Posting with an open event - vba

Action: Trying to 'post' excel data to a webpage that the user sees/uses with a vba code event.
Issue: I can open a window with a get, or I can xmlhttp with a post and a get a response variable, but neither is what I need. I need to POST login information (a service account) from baked in vba code on a button to POST and open a browser.
The webpage is behind Spring Security and the service account credentials should not be known to the user, it's hidden in a protected workbook/vba. I need to post those over to the url.
--> How do I open AND post at the same time?
What I need is the excel equivalent of an HTML form post with a
target=_blank
attribute in vba. Is this possible?
I've tried both
ShellExecute
functions
and
xmlhttp
methods
but both only give me half of the package.
Any advice?

Adding to what #Florent B. has posted, check whether the cookie is set when calling the login page (which I assume) or really when posting the login data.
Dim xhttp As MSXML2.XMLHTTP ' make sure you reference to MSXML!
Dim strCookie As String
Set xHttp = New MSXML2.XMLHTTP
XMLHttp.Open "GET" TheURLOfYourLogInPage
If xHttp.Status = 200 Then
strCookie = xHttp.getResponseHeader("Set-Cookie")
End If
Check your web browser for what is sent to the server when login in, probably something like "username=" & YourUserName & "&password=" & YourPassword & "&cookie=" & strCookie Declare another string variable (I will call it strTicker) and fill it accordingly, then
xHttp.Open "POST", "URLOfYourLoginPage"
xHttp.setRequestHeader "Cookie", strCookie
xHttp.send strTicker

Related

How to POST JSON data to an API using VBscript

I am currently working on a signup form and I want users to be pushed to my hubspot account upon sign up. The form is built in a .asp file format using HTML, CSS, and VBscript. I want the user to fill out all of the required fields and then send their responses to Hubspot using their Create Contact API endpoint.
The form itself is built out and working, now all I need to do is link up the API POST request. I am not familiar with VBscript or how one could go about sending JSON data to an API using VB. I started out by just trying to send dummy data that would be easily searchable figuring I can work on making the values dynamic later, but even this won't work. This is the code that I have written directly in the markup. Any help is appreciated!
<%
Dim objXmlHttpMain, URL, strJSONToSend
strJSONToSend = "{'properties': [{'property': 'email','value': 'testingapis#hubspot.com'},{'property': 'firstname','value': 'Adrian'},{'property': 'lastname','value': 'Mott'},{'property': 'website','value': 'http://hubspot.com'},{'property': 'company','value': 'HubSpot'},{'property': 'phone','value': '555-122-2323'},{'property': 'address',},{'property': 'city','value': 'Cambridge'},'property': 'state','value': 'MA'},{'property': 'zip','value': '02139'}]}"
URL="https://api.hubapi.com/contacts/v1/contact/?hapikey=df670ac6-cc2d-452d-a571-11d0374e515e"
Set objXmlHttpMain = CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP")
On Error Resume Next
objXmlHttpMain.open "POST",URL, False
If Err Then
WScript.Echo Err.Description & " [0x" & Hex(Err.Number) & "]"
WScript.Quit 1
End If
On Error Goto 0
objXmlHttpMain.open "POST",URL, False
objXmlHttpMain.setRequestHeader "Accept", "application/json>"
objXmlHttpMain.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
objXmlHttpMain.send strJSONToSend
set objJSONDoc = nothing
set objResult = nothing
%>

Excel VBA get data from web with msxml2.xmlhttp - how do I accept cookies automatically?

