I have created a ribbon for Powerpoint with visual studio XML ribbon. This ribbon has a button that, simplifying, does this:
opens an IE browser
search an element (hiddenfield) in the code by his id
get the value of this element
Print the value in the actual slide
It works correctly the first time I click the button of my ribbon, but it throws an Exception 0x800A01B6 the following times I click the button.
This is the code executed when I click the button:
Dim oType As Type = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("InternetExplorer.Application")
If oType IsNot Nothing Then
Dim ie As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
ie = Nothing
ie = TryCast(Activator.CreateInstance(oType), SHDocVw.InternetExplorer)
If ie IsNot Nothing Then
Dim oEmpty As Object = [String].Empty
Dim oURL As Object = targetURL
ie.AddressBar = False
ie.MenuBar = False
ie.ToolBar = 0
ie.Visible = True
ie.Height = 800
ie.Width = 1100
ie.Navigate(oURL, oEmpty, oEmpty, oEmpty, oEmpty)
End If
Do While (ie.Busy Or ie.ReadyState <> READYSTATE.READYSTATE_COMPLETE)
Sleep(1000)
Application.DoEvents()
Loop
Sleep(10000) ' 10 seconds for testing purpose
Dim str As String = String.Empty
Dim hdnstring As HTMLInputElement = ie.Document.getElementById("hdnstring")
str = hdnstring.value
DoSomething(str)
ie.Quit()
ie = Nothing
End If
This is the code of the website that opens (targetURL), the code remains identical in every load and only the hidden value changes:
<html>
<body>
<form name="form1" id="form1">
<input type="hidden" name="hdnstring" id="hdnstring" value="Get This String" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
The second time (and following) I execute the function: the IE opens, the website fully loads, it waits 10 seconds and then I get an error in the line:
Dim hdnstring As HTMLInputElement = ie.Document.getElementById("hdnstring")
with Exception 0x800A01B6 message.
The most strange thing is that if I click viewsource in the IE contextual menu while the 10 seconds delay (the ones for testing purpose), it works perfect every time I click the button; but if I don't, the Exception 0x800A01B6 appers.
Any idea of what I'm doing wrong?
Error details image:
The type of the Document property is only resolved at run-time, so it's an Object until then. This is why calling any methods in it results in the so-called late binding - you do not yet know if the getElementById method exists or not, so that has to be determined a run-time.
You most likely get the error because the Document is not of the IHTMLDocument3 type, which is the only document type that includes the getElementById method.
What you can try is casting the Document to an IHTMLDocument3 interface. Since it inherits IHTMLDocument and IHTMLDocument2 you can cast between them even if the document is actually one of the earlier types.
DirectCast(ie.Document, IHTMLDocument3).getElementById("hdnstring")
Related
I am using Excel VBA to try click a button on a site, here's the code from the site using inspect element:
<button class="_ah57t _84y62 _frcv2 _rmr7s">ClickHere</button>
And here's what i'm doing in VBA:
Sub testcode()
Dim ie As InternetExplorer
Dim html As HTMLDocument
Set ie = New InternetExplorer
ie.Visible = True
ie.Navigate "somesite.com"
Do While ie.READYSTATE <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE
DoEvents
Loop
Dim e
Set e = ie.Document.getElementsByClassName("_ah57t _84y62 _frcv2 _rmr7s")
e.Click
End Sub
Using the debug I found that the code seems to be storing something called "[object]" in the variable e and and then gives a Runtime error '438' when it gets to e.click. I have even tried using .Focus first, but get the same error. Any ideas?
The getElementsByClassName() function returns a collection not a single element. You need to specify an index on the returned collection in order to return a single element. If there is only one element within the class you can simply use:
ie.Document.getElementsByClassName("_ah57t _84y62 _frcv2 _rmr7s")(0).Click
The (0) specifies the index of the element within the collection returned from the class.
Its easy to tell whether a function returns a collection or single element:
getElementBy... - Returns a single element.
getElementsBy... - Returns a collection of elements.
I'm hoping someone can help. I'm trying to speed up the process of filling a webform that must be completed dozens or hundreds of times with information stored in excel.
To do this, I need one button to open an IE window and navigate to a certain website's login page (I've figured this bit out). The user can then log in and navigate to the form that needs to be filled. Then, I'd like the user to be able to return to the excel page, click another button, which will automatically fill several drop downs and text boxes.
