We have a system that can create records simply by a URL being run with appropriate parameters. I would like to build this into Excel using VBA by executing my constructed URL in the background (no browser).
I found references on Stackoverflow to using .post with WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1, but in all occurrences that I have found of people using this they were looking to get a response from the website.
I have already tried this, but it didn't work (variables have already been declared).
Set httpSend = CreateObject("WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1")
websiteURL = "https://www.somewebsite.com/?&staticVariable=xxxx" & URLEncode(variable1)
websiteArguments = "&anotherVariable=" & URLEncode(variable2)
httpSend.Open "POST", websiteURL, False
httpSend.Send (websiteArguments)
websiteResponse = httpSend.ResponseText
Set httpSend = Nothing
For the record, when I run the above, I get a run-time error about "The HTTP redirect request failed" at the httpSend.Send (websiteArguments) stage.
Is posting with WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1 the best way to achieve the results I'm looking for. Is there another more efficient way to run a URL without opening a browser? Again to reiterate, I'm not looking for a response from the website, I just want to execute the URL.
Many thanks.
Related
This is my first post here though have been using the great advice/solutions here for years so am very grateful. But this one, I can't find solution for.
I have an MS access front end/back end in use for various office admin tasks and records. Much of the data my office works with on a daily basis is cloud based. However API access is provided with app key and secret key. I have no issues using the API explorer with these keys, but can't get anything through code (VBA). I keep reading it is perfectly possible to do this with VBA which is why I kept trying different solutions, but now need help. (I have replaced URL and keys etc)
Dim myObj As New MSXML2.XMLHTTP60
Dim url, endPoint, params, tickers, appKey, secretKey As String
url = "theURL.com"
endPoint = "theEndPoint"
params = "id="
tickers = "1"
appKey = "12345678"
secretKey = "12345678"
myObj.Open "GET", url, False
myObj.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
myObj.setRequestHeader "app-key", appKey
myObj.setRequestHeader "secret-key", secretKey
myObj.send
This returns "App Key is required." I have tried various solutions including converting keys to Base64, putting the keys within the Open request, sending the keys as part of the send request etc. Always get "App Key is required" when reading response. I know in this code I have't actually requested anything but that returns same message when I do. I just wanted to keep what I posted simple.
Any help at all is greatly appreciated as this would allow great deal of automation for our office.
Thanks
James
I'm making a call to the SalesForce REST Api.
However, I have a very weird error. Initially I wrote this in a VB.NET Module file. Everything was working correctly, as soon as I put the method in a class I keep getting the darn Invalid Session ID error. The error doesn't seem to suggest which part of the code is failing.
I am using RestSharp to facilitate the call to the SalesForce API, and I know for a fact it works because in the Module file I am able to fetch the data that I need.
I do not understand the rationale about why it works in the Module file but not in a class file.
Anyways, here is the code that I've placed in both the class file and the Module file to facilitate the call:
client = New RestClient(_strURI)
request = New RestRequest(Method.POST)
request.AddParameter("grant_type", "password")
request.AddParameter("client_id", _strClientID)
request.AddParameter("client_secret", _strClientSecret)
request.AddParameter("redirect_uri", _strRedirectUrl)
request.AddParameter("username", _strUserName)
request.AddParameter("password", _strPassword & _strSecurityToken)
'Dim response As IRestResponse
Dim response As IRestResponse = Nothing
response = client.Execute(request)
'This is the offending line in the class file..it returns back a HTTP 200 yet gives me that Session Invalid error
If response.StatusCode <> HttpStatusCode.BadRequest Then
token = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of TokenResponse)(response.Content)
Dim listViewResults As String = HttpGet(token.instance_url & "/services/data/v38.0/sobjects/Contact/listviews", "")
I am unsure whether this is a permission issue or more of a programming error; because in both cases all of the authentication strings are the same. At the moment I've hardcoded it to point to a test profile. So I can't pinpoint what exactly I am doing wrong?
Any help would suffice.
Stupid me,
Anyways shortly after I posted this I went and took a brisk walk outside of the office. Turned out to be a misnomer.
I had the same HttpGet method defined in the module file and forgot to copy and paste that into the class file. When I actually stepped through it, it threw an Exception inside.
Turned out the only fix needed was to put that method into the class file.
When I create a share link in the UI with the "Anyone with this link can view this item" option, I get a URL that looks like https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=XXX!YYYY&authkey=!ZZZZZ&ithint=<contentType>. What I can't figure out is how to use this URL from code to download the content of the file. Hitting the link gives HTML for a page to show the file.
How can I construct a call to download the file? Also, is there a way to construct a call to get some (XML/JSON) metadata about the file, and maybe even a preview or something? I want to be able to do this all without prompting a user for credentials, and all the API docs are about how to make authenticated calls. I want to make anonymous calls to get publicly-shared files.
Have a read over https://dev.onedrive.com - it documents how you can make a query to our service to get the metadata for an item, along with URLs that can be used to directly download the content.
Update with more details
Sorry, the documentation you need for your specific scenario is still in process (along with the associated SDK changes) so I'll give you an overview of how to do it.
