieces of code that work separately, but when used together they don't work properly.
The first code asks the user to input information which is stored. It then navigates to the correct webpage where it uses the stored user input information to navigate via filling and submitting a form. It arrives at the correct place.
The second code uses a specific URL via ie.navigate "insert url here" to navigate to the same place as the first code. It then scrapes URL data and stores it in a newly created sheet. It does this correctly.
When merging them I replace the navigation segment from the second code with the first code, but then it only stores the first 5 of 60 URLs as if it hadn't fully loaded the page before scraping data. It seems to skip the code directly after ie.document.forms(0).submit which is supposed to wait for the page to load before moving on to the scraping..
extra info: the button wasn't defined so I cannot just click it so I had to use ie.document.forms(0).submit
Summary of what I want the code to do:
request user input
store user input
open ie
navigate to page
enter user input into search field
select correct search category from listbox
submit form
'problem happens here
scrape url data
store url data in specific excel worksheet
The merged code:
Sub extractTablesData()
Dim ie As Object, obj As Object
Dim Var_input As String
Dim elemCollection As Object
Dim html As HTMLDocument
Dim Link As Object
Dim erow As Long
' create new sheet to store info
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
ThisWorkbook.Sheets("HL").Delete
ThisWorkbook.Sheets.Add.Name = "HL"
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
Var_input = InputBox("Enter info")
With ie
.Visible = True
.navigate ("URL to the webpage")
While ie.readyState <> 4
DoEvents
Wend
'Input Term 1 into input box
ie.document.getElementById("trm1").Value = Var_input
'accessing the Field 1 ListBox
For Each obj In ie.document.all.Item("FIELD1").Options
If obj.Value = "value in listbox" Then
obj.Selected = True
End If
Next obj
' button undefined - using this to submit form
ie.document.forms(0).submit
'----------------------------------------------------------------
'seems to skip this part all together when merged
'Wait until IE is done loading page
Do While ie.readyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE
Application.StatusBar = "Trying to go to website…"
DoEvents
Loop
'----------------------------------------------------------------
Set html = ie.document
Set ElementCol = html.getElementsByTagName("a")
For Each Link In ElementCol
erow = Worksheets("HL").Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0).Row
Cells(erow, 1).Value = Link
Cells(erow, 1).Columns.AutoFit
Next
Application.StatusBar = “”
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End With
End Sub
I've been stuck for quite some time on this and haven't found any solutions on my own so I'm reaching out. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
You mentioned you think the website might not be fully loaded. This is a common problem because of the more dynamic elements on a webpage. The easiest way to handle this is to insert the line:
Application.Wait Now + Timevalue("00:00:02")
This will force the code to pause for an additional 2 seconds. Insert this line below the code which waits for the page to load and this will give Internet Explorer a chance to catch back up. Depending on the website and the reliability of your connection to it I recommend adjusting this value anywhere up to about 5 seconds.
Most websites seem to require additional waiting like this, so handy code to remember when things don't work as expected. Hope this helps.
I solved this by using a completely different method. I used a query table with strings to go where I wanted.
Sub ExtractTableData()
Dim This_input As String
Const prefix As String = "Beginning of url"
Const postfix As String = "end of url"
Dim qt As QueryTable
Dim ws As Worksheet
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
ThisWorkbook.Sheets("HL").Delete
ThisWorkbook.Sheets.Add.Name = "HL"
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
This_input = InputBox("enter key info to go to specific url")
Set ws = ActiveSheet
Set qt = ws.QueryTables.Add( _
Connection:="URL;" & prefix & This_input & postfix, _
Destination:=Worksheets("HL").Range("A1"))
qt.RefreshOnFileOpen = True
qt.WebSelectionType = xlSpecifiedTables
'qt.webtables is key to getting the specific table on the page
qt.WebTables = 2
qt.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
End Sub
This question seems to have been asked dosens of times, however none of the solutions I have found seem to be able to solve my problem.
As the webpage is using a certificate token I am forced to log on to the webpage manually before I can activate the VBA script, which is no problem. An important note is that the link to the report is dynamic and therefore I cannot link directly to the report itself and therefore I have to navigate the webpage with my Script. Below you find the script i am using to locate the window I have logged on to the webpage with:
Sub WebPageOpen()
Dim HTMLDoc As HTMLDocument
Dim oHTML_Element As IHTMLElement
On Error GoTo Err_Clear
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
IE_count = objShell.Windows.Count
For X = 0 To (IE_count - 1)
On Error Resume Next ' sometimes more web pages are counted than are open
my_url = objShell.Windows(X).document.Location
my_title = objShell.Windows(X).document.Title
If my_title Like "MY Webpage name" Then 'compare to find if the desired web page is already open
Set IE = objShell.Windows(X)
marker = 1
Exit For
Else
End If
Next
If marker = 0 Then
MsgBox ("Webpage is not open - Please log on to webpage")
Exit Sub
Else
End If
Do
' Wait till the Browser is loaded
Loop Until IE.readyState = READYSTATE_COMPLETE
' I have removed all my navigation commands here,as it would just be bloating the query. It clicks the link and the Save/open ribbon appears in IE.
End sub
Can anyone help me with some sort of solution to how I can interact with the Open/Save as ribbon which appears when I download the file?
That ribbon is called Notification bar.
You can use Alt+N to focus on the Notification Bar. And then send {tab} key to navigate to the specific button.
With VBA, you may use Autohotkey.dll or AutoItX3.dll to send these hotkey combinations.
Add reference to AutoItX3.dll (for both 32-bit and 64-bit OS)
Append the following
set X=CreateObject("AutoItX3.Control")
X.send !N{tab}{down 2}{enter} 'This is for Save-as