Within Excel, I already have some code to allow the user to search for the particular set of information that needs to go to the form, so all they should have to do is click the button to transfer it over. The first bit of the code is just this:
Public IE As Object
Public Sub OpenIE()
Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
IE.Visible = True
IE.Navigate "loginpage url"
End Sub
Where I'm having trouble, however, is having a different function access the same IE window once the user has logged in and navigated to the form. Right now I've got this:
Sub FillMacro()
Dim sh As Object, oWin As Object
Set sh = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
For Each oWin In sh.Windows
If TypeName(oWin.document) = "HTMLDocument" Then
Set IE = oWin
Exit For
End If
Next
IE.Visible = True
Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("00:00:01"))
IE.document.getElementById("idec").Value = "John"
Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("00:00:01"))
IE.document.getElementById("idee").Value = "Smith"
End Sub
Most of that I've gotten from other posts on this forum, and while I'm a bit of a novice at this, the problem seems to be that for some reason VBA can't find the text boxes with the id of LastName or FirstName. What's more, the IE.Visible = True doesn't bring the IE window back to the foreground, so I'm trying to find the proper line to do that. When I try to run the code, I get an "Object Required" error at:
IE.document.getElementById("idec").Value = "John"
I've tried searching this site and will continue to look, but any help in the meantime would be greatly appreciated!
On the Internet Explorer page, here is the line for the first text box I'm trying to fill:
<input name="componentListPanel:componentListView:1:component:patientLastNameContainer:patientLastName" class="input300" id="idec" type="text" maxlength="60" value="">
Why not automate logging process as well? Login could be stored in Excel and its value read by macro from cell.
As Tim Williams suggests, if there is Iframe on website, use (for me it works only with contentwindow included):
IE.document.getElementById("iFrameIdHere").contentwindow.document.getElemeântById("idec").Value = "John"
Instead of Application.Wait use:
Do Until IE.ReadyState = 4 And IE.Busy = False
DoEvents
Loop
It will save you a lot of time when page loads fast and prevent errors when loading exceeds wait time. Use it ONLY after page reloads (meaning after navigating or anything what causes page reloads, especially .click on HTML elements.
Use early binding, it's a bit faster than creating objects. It can increase performance by a few percent based on page loading speed, the faster pages load, the bigger increase.
Set IE = New InternetExplorer
Finally, you can toggle loading pictures, depending on whether you need to download images from website.
Public Sub ShowPictures(ByVal EnabledStatus As Boolean)
Public ScrapingCancelled as Boolean
Dim obj_Shell
Dim v_Result As Variant
Set obj_Shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'Reads the registry key that determines whether 'Show pictures' Internet Explorer advanced setting is enabled
v_Result = obj_Shell.RegRead("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Display Inline Images")
Select Case v_Result
Case "yes" 'Pictures are displayed
If EnabledStatus = False Then _
obj_Shell.RegWrite "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Display Inline Images", "no", "REG_SZ"
Case "no" 'Pictures are not displayed
If EnabledStatus = True Then _
obj_Shell.RegWrite "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Display Inline Images", "yes", "REG_SZ"
Case Else
ScrapingCancelled = True
End Select
End Sub
No images loaded:
ShowPictures (0)
Images loaded:
ShowPictures (1)
A good practice is to set value to 1 in the end of macro.
I'm using Excel and programming in VBA.
I've located a button that I want to click. However, it seems this button requires an argument.
Using the Console in Chrome, I typed this:
document.getElementById("button1").click
That line resolved function click() { [native code] }
so instead I tried this:
document.getElementById("button1").click ('100', '2016-03-02')
And it worked. So, how do I run the same thing from VBA?
I have tried the following:
Sub ClickTheButton()
Dim IE As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
Dim Doc As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
Set IE = New SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
With IE
.Visible = True
.Navigate "(webpage here)"
Do Until Not .Busy And .ReadyState = 4
DoEvents
Loop
Set Doc = .Document
Doc.GetElementByID("button1").Click ' nothing happens when running this
Doc.GetElementByID("button1").Click "('100', '2016-03-02')" ' not working (can't even attempt to run this)
Doc.GetElementByID("button1").Click ("'100', '2016-03-02'") ' not working (can't even attempt to run this)
End With
End Sub
I can't run the procedure, because of the code after .Click returning Wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignments.
Any ideas?
Answer found here.
The click button ran a function. Instead of clicking the button I could instead just run the function like this:
Dim CurrentWindow As HTMLWindowProxy
Set CurrentWindow = IE.Document.parentWindow
Call CurrentWindow.execScript("xajax_DoCalReservation('100', '2016-03-02')")
I am looking to automate internet explorer using Excel VBA to extract football results from a website and am really struggling with getting the data to update when I change the dropdown value.
The website is: http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8209/Fixtures/Europe-UEFA-Europa-League-2013-2014
I am looking to change the value of the 'stages' dropdown and scrape the match results.
My code works fine for opening IE, changing the value of the 'scrape' dropdown but I can't get the data to update. Whilst I am comfortable with VBA I know very little about HTML and Javascript although I can guess what some lines are doing. From what I can see there is javascript code that handles the change event, I just can't see how to get it to run - I have tried firing the 'onchange' event in my code as suggested from my searches but I can't get it to work.
This is the code I can see that controls the drop down (I have deleted a lot of the dropdown values for other dropdowns as it made this post even longer:
<div id="breadcrumb-nav">
.
.