need your expertise and help, as i've looked around and couldn't find a solution:
I am uploading information to Excel from a website using the msxml2.xmlhttp method (did it earlier via webquery but it gets stuck after a few iterations plus it is slower). My problem is that now on every iteration, I have a Windows Security warning popping up asking me to accept a cookie from the website. Note that the website doesn't require a login/password. I understood from an earlier post that the msxml2.xmlhttp method strips cookies for security reasons, but I get the same message even if I change the method to winhttp. I also changed the settings in IE to accept all cookies automatically from the website but it didn't help.
My question is, what code do I need to add in order to have the cookies be accepted automatically, as I am looping this code on bulk and can't have it hang waiting for me to accept the cookie manually. Your help will be very much appreciated!!! Below is the code snippet (which I actually found here on Stackoverflow).
Set htm = CreateObject("htmlFile")
With CreateObject("msxml2.xmlhttp")
.Open "GET", "http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ae?s=" & Ticker & "+Analyst+Estimates", False
.send
htm.body.innerHTML = .responseText
End With
Set elemCollection = htm.getElementsByTagName("td")
For Each itm In elemCollection
If itm.className = "yfnc_tabledata1" Then
ActiveCell = itm.innerText
If ActiveCell.Column = 7 Then
ActiveCell.Offset(1, -6).Select
Else
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Select
End If
End If
Next
I had the same problem this week.
After google and trying some ideas, I added two MsgBox statements to my code.
objXMLDoc.Open "GET", strURL, False
objXMLDoc.send
MsgBox "After XMLDoc.send", vbOKOnly, "Test"
objHTMLDoc.body.innerHTML = objXMLDoc.responseText
MsgBox "After .innerHTML assignment", vbOKOnly, "Test"
I found pop-up security warning windows always appear after .innerHTML assignment, i.e., the problem is nothing to do with XMLHttp. It is HTMLDocument, which causes the pop-ups.
I guess objHTMLDoc.body.innerHTML = objXMLDoc.responseText does not just do a simple value assignment. It must also trigged some action according to the contents of the webpage.
I checked the webpage and found some code like this:
YUI().use('node','event','event-mouseenter','substitute','oop','node-focusmanager','node','event','substitute','**cookie**','event-resize','node', 'event', 'querystring-stringify','node','event','node','event','event-custom','event-valuechange','classnamemanager','node', function(Y) {})
Then I changed my code as follows and the pop-up warning windows disappear.
objXMLDoc.Open "GET", strURL, False
objXMLDoc.send
objHTMLDoc.body.innerHTML = Replace(objXMLDoc.responseText, "cookie", "")
Hope this can be helpful if you still have the problem.

REST Interacting with BigCommerce from VB EXCEL

NOTE: Further research (and thick skin, and lots of coffee) has lead me here where it suggests that the store cannot receive the uid and pwd in the URL, and I gather from the PHP examples here that the transmission needs to be encrypted. Is this my problem? If so I have not been able to find anything on how to work around this.
I would be happy if the open() command prompted the UID & PWD window to open and I can manually input the values. Does anyone have a suggestion. Thanks!
I am learning how to use the BigCommerce APIs and I am programming in VB / XL to be able to directly post / retrieve from all fields in the store's DB.
I have never coded on this before (although I get around VB OK) and I am stuck. I have the following code:
Const URL As String = "https://www.myurl.com/api/v2/brands.json"
Public Sub Test()
Dim xmlHttp As Object
Set xmlHttp = CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP.6.0")
xmlHttp.Open "GET", URL, False, "myid", "mytoken"
xmlHttp.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
xmlHttp.send
Dim html As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
Set html = New MSHTML.HTMLDocument
html.body.innerHTML = xmlHttp.ResponseText
Range("A1").Value = html.body.innerHTML
End Sub
What I get back is "401" or more precisely:
[{"status":401,"message":"No credentials were supplied in the request."}]
The credentials are valid and working, as if I place the URL in my browser and submit it, the pop up for UID & PWD comes up, and once I place the values I am using in the code, the resulting BRANDS list appears in the browser.
Additionally, if I add a "rand num" to the URL to ensure the returned data is not cached as suggested here, then the request looks like this:
xmlHttp.Open "GET", URL & "&t=" & WorksheetFunction.RandBetween(1, 99), False, `"myid", "mytoken"`
and the response back from BC changes to:
406</STATUS><MESSAGE>The requested content type is not available.</MESSAGE></ERROR></ERRORS>
I have also tried this (where UID and PWD are the correct values):
xmlHttp.Open "GET", URL & "&user=UID" & "&password=PWD", False
and i get:
406</STATUS><MESSAGE>The requested content type is not available.</MESSAGE></ERROR></ERRORS>
Can anyone help me understand pls. I have followed examples at MSDN, but I am still stuck. The BC API site is poor in examples (none actually!) for VB.
Thank you
Sorted! BC required this:
Set xmlHttp = CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP.6.0")
xmlHttp.Open "GET", URL_Cat, UID, PWD
xmlHttp.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
xmlHttp.setRequestHeader "Authorization", "Basic " & Base64Encode(UID & ":" & PWD)
xmlHttp.send
I got Base64Encode code from here. Hope this helps someone.

