Simulate web search using the WebBrowser control - vb.net

Question

I am trying to write a program that simulates a simple browser search in www.google.com using the WebBrowser control. I'm really just wanting to simulate internet activity.
I came up with the idea of using a loop to send a number to the google search box and then pressing enter.
The line WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("q").SetAttribute("value", i) successfully sends each number in the loop to the google search box, but the next line WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("btnK").InvokeMember("Click") won't initiate the google search button. I don't get any errors.
Does anyone have any ideas why WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("btnK").InvokeMember("Click") doesn't work?
Also I've noticed that when I run this code and then launch Internet Explorer, the code stops. Does anyone have any ideas on this as well?
Most grateful for any help!
Regards
George
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Call LoadBrowser()
End Sub
Private Sub LoadBrowser()
WebBrowser1.Navigate("http://www.google.com/")
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
' Send search string 'i' to browser n times
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To 100
' Browser search
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("q").SetAttribute("value", i)
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("btnK").InvokeMember("Click")
' Pause n seconds before next loop
For x As Integer = 0 To 5 * 100 ' Pause for 5 seconds
Threading.Thread.Sleep(10)
Application.DoEvents()
Next
Next
End Sub

Answer 1

Ok, working off the example you have given us.
Try this.
Imports WindowsInput '' <---------
''' <summary>
''' This program will run quick slow, would be best to use another thread for it, I'll leave that to you.
''' </summary>
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
WebBrowser1.Navigate("www.google.com.au")
End Sub
Private Async Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim SIM = New InputSimulator() ''Use NuGet package manager and search for Input Simulator at Import it at the top
For i = 0 To 100
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("lst-ib").InvokeMember("Click") ''this will click on googles searchbox
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("q").InnerText = i
Await Task.Delay(500) ''This will delay your code so you can see what is in the searchbox, I prefer this over Thread.Sleep, each to their own I guess.
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("q").InvokeMember("Click") ''This will click on googles search box to get the delete simulator ready.
SIM.Keyboard.KeyPress(WindowsInput.Native.VirtualKeyCode.DELETE) '' This will delete whatever is in the searchbox since your original code was doing this and you didn't complain about it
Next
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("lst-ib").InvokeMember("Click") ''ONCE the loop as completed it will click on googles search box
SIM.Keyboard.KeyPress(WindowsInput.Native.VirtualKeyCode.RETURN) '' Another keypress for the enter key (MAY NOT WORK DEPENDING IF YOU HAVE CLICK OFF THE WEBBROWSER CONTROL) maybe you can tab back to it?
'WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("sblsbb").InvokeMember("Click") ''if the above line doesn't work
End Sub
End Class
Sorry for the long comments, I'm just trying to help you understand what the code is doing and the possible errors you may or may not encounter along with possible fixes and or work arounds.Good luck.