<span><select id="stages" name="stages"><option selected="selected" value="/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8209">Europa League Group Stages</option>
<option value="/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/7816">Europa League Qualification</option>
<option value="/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8158">Europa League Grp. A</option>
<option value="/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8159">Europa League Grp. B</option>
.
.
<option value="/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8466">Europa League</option>
</select></span>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
$('#breadcrumb-nav select').change(function () {
NG.GA.trackEvent('BreadcrumbNav', this.id);
window.location.href = this.value;
// TODO: Disable all selects?
});
</script>
my code:
Sub ScrapeData()
Dim ie As InternetExplorer
Dim URL As String
URL = "http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8466/Fixtures/Europe-UEFA-Europa-League-2013-2014"
Set ie = New InternetExplorer
ie.Visible = True
ie.navigate (URL)
Do
DoEvents
Loop Until ie.readyState = 4
SelectValue ie, "/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/7816"
SelectValue ie, "/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/8209"
End Sub
Sub SelectValue(ByVal ie As InternetExplorer, ByVal value As String)
Dim htmlDoc As HTMLDocument
Dim ddStages As HTMLSelectElement
Dim idBreadCrumb As Object
Set htmlDoc = ie.document
With ie.document
Set idBreadCrumb = .getelementbyid("breadcrumb-nav")
Set ddStages = .getelementbyid("stages")
End With
ddStages.value = value
ddStages.FireEvent ("onchange")
'fireevent on ddStages didn't work so tried here too
idBreadCrumb.FireEvent ("onchange")
Do
DoEvents
Loop Until ie.readyState = 4
End Sub
Any help would be really appreciated.
There must be some JavaScript executing on the event "the select element has changed its value". My suggestion, much easier than executing the JavaScript, is to just navigate the link (because what the JS does here is just changing the HTML page you are seeing, and not the elements within the same webpage).
So, for example, I would just replace this:
SelectValue ie, "/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/7816"
with this
ie.Navigate "http://www.whoscored.com/" & "/Regions/250/Tournaments/30/Seasons/3871/Stages/7816"
to get the exactly same result.
I create a browser like so, and manually navigate to the web page I need to be. I intend to automatically pull certain elements once I get to the page I need to be on via a seperate macro
Sub Test()
Set CAS = New SHDocVw.InternetExplorer ' create a browser
CAS.Visible = True ' make it visible
CAS.navigate "http://intraneturl"
Do Until CAS.readyState = 4
DoEvents
Loop
This works fine, then I do
Public Sub Gather
Set HTMLDoc2 = CAS.document.frames("top").document
Call Timer1
With HTMLDoc2
.getElementById("tab4").FirstChild.Click
End With
Call Timer2
Dim fir, las, add1, add2, cit, stat, zi As String
Dim First As Variant
Dim Last As Variant
Dim addr1 As Variant
Dim addr2 As Variant
Dim city As Variant
Dim Thisstate As Variant
Dim Zip As Variant
Call Timer2
Set HTMLDoc = CAS.document.frames("MainFrame").document
Call Timer2
With HTMLDoc
First = .getElementsByName("IndFirst")
Last = .getElementsByName("IndLast")
addr1 = .getElementsByName("txtAdd_Line1")
addr2 = .getElementsByName("txtAdd_Line2")
city = .getElementsByName("txtAdd_City")
Thisstate = .getElementsByName("cmb_Add_State")
Zip = .getElementsByName("txtAdd_Zip")
End With
fir = First.Value
las = Last.Value
add1 = addr1.Value
add2 = addr2.Value
cit = city.Value
stat = Thisstate.Value
zi = Zip.Value
'navigate back to start page
With HTMLDoc2
.getElementById("tab3").FirstChild.Click
End With
End Sub
This works the first time, but after the first time, I get "Object variable or with block variable not set" when trying to run the gather() sub again, on a different web page that contains similar information. Any Ideas as to what im doing wrong?
"The error "object variable or with block variable not set" occurs on: Set HTMLDoc2 = CAS.document.frames("top").document the second time i try running Gather()."
This is probably one of three things:
CAS is no longer an object
To check this, set a breakpoint on the line, press ctr+G in the VBA Editor and type ?CAS Is Nothing in the Immediate Window; the result should be False; if it is True CAS is no longer an object
Like Daniel Dusek suggested, make sure CAS.document.frames("top") is an actual element on the page.
To check this, open the webpage you are trying to script, press F12 in Internet Explorer, click on the arrow in the toolbar and click on the "top" frame element in the webpage, switch back to the Developer Tool and look at the line highlighted. Make sure the frame element is named "top".
The HTML hasn't fully loaded when you try to reference the frame element. Set a longer delay or a loop.
i.e. (untested):
Do Until HtmlDoc2 Is Nothing = false
Set HTMLDoc2 = CAS.document.frames("top").document
Loop
Maybe the more important question is why manually navigate to another page? Can't you automate that part of your process too?