Google OAuth2 Error 400 when exchanging for an Access Token

I am receiving a "400 Bad Request" error when using the following VBA code to exchange a valid Authorization token for an access token in the Google API. Can anyone shed light as to why, I have been struggling with this one for over a week.
Dim http As MSXML2.XMLHTTP
Dim sUrl As String
Dim sUrlHeader As String
Dim svarbody As String
Set http = New MSXML2.XMLHTTP
sUrl = "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token? HTTP/1.1"
http.Open "POST", sUrl
http.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
svarbody = "code=4%2FXAjmXiUlBXUAUGCnMvNKsxdyuJEJ.8kfzzrqo3wwTuJJVnL49Cc9gML_lbgI&" & _
"client_id=50487549202#-q27v28nvhmjhc0uobq35tjn09lhrh47r.apps.googleusercontent.com&" & _
"redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost&" & _
"scope=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fcalendar%2Ffeeds&" & _
"client_secret=<secret delete for this post>&" & _
"grant_type=authorization_code"
http.send svarbody
Me.Text3 = http.status & vbCrLf & http.statusText & vbCrLf & http.responseText
this is a very very common problem. You may try to solve it doing many approaches and tests... but...
The really one you should try in the first place is:
UPDATE YOUR SERVER/COMPUTER WINDOWS CLOCK, USE time.nist.gov (or brothers). Double-click in your Windows Hour-Date (on the bottom of your screen and change Internet Time in this way)
SntsDev
In my experience using Oauth 2.0 in VBA this error happens when you use the code more than once for requesting a token. The usage sequence I use based on the documentation and experience is:
access GET https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth once for geting the code
access POST https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token once for geting the token
after that use the token as long as it is valid
It is possible that you need set up billing info in your google account.

vb.net problems posting to web form

I've hit a wall on POST'ing data to a webform :(
Below is the code I've adapted from many places (here most recently: http://p2p.wrox.com/asp-net-1-0-1-1-professional/34517-webrequest-webresponse-form-submit-problem-help.html )
Dim url As String = "https://student.ashford.edu/student/"
Dim data As String = "username=myusername&password=mypassword"
Dim buffer As Byte() = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(data)
Dim result As String = ""
Dim req As HttpWebRequest = DirectCast(WebRequest.Create(url), HttpWebRequest)
req.Method = "POST"
req.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
req.ContentLength = buffer.Length
req.CookieContainer = New CookieContainer()
' enable cookies
Dim reqst As Stream = req.GetRequestStream()
' add form data to request stream
reqst.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
reqst.Flush()
reqst.Close()
Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Posting data to " & url)
Dim res As HttpWebResponse = DirectCast(req.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)
' send request,get response
Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Response stream is: " & vbLf)
Dim resst As Stream = res.GetResponseStream()
' display HTTP response
Dim sr2 As New StreamReader(resst)
result = sr2.ReadToEnd()
Using writer As System.IO.StreamWriter = New StreamWriter("C:\Temp\checkcheck.html")
writer.Write(result)
End Using
When I check the checkcheck.html file, it doesn't show the page I normally see when I've successfully logged into my university, but instead shows the login page again prompting for a user name and password. Since it's prompting for a user/pass in the output response, does that mean nothing is posted? Or is the login button not being hit?
As far as the field names in the source, the name of the username field is "username", and the name of the password field is "password". From what I can tell, the name of the login button itself is "submit". Below is the source of the page, am I missing something?
view-source:https://student.ashford.edu/student/
https://student.ashford.edu/student/
What I want to have happen is that in my VB.NET backend, I click a button and my username and password are automatically entered and I am automagically logged in. Once the login is done, I want to retrieve the HTML of the logged in page so I can parse it for items relating to my studies. This may be unrelated, but do I need cookies to keep my application "logged in" if I navigate to other pages?
EDIT:
I tried plugging different URL's, to no avail. I have also tried adding submit=login and login=submit (alternately of course) to the POST data. I'm still getting the original login screen HTML from the result variable at the end, instead of my university homepage that I'm expecting after I normally login by hand as a human would. Maybe there is a follow up step that I am missing?
The actual form action is at https://student.ashford.edu/login/commands/login.php. You might plug that into url instead. Also, try including the submit button - submit=login - in the values.
I found out what I needed to do. First I have to make sure that I have a cookie container. Next, I used Fiddler to find out EXACTLY what is being sent back and forth between my browser and where I want to login. I post all the login info, and I get the response back. This seems to fill up my cookie container variable with the required authentication cookies? Next I make another POST request to the page I want to go to, and voila - it works.