I have a SharePoint test website (Azure SharePoint farm) which contains several image files and some document templates. I want to download the images to my local drive. I anticipate looping through a list of URLs, e.g. http://mySharePointSite/Sites/Images/Image01.png and downloading each in turn. I've tried URLDownloadToFile which works great if I put the images on a regular website but I'm unable to get past Windows Security with this approach.
I had a go at creating an InternetExplorer.Application Object (late binding) and can view my images but am unable to download them. Was trying ieApp.ExecWB but this throws a Run Time Error that seems insurmountable.
I've also tried WinHTTP.WinHTTPrequest.5.1 (StackOverflow 22051960) but, while that looked promising it returned a short string "???????" instead of an image.
I'm really hoping for a VBA solution and am wondering if Impersonate User might provide options, or if there are other options (excluding using SendKeys). Sadly I'm pushing the limits of my VBA knowledge and could really use some guidance.
Is it possible to download from share point from VBA?
If so how, am I missing something simple?
I can paste code, but really I'm not sure I have anything worth sharing. If this is not possible or unreliable in VBA then would be possible with VB.Net (my next steepest learning curve)?
Hope this helps someone. I ended up using Visual Studio to create a dll in VB.Net that I can call from VBA. VB.Net dll requires references to microsoft.sharepoint.client
And the VBA code requires a reference to the resulting dll.
Imports Microsoft.SharePoint.Client
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim myContext As Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext
myContext = New ClientContext("http://TestSP-a.cloudapp.net/sites/Images/")
Dim myCredentials As New System.Net.NetworkCredential
'' I'm accessing a website from the outside so there
'' are no credentials on my PC. If on the same NW I
'' assume I can use the line below instead of the
'' 3 lines that follow.
'myCredentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials
myCredentials.UserName = "UserNameForSharePoint"
myCredentials.Password = "PassWordForSharePoint"
myCredentials.Domain = "" ' <-- Leave Blank
Dim mySiteSP As New Uri("http://TestSP-a.cloudapp.net/sites/Images/Image1.png")
Dim myTemp As String = "C:\temp\test.png"
My.Computer.Network.DownloadFile(mySiteSP, myTemp, myCredentials, True, 600000I, False)
End Sub
End Module
Related
Scenario:
My company has a legacy (read that as 32 bit) windows form application that will be around for quite some time in the future. This application uses an embedded web browser control that is supplied pages that are contained within the database that it maintains. It was built like this so we could extend/modify as needed. I say this so that I can validate that security is not a concern. Only the application and developers with the correct tools have access to the pages or database. The application is only available inside the office.
There are some processes that I need to accomplish using ActiveX objects that are embedded within the pages/application. One of the biggest and most annoying thing that happens is the ActiveX security warning when I got to create instances of things like “scripting.filesystemobject”. Example:
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
My solution is to create a DLL that is installed locally on each machine that needs access to the extended functions, have the all the functions (whole DLL ??) marked as safe so that the web browser control does not present the security warning. I have been searching using google and came across very few examples, and all of which are in C# which is not my strongest language.
I’ve had to convert from C to Vb.Net visual basic to get what I have now. When I go to register my DLL, I get the following error message:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319>regasm
Z:\VBNet2017\APIInternal\APIInternal\bin\Debug\APIinternal.dll /tlb
Microsoft .NET Framework Assembly Registration Utility version 4.8.4084.0
for Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.8.4084.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Types registered successfully
RegAsm : error RA0000 : Type 'APIInternal.API.Accupay' has an invalid default COM
interface: 'APIInternal.API.Accupay'
UPDATE: Thank you Hans; the error is gone. I've also made some changes in the source code; I changed the ProgID to something that closely resembles where and what this is for. I'm still having issues in creating the object in VB Script.
This is the output from the current version of the code. This is the code, stripped down for clarity:
Option Strict On
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.IO
Namespace API
Public Interface IAccupay
<DispId(1)>
Function GetFiles(ByVal Folder As String) As List(Of String)
End Interface
<Guid("8B4B5CEF-8B3A-49A1-9053-E909F82D9E73"),
ProgId("AddIn.Accupay"), ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.None),
ComDefaultInterface(GetType(IAccupay)), ComVisible(True)>
Public Class Accupay
Implements IAccupay
Private Function GetFiles(Folder As String) As List(Of String) Implements IAccupay.GetFiles
Return Directory.GetFiles(Folder).ToList
End Function
End Class
I have tried just about every combination of ProgID, Name space, Interface name and class name to get this error to go away without any luck. I do know there are other elements that need to be addressed or added, such as error trapping and, if I’m not mistaken, how to actually implement the ObjectSafetyOption which I still don’t know how to do.
I have been using the Guide at the bottom of this article:
Is it possible to mark an ActiveX object as safe so that IE settings need not be changed?, the second answer, but I haven’t had any success.
