VBA http get request response is gibberish - vba

I tried to search for a quick answer to this but I did not see a response...so I apologize if this is redundant.
I am pretty new to VBA and only use it to pull data from APIs to make my life easier.
My question is about the response im getting from a particular API. HEre is the code im using:
Dim URL As String: URL = "API URL HERE in json format"
Dim Http As New WinHttpRequest
Dim Resp As String
Http.Open "GET", URL, False
Http.Send
Resp = Http.ResponseText
Debug.Print Resp
So the Resp text is complete gibberish...is this a security thing? I pass a security key successfully when I use it in the browser so I assumed it was not that.... I have used this exact method on numerous APIs but this is the first time I have seen this garbled response. FYI the url I am using works just fine in a browser.
The Resp looks like this for example:
gõi:?ñq¢²^2?7AÄ??æºz³Gs=ΠÜ?¬«¤%?$ÖÉ'q¯¼|?¼²ôue¦½Þ"HË!ø5[4]s½?·Þ.OÛÃBh×?4"rÊÊ[r7
Thanks for any help!
Khauna

Related

How to write WebRequest cookies correctly?

I would like to know how to send correctly cookies value of timezone in HTTP request.
Code from response using HTTLiveHeaders in firefox:
Cookie: YSC=FcoGhPJts60; CONSENT=YES+cb.20220329-15-p1.en+FX+439; PREF=tz=Europe.London; GPS=1; VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=v-FuzDqhJuF
My code:
Dim timeZone As String = "tz=Europe.London"
req.Cookies.Container.Add(New Uri("https://www.website.com"), New Cookie("PREF", timeZone))
because normally after PREF there is also "=" sign, but in HTTP request we don't need to add it, but it have another "=" so I'm not sure if it includes or not.
thanks for help.

MS Access API Request

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

Format this GET request in VB.NET code behind?

I am trying a "GET" method to request a count of activities from the Accelo API here:
https://api.accelo.com/docs/?http#count-activities
And although i've used a very similar POST method to successfully get the access token using an authentication method, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the count of activities. The API says to use "GET" and past the access token as "bearer..." and I've also tried doing a post and getting the stream first, tried sending in some data and accessing the "list activities" endpoint instead...nothing is working. everything I do returns the error "400. Bad Request."
I've tried passing data in a query string format directly in the URI, and tried passing no data since its a GET function. It looks to me like I'm following the API exactly.
Dim data2 = Nothing ' Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(jsonstring)
Dim _list = GetListOfActivities(New Uri("https://example.api.accelo.com/api/v0/activities/count.xml"), data2, _AccessToken)
Dim reqa As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create(uri)
' reqa.Method = "GET"
reqa.Headers.Add("GET", "/api/v0/activities/count.xml HTTP/1.1")
reqa.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Bearer " & _AccessToken)
reqa.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
'reqa.ContentLength = jsonDataBytes.Length
' Dim streama = reqa.GetRequestStream()
' streama.Write(jsonDataBytes, 0, jsonDataBytes.Length)
'streama.Close()
Dim responsea As WebResponse = reqa.GetResponse()
Console.WriteLine((CType(responsea, HttpWebResponse)).StatusDescription)
I must be formatting the request wrong - please help?
My problem turned out to be something stupid, and literally beyond the scope of what I posted here. I had specified a "scope" in my initial request to get the access token that was set to read-only "staff" data (I had copied-and-pasted their example online into my code, for other parameters like grant type, and I brought the scope along with it), and in this scenario here I was trying to access "activities" data and not "staff" data. I would have thought I'd get a permissions-related error, instead of "bad request" which confused me, but anyway it works now.
The above code - actually with this line:
reqa.Method = "GET"
instead of this line:
reqa.Headers.Add("GET", "/api/v0/activities/count.xml HTTP/1.1")
Works just fine since I changed my scope to read(all) in my initial web method getting the access token.

How do I send a raw POST request in Visual Basic

How would I send a raw POST request in Visual Basic .NET (2010)? When I say raw, I mean without using System.Net.WebRequest to form one, but rather by forming your own headers and sending them with the StreamWriter..
I think I know how to do it with a GET request, but I'm not sure how I would send a POST request.
...
Example GET request (NOTE THAT HERE I USE WEBREQUEST, WHICH I DON'T WANT TO):
Private Function HTTPGet(ByVal URL As String) As String
On Error GoTo fail
Dim Output As String = String.Empty
Dim Request As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create(URL)
Request.Method = "GET"
Using Response As WebResponse = Request.GetResponse
Using Stream As Stream = Response.GetResponseStream
Output = (New StreamReader(Stream)).ReadToEnd
End Using
End Using
Return Output
fail:
Return Nothing
End Function
If you really want to manually create these POST's, you will have to do a little research on HTTP requests and sockets. Sockets will create connections to a destination service and let you determine what data you want to send. To build the data properly, you will need to research what the format will need to be for an HTTP POST.
Check out this link to learn more about HTTP GET/POST. Scroll down to (The POST Method) to see a sample HTTP POST.
http://www.jmarshall.com/easy/http/
Here is a link on sockets:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.sockets.socket.aspx

VBA HTTP GET request - cookies with colons

I am trying to send an HTTP GET request in VBA which includes a cookie containing a colon character, like so:
objReq.Open "GET", "http://my.url.com?foo=bar", False
objReq.setRequestHeader "Cookie", "abcd=cookie:containing:colons"
objReq.Send
Depending on what object type I use for objReq, however the request gets treated differently.
The following object type works:
Dim objReq As MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP
Set objReq = New MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP
Unfortunately, I need to use a different object type (as MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP can't capture sufficient detail about HTTP redirects). From what I've read, I need to use Winhttp.WinHttpRequest, MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP40, or MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP60, but using any of those objects results in the following error when including colons in the cookie value.
I have tried replacing the colons with Chr(58), %3A, and double-quoting within the string to no avail. I have also tried adding a 'Content-Type' header with various character encodings, but that doesn't seem to work either.
Anyone know how I can send a cookie value containing colons using the Winhttp.WinHttpRequest, MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP40, or MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP60 objects?
PS: Alternatively, if anyone knows how I can get the ending URL of a redirect sequence when using MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP, that would work as well! Winhttp.WinHttpRequest would allow me to capture a 302 status code, and MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP40 or MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP60 would allow me to use GetOption(-1), but MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP doesn't support either of these methods (from what I can tell).
I did a bit of testing with WinHttpRequest and I came up with the following code:
Dim objReq As WinHttp.WinHttpRequest
Set objReq = New WinHttp.WinHttpRequest
objReq.Option(WinHttpRequestOption_EnableRedirects) = True
objReq.Open "GET", "http://www.example.com", False
objReq.setRequestHeader "Cookie", "abcd=cookie:containing:colons"
objReq.send
I did notice i got the same error that you posted when I forgot to include the "http://" in the url.
I hope this helps!