VBA Error 70: Permission Denied during IE automation - vba

Question

I've been trying to create a quick subroutine in VBA through Excel 2010 to automate putting a list of URLs through bit.ly and copying the abbreviated links back to replace their original link. BUT I'm getting an Error 70: Permission Denied runtime error along the way. I've had a few courses and this MOSTLY works, but I'm not highly familiar with VBA and could use some help in debugging this if possible (it'd be a huge help). Here's the code:
Option Explicit
Dim IE As Object
Sub AutoAbbrev()
Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
Dim holdURL As String
Dim row_number As Integer
IE.Visible = True
For row_number = 101 To 112
holdURL = ""
If Range("b" & row_number).Value = "" Then GoTo Skip
IE.navigate "http://www.bitly.com" 'load bit.ly
Do While IE.readyState <> 4
DoEvents
Loop
IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value = Range("b" & row_number).Value
IE.document.all("shorten_btn").Click
Do While IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value = Range("b" & row_number).Value Or IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value = ""
DoEvents
Loop
holdURL = IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value
IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value = ""
Range("b" & row_number).Value = holdURL
Skip:
Next row_number
End Sub
Private Sub Command1_Click()
AutoAbbrev
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
Set IE = Nothing
If TypeName(IE) <> "Nothing" Then Unload IE
Set IE2 = Nothing
If TypeName(IE2) <> "Nothing" Then Unload IE2
End Sub
The error is mostly thrown on this line after the program has run through one or more iterations:
Do While IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value = Range("b" & row_number).Value Or IE.document.all("shorten_url").Value = ""
DoEvents
Loop
If any specific advice could be provided to help me over this hump, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Answer 1

Automating Internet Explorer should always be a last resort, it's slow and relies on the structure of the page remaining unchanged. It's always better to opt for an API if one is available, in this case bitly provide an API for shotening links, you just need to get your Authentication Token and enter it in the below:
Public Function Shorten(url As String) As String
Const token As String = "YOUR AUTHENTICATION TOKEN"
Static oRequest As Object
If oRequest Is Nothing Then Set oRequest = CreateObject("winhttp.winhttprequest.5.1")
With oRequest
.Open "GET", "https://api-ssl.bitly.com/v3/shorten?access_token=" & token & "&longUrl=" & url & "&format=xml", False
.send
If Left(Split(.responsetext, "txt>")(1), 2) = "OK" Then Shorten = Split(Split(.responsetext, "url>")(1), "<")(0)
End With
End Function
You can then use the above as a function in your worksheet

Answer 2

I found this occurs because of the page not being fully loaded. IE is SLOW but sometimes you need to use it because you have dynamic content in Divs which need to be opened with an object.click event. Do Until Not appIE.Busy And appIE.ReadyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop can help but it can also hang up your browser so adding a wait period using a timer can help.