Please, can someone point me in the right direction, maybe show me what’s wrong with the code that I have and how to physically implement the ObjectSafteyOption that is needed for the web control. Links, additional reading, code examples or comments on how to get this fixed and working would really be appreciated.
Thank you for reading and any help you send my way, Fred
PS: If you need more information, or have a better solution, please don’t hesitate to reply or comment.
UPDATE:
With the code that I have now, I am able to access the DLL in VB.Net visual basic:
Imports System
Imports APIInternal.API
Module Program
Sub Main(args As String())
Dim API As New Accupay
Dim FileList = API.GetFiles("C:\Windows\")
For Each Item As String In FileList
Console.WriteLine(Item)
Next
End Sub
End Module
However, I still can't seem to get the correct calling for a VB Script/html page:
Set Test = CreateObject("Test.Accupay")
Which returns the VB Script error "ActiveX Component can't create object: Test.Accupay or any other iteration of the parts of the name that I tried. I think part of this is that I don't understand how the creation of the project leads to the creation of the object in a com base environment like VB Script.
Fred
The answer to this problem is two fold: You must target the correct platform (X86) AND use the 32 bit version of regasm. Once I realized this was the issue, I was able to create the DLL and use it's functions in the Web Browser control without the active X warning. One example is I can now open the default browser (in this case, NOT IE/EDGE) from a link within the WB Control and another is to get the contents of a folder for further processing within the WB page.
I inherited a program written in VB.NET. I want to host the installer and documentation for the program in a SharePoint Online library. The SPO library allows View/Read-only access to "Everyone except external users" but it does not allow anonymous access. I want the program to check the SPO library for an updated version when it launches.
I envisioned a simple function like this:
Private Function getVersion() As String
Using client As New WebClient
getVersion = client.DownloadString("https://companyname.sharepoint.com/site/library/version.txt")
End Using
End Function
where version.txt contains nothing but the current version number.
However, this function throws an IOException stating that the connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. I think this is because the SPO site requires authentication.
I don't want to add a user login step solely for this one thing. This probably means an SPO site that requires authentication is not the ideal place for my version.txt file to reside, but I'm also trying to avoid solutions that require me to jump through hoops and involve others to get it to work. I'm the only developer for this program, so I'd like to be able to publish an update without having to wait for someone else to do something (like update a web server that I don't have access to).
Suggestions for a simple technique to achieve my goal?
In your Using block, before the line with DownloadString, set the Credentials of your WebClient:
Private Function getVersion() As String
Using client As New WebClient
client.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials
getVersion = client.DownloadString("https://companyname.sharepoint.com/site/library/version.txt")
End Using
End Function
The DefaultCredentials will be the credentials of the currently logged in Windows user.
See the docs on System.Net.WebClient.
Folks,
I'll been fighting this for a few weeks now. We have a proprietary corporate app running on thin clients in our organization. From this app we can apply VBA scripting behind the scenes to do simple functions. In the past adding buttons to open IE and direct them to certain web sites to enter data, open Calc and etc.
Recently I have been working the code below. It was developed on the Server using a RDP session which launches the full desktop and explorer.exe. What I have noticed that if explorer.exe isn't running then the code bombs at line in the function that reads "For Each oWin In oShApp.Windows " with "Run-time error '429'".
However if I script to start explorer.exe (which is bad because it enables the Start-bar and Task-bar) on the ThinClient which launches the desktop and full capabilities and it runs just fine as the Thin Client users that are logged in.
I have read a little bit about the "Limited Shell" that runs when using a remoteapp and not the full desktop and was wondering if there was anyway around it, without enable the start-menu and taskbar?
See the code below.
Thanks for the help, CreteIT
Private Sub cmdHomePage_Click()
Dim ie As Object
Dim sMatch As String
sMatch = "http://www.companyweb.com"
On Error Resume Next
Set ie = GetIEatURL(sMatch & "*")
On Error GoTo 0
If Not ie Is Nothing Then
ShowWindow ie.hwnd, 9
BringWindowToTop ie.hwnd
Else
Dim strHome
Dim strAPP
strHome = "c:\progra~1\intern~1\iexplore.exe www.companyweb.com"
strAPP = Shell(strHome, vbNormalFocus)
End If
End Sub
Function GetIEatURL(sMatch As String) As Object
Dim ie As Object, oShApp As Object, oWin As Object
Set oShApp = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
For Each oWin In oShApp.Windows
If TypeName(oWin.Document) = "HTMLDocument" Then
Set ie = oWin
If LCase(ie.LocationURL) Like LCase(sMatch) Then
Set GetIEatURL = ie
Exit For
End If
End If
Next
Set oShApp = Nothing
Set oWin = Nothing
End Function
I work on the RemoteApp team at Microsoft. I'm not quite clear whether you're running this script from an actual RemoteApp session or your own setup that has a different shell that replaces explorer.exe (or perhaps no shell at all), but either way the answer is about the same.
