Excel Macro Error Code 424 works when slowly clicking through - vba

Question

'start a new subroutine called SearchBot
Sub SearchBot()
'dimension (declare or set aside memory for) our variables
Dim objIE As InternetExplorer 'special object variable representing the IE browser
Dim aEle As HTMLLinkElement 'special object variable for an <a> (link) element
Dim y As Integer 'integer variable we'll use as a counter
Dim result As String 'string variable that will hold our result link
Dim x As Integer
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
' Set numrows = number of rows of data.
NumRows = Range("A1", Range("A1").End(xlDown)).Rows.Count
' Select cell a1.
Range("A1").Select
' Establish "For" loop to loop "numrows" number of times.
For x = 1 To NumRows
' Insert your code here.
'initiating a new instance of Internet Explorer and asigning it to objIE
Set objIE = New InternetExplorer
'make IE browser visible (False would allow IE to run in the background)
objIE.Visible = True
'navigate IE to this web page (a pretty neat search engine really)
objIE.navigate "http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vatResponse.html"
'wait here a few seconds while the browser is busy
Do While objIE.Busy = True Or objIE.readyState <> 4: DoEvents: Loop
'in the search box put cell "A2" value, the word "in" and cell "C1" value
objIE.document.getElementById("countryCombobox").Value = "GB"
objIE.document.getElementById("number").Value = ActiveCell.Value
'click the 'go' button
objIE.document.getElementById("submit").Click
'wait again for the browser
Do While objIE.Busy = True Or objIE.readyState <> 4: DoEvents: Loop
Dim vatResponse As String
vatResponse = objIE.document.getElementById("vatResponseFormTable").getElementsByTagName("tr")(0).Children(0).textContent
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2).Value = vatResponse
' Selects cell down 1 row from active cell.
'Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
'close the browser
objIE.Quit
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
'End
Next
'exit our SearchBot subroutine
End Sub
So basically on this code line:
vatResponse = objIE.document.getElementById("vatResponseFormTable").getElementsByTagName("tr")(0).Children(0).textContent
I am getting an error message saying that I have an error code 424

Answer 1

Sometimes the pages gets loaded internally through some scripts so the html element you are trying to get actually isn't found on the document as the code runs very fast. So somehow you have to wait until page loads completely.
Please try this approach and see if the code runs without producing an error.
Sub SearchBot()
'dimension (declare or set aside memory for) our variables
Dim objIE As InternetExplorer 'special object variable representing the IE browser
Dim aEle As HTMLLinkElement 'special object variable for an <a> (link) element
Dim vatFormTable As IHTMLElement
Dim tr As IHTMLElement
Dim y As Integer 'integer variable we'll use as a counter
Dim result As String 'string variable that will hold our result link
Dim x As Integer
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
' Set numrows = number of rows of data.
NumRows = Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
' Select cell a1.
Range("A1").Select
' Establish "For" loop to loop "numrows" number of times.
For x = 1 To NumRows
' Insert your code here.
'initiating a new instance of Internet Explorer and asigning it to objIE
Set objIE = New InternetExplorer
'make IE browser visible (False would allow IE to run in the background)
objIE.Visible = True
'navigate IE to this web page (a pretty neat search engine really)
objIE.navigate "http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vatResponse.html"
'wait here a few seconds while the browser is busy
Do While objIE.Busy = True Or objIE.readyState <> 4: DoEvents: Loop
'in the search box put cell "A2" value, the word "in" and cell "C1" value
objIE.document.getElementById("countryCombobox").Value = "GB"
objIE.document.getElementById("number").Value = ActiveCell.Value
'click the 'go' button
objIE.document.getElementById("submit").Click
'wait again for the browser
Do While objIE.Busy = True Or objIE.readyState <> 4: DoEvents: Loop
On Error Resume Next
Dim vatResponse As String
Do While vatFormTable Is Nothing
Set vatFormTable = objIE.document.getElementById("vatResponseFormTable")
Loop
Do While tr Is Nothing
Set tr = vatFormTable.getElementsByTagName("tr")(0)
Loop
vatResponse = tr.Children(0).innerText
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2).Value = vatResponse
' Selects cell down 1 row from active cell.
'Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
'close the browser
objIE.Quit
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
'End
Next
'exit our SearchBot subroutine
End Sub