There's a sibling to the /drives path called /shares which accepts a sharing URL (such as the one you have above) in an encoded format and allows you to get metadata for the item it represents. This does not require authentication provided the sharing URL has a valid authkey.
The encoding scheme for the id is u!<UrlSafeBase64EncodedUrl>, where <UrlSafeBase64EncodedUrl> follows the guidelines outlined here (trim the = characters from the end).
Here's a snippet that should give you an idea of the whole process:
string originalUrl = "https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=XXX!YYYY&authkey=!foo";
byte[] urlAsUtf8Bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(originalUrl);
string utf8BytesAsBase64String = Convert.ToBase64String(urlAsUtf8Bytes);
string encodedUrl = "u!" + utf8BytesAsBase64String.TrimEnd('=').Replace('/', '_').Replace('+', '-');
string metadataUrl = "https://api.onedrive.com/v1.0/shares/" + encodedUrl + "/root";
From there you can append /content if you want to get the contents of the file, or you can start navigating through if the URL represents a folder (e.g. /children/childfile.txt)
I'm using the ReportViewer control in VS2010.
In my local and development environments when I use:
ReportParameter[] toReportParameterList = new ReportParameter[1];
toReportParameterList[0] = new ReportParameter("intApplicationID", Session["APPLICATION_ID"]);
rvFinancialSummaryReport.ServerReport.SetParameters(toReportParameterList);
Everything works properly.
When I try to do the exact same thing in my Staging/Beta environment, I get an HTTP 401 not authorized error.
When I comment out those three lines, the report parameter section loads and I can get the report correctly when I type in the parameter.
Any idea why trying to pass parameters via the server report, I get an HTTP 401?
EDIT
I should probably add that I am sending credential information as such:
string tsUserNameDomain = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ReportUserName"].ToString();
string tsDomain = tsUserNameDomain.Substring(0, tsUserNameDomain.IndexOf("\\"));
string tsUsername = tsUserNameDomain.Substring(tsUserNameDomain.IndexOf("\\") + 1);
string tsPassword = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ReportPassword"].ToString();
ReportViewerCredentials toCredentials = new ReportViewerCredentials(tsUsername, tsPassword, tsDomain);
rvFinancialSummaryReport.ServerReport.ReportServerCredentials = toCredentials;
This works as long as there is no parameters set.
EDIT
Just to Reiterate... when I comment this line:
rvFinancialSummaryReport.ServerReport.SetParameters(toReportParameterList);
It works...
When I uncomment this line:
rvFinancialSummaryReport.ServerReport.SetParameters(toReportParameterList);
I get an HTTP 401: Unauthorized.
EDIT
Another detail... my SSRS server is HTTP, my IIS is HTTPS...
It would seem that the order of operations in this scenario is important.
After some extensive testing on a local server, I realized that after the parameter value was set, when I went to set the credential values the parameter array object on the server report was coming back as null.
I moved the instantiation of the credential object to the top of the page load, and now everything is working properly.
I have a spreadsheet on my Google Drive and I want to download a CSV from another website and put it into my spreadsheet. The problem is that I have to login to the website first, so I need to use some HTTP request to do that.
I have found this site and this. If either of these sites has the answer on it, then I clearly don't understand them enough to figure it out. Could someone help me figure this out? I feel that the second site is especially close to what I need, but I don't understand what it is doing.
To clarify again, I want to login with an HTTP request and then make a call to the same website with a different URL that is the call to get the CSV file.
I have done a lot of this in the past month so I should be able to help you, we are trying to emulate the browsers behaviour here so first you need to use chrome's developer tools(or something similar) and note down the exact things the browser does like the form values posted, the url that is called and so on. The following example shows the general techinique to be used:
The first step is to login to the website and get the session cookie:
var payload =
{
"user_session[email]" : "username",
"user_session[password]" : "password",
};// The actual values of the post variables (like user_session[email]) depends on the site so u need to get it either from the html of the login page or using the developer tools I mentioned.
var options =
{
"method" : "post",
"payload" : payload,
"followRedirects" : false
};
var login = UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://www.website.com/login" , options);
var sessionDetails = login.getAllHeaders()['Set-Cookie'];
We have logged into the website (In order to confirm just log the sessionDetails and match it with the cookies set by chrome). The next step is purely dependent on the website so I will give u a general example
var downloadPayload =
{
"__EVENTTARGET" : 'ctl00$ActionsPlaceHolder$exportDownloadLink1',
};// This is just an example it may or may not be needed, if needed u need to trace the values from the developer tools.
var downloadCsv = UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://www.website.com/",
{"headers" : {"Cookie" : sessionDetails},
"method" : "post",
"payload" : downloadPayload,
});
Logger.log(downloadCsv.getContentText())
The file should now be logged, you can then parse the csv using hte GAS inbuilt function and dump the data in the spreadsheet.
A few points to note:
I have assumed that all form post values are static and can be
hardcoded, in case this is not true then let me know I will give you
a function that can extract values from the html.
Some websites require the browser to send a token value(the value will be present in the html) along with the credentials. In this case you need to extract the values and then post it.