The Shell.Application ActiveX object your script is trying to instantiate appears to be implemented by the shell - typically explorer.exe. If that isn't running, the COM runtime won't be able to create an instance of the object, and when you try to activate it you'll get an error.
The obvious solution is to run explorer.exe but, as you observed, that also includes the taskbar and start menu, which you might not want. RemoteApp runs its own shell replacement (rdpshell.exe), but that doesn't implement Shell.Application, so just running your application under RemoteApp won't fix the problem.
There are a few potential solutions I can think of:
If you're not using RemoteApp, you could write your own replacement shell that does implement Shell.Application. This is quite a lot of work and there might not be a lot of documentation around on how to do it properly. If you already have a replacement shell, you might be able to extend it to implement Shell.Application.
You could use a different method to enumerate windows. Unfortunately this probably means Win32 (via the EnumWindows function), which isn't directly accessible from VB scripts; you might have to create an ActiveX object that implements the behavior you want, and invoke it from the script.
Similar to option 2 but more heavyweight - you could make that ActiveX object implement the whole Shell.Application interface - even though it isn't actually the shell - and register it on the remote machine. I can't guarantee you won't run into problems if you do this though; it isn't something I've tried before.
None of these solutions are ideal, unfortunately, but hopefully something lets you do what you need to.
I'm using Silverlight 4 OOB & elevated trust.
I need to get all the filenames on specific directory & populate an object List(Of String)
The compiler throws an error "Method not found" on .Getfiles() method.
Dim files() As String = System.IO.Directory.Getfiles(Path) 'this line is failing..
Help!
The GetFiles is marked as "Security Critical" and therefore cannot be used from your code.
You will want to use the EnumerateFiles method instead. GetFiles is sooo .NET 1.0, EnumerateFiles is much slicker, even in the full framework you'd want avoid this older Array returning API if you can.
As far as I know you cannot directly access the whole hard drive using Silverlight OOB.
Quoting from Silverlight site:
When running in a trusted environment, you can access only files in
user folders, specifically the MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyPictures, and
MyVideos folders. Although this makes sense from a security point of
view, it’s limiting. You want to enable the user to drag their data
from any location. As it stands right now, if you try to drop a file
from a location other than stated above, Silverlight will throw a
security error.
Please refer to this link for details on how to work with the hard drive using Silverlight OOB:
http://www.silverlight.net/learn/overview/out-of-browser-applications/advanced-silverlight-out-of-browser-introduction#Exercise3
Despite my lack of coding knowledge I managed to write a small little app in VB net that a lot of people are now using. Since I made it for free I have no way of knowing how popular it really is and was thinking I could make it ping some sort of online stat counter so I could figure out if I should port it to other languages. Any idea of how I could ping a url via vb without actually opening a window or asking to receive any data? When I google a lot of terms for this I end up with examples with 50+ lines of code for what I would think should only take one line or so, similar to opening an IE window.
Side Note: Would of course fully inform all users this was happening.
Just a sidenote: You should inform your users that you are doing this (or not do it at all) for privacy concerns. Even if you aren't collecting any personal data it can be considered a privacy problem. For example, when programs collect usage information, they almost always have a box in the installation process asking if the user wants to participate in an "anonymous usage survey" or something similar. What if you just tracked downloads?
Might be easier to track downloads (assuming people are getting this via HTTP) instead of installs. Otherwise, add a "register now?" feature.
You could use something simple in the client app like
Sub PingServer(Server As String, Port As Integer)
Dim Temp As New System.Net.Sockets();
Temp.Connect(Server, Port)
Temp.Close()
End Sub
Get your webserver to listen on a particular port and count connections.
Also, you really shouldn't do this without the user's knowledge, so as others have said, it would be better to count downloads, or implement a registration feature.
I assume you are making this available via a website. So you could just ask people to give you their email address in order to get the download link for the installer. Then you can track how many people add themselves to your email list each month/week/etc. It also means you can email them all when you make a new release so that they can keep up to date with the latest and greatest.
Note: Always ensure they have an unsubscribe link at the end of each email you send them.
The guys over at vbdotnetheaven.com have a simple example using the WebClient, WebRequest and HttpWebRequest classes. Here is their WebClient class example:
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Net
Module Module1
Sub Main()
' Address of URL
Dim URL As String = http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/default.asp
' Get HTML data
Dim client As WebClient = New WebClient()
Dim data As Stream = client.OpenRead(URL)
Dim reader As StreamReader = New StreamReader(data)
Dim str As String = ""
str = reader.ReadLine()
Do While str.Length > 0
Console.WriteLine(str)
str = reader.ReadLine()
Loop
End Sub
End Module
.NET? Create an ASMX Web Service and set it up on your web site. Then add the service reference to your app.
EDIT/CLARIFICATION: Your Web Service can then store passed data into a database, instead of relying on Web Logs: Installation Id, Install Date, Number of times run, etc.