Can HTAs be used to automate web browsing? - automation

I am new to HTAs. I just read https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms536496%28v=vs.85%29.aspx and am a bit confused.
Can I use HTAs to automate browsing? Say I want to download a web page and fill in a form automatically, i.e. from a script. How would an HTA help me do this, if at all? It's important that the JavaScript code in the downloaded page is run as usual. I should be able to enter somehow and fill in the form after it has finished initializing, just as if I were a human agent.

First, you need to open an IE window, as follows:
var IE = new ActiveXObject("InternetExplorer.Application");
Then navigate the IE window to the webpage you want:
IE.Navigate("www.example.com");
Wether your IE window is visible or invisible, it's up to you. Use Visible property to make it visible:
IE.Visible = true;
Then, you should wait until the webpage is completely loaded and then run a function that takes your desired actions. To do so, first, get the HTML document object from the webpage using Document property of IE object, then repeatedly check the readyState property of document object. In the code below, it is assumed that you have a function named myFunc, which takes your desired actions on the webpage. (For example, modifying the contents of the webpage.)
var doc = IE.Document;
interval = setInterval(function() {
try
{
if (doc.readyState == "complete")
{
myFunc();
clearInterval(interval);
}
}
catch (e) {}
}, 1000);
In the function myFunc, you can do anything you want with the webpage since you have HTML document object stored in doc variable. You can also use parentWindow property to get the HTML window object.

Related

chromeless- Clicking on an element in the next page is not working

On one of my tests I log in and move to the next page.
In the next page when I try to click on the profile element with .click nothing seems to be happening.
When I use the .exists function it returns false.
Why can't chromeless recognize element after changing the DOM?
async func(){
try {
this.chromeless
.goto(this.url)
.click(this.switchToLogIn)
.type(this.email, this.emaillAddressInput)
.type(this.password, this.passwordInput)
.click(this.logInButton )
.click(this.myProfile)
.screenshot()
}
catch(err) {
console.log(err)
}
Anything that was not already available in the DOM tree when the previous action in the chain was performed (with the exception of goto() and possibly some other methods) has to be waited for using the wait() method.
So, assuming that this.myProfile is a CSS selector string for an element to be clicked:
// Unchanged code omitted
.click(this.logInButton)
// Since the previous click loads a new page and/or shows new content, we need to wait
.wait(this.myProfile)
.click(this.myProfile)
Alternatively, the implicitWait Chromeless constructor option could be set to true, as long as that does not affect anything else negatively.

How can I provide a tag that would run my cucumber background once for all scenarios?

I am using cucumber-js
I have some slides within the same url. For my feature, I want to provide the tester a way to open a url, and then have multiple scenarios on the same url:
The problem with the solution below is that the url re-opens for every scenario, reseting the slide to the start. I can never test each slide step as a separate scenario.
Any help or suggestion appreciated: example:
Feature: Valuation slide user journey - pre-reqisite As a developer I want to open the url /valuation/
Background:
Given I open the url "/valuation/"
Scenario: Test valuation slide button
Given the element "valuationIntro" is visible
When I click on the button "valuationIntro.cta"
Then I expect that element "valuationSlide1" becomes visible
Scenario: Test valuation autocomplete
Given the element "valuationSlide1.cta" has the class "invalid"
When I set "jk5 7kj" to the inputfield "valuationSlide1.autocomplete"
Then I expect that element "valuationSlide1.cta" does not have the class "invalid"
I understand I can use tags, but not entirely sure how I can use a tag to run a background once.
var executed = false;
var myStepDefinitionsWrapper = function () {
this.Given(/^I open the url "([^"]*)"$/, function (url) {
if (!executed)
// do some work with url
executed = true;
});
};
module.exports = myStepDefinitionsWrapper;
Just a simplification to make a point. I would use singletons with state.

Web browser control, modal window/popup to STAY INSIDE web browser control for Visual Studio 2015/Visual Basic 2015

this is the first time I'm posting a question here; I have searched and searched and searched here and other places and I cannot seem to get any results. I'm using VISUAL BASIC 2015 in Visual Studio 2015. QUESTION: I need to have a modal window/popup from a particular website remain INSIDE the web browser control/window on my form (WebBrowser1); when a particular link is clicked, the modal window/popup jumps out of the form and directly to the user on their screen. I have to keep this popup inside because there are other links to be clicked on that popup, but if it jumps out of the web browser control, no code will work since it's outside WebBrowser1. What I have found is code for older versions, and not 2015; if anything I can even add WebBrowser2 to have the popups/modal windows appear there if possible, just as long as I can code them to keep clicking inside the form. PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU!
window.open (and a click on <a target="_blank"> etc) can be handled via the NewWindow2 event. Hans already pointed out how to do that in comments. NewWindow3 works too, but need at least Windows XP SP2.
As for window.showModalDialog, it is a bit tricky. IE has IDispatchEx (wrapped as IExpando in .Net) implemented on scripting objects so you replace the methods and properties with your own implementation. But window.showModalDialog shows a dialog that has arguments and return values, you need to override those properties in the modal dialog you create too. The code looks roughly like tis:
void webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e)
{
//skip events from frames
if(WebBrowserReadyState.Complete!=webBrowser1.ReadyState) return;
if(FindLoginFormOnPage()) {DoLogin();return;}
if(IsWelcomePage()){NavigateToPage1();return;}
if(IsPage1()){SubmitFormOnPage1();return;}
if(IsPage1FormResult()){
var document=webBrowser1.Document.DomDocument as mshtml.ITMLDocument2;
var expando =(IExpando)document.parentWindow;
expando.RemoveMember(expando.GetMethod("showModalDialog"
,BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public);
expando.AddMethod("showModalDialog"
,new ShowModalDialogDelegate(this.MyShowModalDialog));
}
......
}
object MyShowModalDialog(string url, object varArgIn, object options)
{
using(FromMyShowModalDialog myShowModalDialog
=new MyShowModalDialog())
{
myShowModalDialog.StartupUrl=url;
myShowModalDialog.DialogArguments=varArgIn;
//omit the code to parse options
//and set dialog height/width/topleft location etc
if(myShowModalDialog.ShowDialog()==DialogResult.OK)
{
//do something on the return value before passing to the scripts
......
return myShowModalDialog.ReturnValue;
}
return null;
}
}
and in the Load event handler of MyShowModalDialog you call something like webBrowser1.Navigate to show the page requested by the parent page.
Now you need to pass the arguments to the webbrowser control on the new form. Do the same as above but replace another property this time.
expando.RemoveProperty("dialogArguments");
expando.AddProperty("dialogArguments")
.SetValue(expando,this.DialogArguments);
This will let the web page access the value passed from MyShowModalDialog and stored in this.DialogArguments.
The earliest you can access the DOM is in webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted. By that time the scipts on the page that read window.dialogArguments are probably already executed and got nothing. After overriding window.dialogArguments, you need to study the script on the page to find out how to revert that. for example, if the page has
<head>
<script>
var oMyObject = window.dialogArguments;
var sFirstName = oMyObject.firstName;
var sLastName = oMyObject.lastName;
</script>
...
<span style="color: 00ff7f">
<script>
document.write(sFirstName);
</script>
</span>
you need to change the values of sFirstName and sLastName then change the innerText property of the span, probably identify via its relationship with a named div or table cell. You can write the necessary changes in a script and call it via HtmlDocument.InvokeScript.
If the page returns a value to its parent, you need to pass it on to your parent form too. Override window.returnValue so when the script writes to window.returnValue it writes to a variable you provided
......
expando.RemoveProperty("returnValue");
expando.AddProperty("returnValue").SetValue(expando,this.ReturnValue);

Getting current Tab/Document in DockPanel Suite

I'm using the DockPanel Suite by Weifen Luo in a little project (webbrowser) and have managed to be able to create tabs and navigate the webbrowser element inside each tab.
But how am I able to change the tabs title/name when the page is navigating to another site?
Basically I just need to get into the current tabs form.
You can get the current tab by using DockPanel's ActiveContent method. For example:
Form myForm = myDockPanel.ActiveContent();
myForm.TabText = "Stack Overflow";
DockPanel.ActiveDocument and DockPanel.ActivePane can also be useful.
After having worked on this a few weeks (not 'till now though :P) I have to say, that this is currently not possible.
You can manage your own (assuming your Document Form is a specific class) by managing:
'FormClosing' and 'Activated' events
'Activated' set your own "active" document to 'this'.
'FormClosing' set your own "active" document to null.
FormClosing is just to catch the case where you are closing the last document. Activated is what manages everything else, like when a new document gets created and is made the active window, etc.
You can use a static global to manage focus. Then access it from anywhere else:
public partial class MyDocument : DockContent
{
public static MyDocument ActiveDocument { get; private set; }
I needed the ability to check which document was active, and set that document to active again after changing some UI elements that automatically reset the active tab, so I used some pieces from here and the DockPanel FAQ, and did some digging to figure out the answer to this problem:
public string GetActive()
{ //Verify if forms that dock in main window are already open
foreach (DockContent form in dockMain.Contents)
{
if (form.DockHandler.Pane.ActiveContent.DockHandler.Form.Name.ToString() == form.Name.ToString())
{
string formName = form.Name.ToString();
return formName;
}
}
return null;
}
And then in some other method you will call:
string activeForm = GetActive();

Modify HTML in a Internet Explorer window using external.menuArguments

I've got a VB.NET class that is invoked with a context menu extension in Internet Explorer.
The code has access to the object model of the page, and reading data is not a problem. This is the code of a test function...it changes the status bar text (OK), prints the page HTML (OK), changes the HTML by adding a text and prints again the page HTML (OK, in the second pop-up my added text is in the HTML)
But the Internet Explorer window doesn't show it. Where am I doing wrong?
Public Sub CallingTest(ByRef Source As Object)
Dim D As mshtml.HTMLDocument = Source.document
Source.status = "Working..."
Dim H As String = D.documentElement.innerHTML()
MsgBox(H)
D.documentElement.insertAdjacentText("beforeEnd", "ThisIsATest")
H = D.documentElement.outerHTML()
MsgBox(H)
Source.status = ""
End Sub
The function is called like this from JavaScript:
<script>
var EB = new ActiveXObject("MyObject.MyClass");
EB.CallingTest(external.menuArguments);
</script>
To the best of my understanding, in order to use insertAdjacentText or any of the other editing methods, the document object should be in the design mode.
In design mode you can edit the document freely, and so can the user.
Check this site for more details
I do not think that Alex is right, something else is the matter.
When I tried to do something like that, insertBefore would not work for me, but appendChild worked just fine, so adding an element is possible.
I worked in Javascript, but I don't expect that makes a difference.