VBA to GetElementByID on a Web form - vba

I'm having a bit of trouble with my VBA code filling in a form on an intranet page. It generally works okay but every so often, the ID's of the fields on this form change and I have to update my code but not until I've had lots of errors reported. Is there anyway I can use a wildcard, or loop through the possibilities before it tries to fill out the form? The bit of code I'm using is
WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("Template_ctl24_ctl00_Shelfmark" & x & "_TextField").value = Range("Q" & x + 11).value
But the ID can change to Template_ctl22_ctl00.... or Template_ctl25_ctl00.... for a reason unknown to me. I don't have control over that area - i'm really only front end.
So is there some variation on using a * wildcard?
Or looping through whether the ID is a 22, 24, 25 or whatever before it proceeds?
What can and can't you do with this sort of line of VBA code?
Thanks in advance
Paul

If you know where the element is positioned on the page it would be much better to locate it using something like getElementsByTagName.
However, you could use a simple loop. In the following I've assumed the attempt to reference a non-existing element results in Nothing, but perhaps it generates an error - I haven't tested. If so, you'll need to use error-handling code instead.
Dim elem As Variant
For x = 22 To 25
Set elem = WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("Template_ctl24_ctl00_Shelfmark" _
& x & "_TextField")
If Not elem Is Nothing Then
Exit For
End If
Next x
If elem Is Nothing Then
'Doh! not found
Else
'obtain elem.value
End If

Related

Saving Custom Document Properties in a Loop

I'm trying to save the values of data that have been input into my form. There are a total of about 50 different fields to save across 5 different agents, so I loaded the data into arrays.
I've tried saving the fields in a loop, but it doesn't seem to work in a loop, only if each field has a separate line, which is a lot of code and messy. The Ag1Name, Ag2Name and Ag3Name are the names of my textboxes that the user enters to populate the form.
Sub LoadAndSaveData()
NumberofAgents = 3
Dim AgentName(3) as String
AgentName(1) = Ag1Name.Value
AgentName(2) = Ag2Name.Value
AgentName(3) = Ag3Name.Value
For Count = 1 To NumberOfAgents
With ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties
.Add Name:="AgentName" & Count, LinkToContent:=False, Value:=AgentName(Count), Type:=msoPropertyTypeString
End With
Next Count
End Sub
The data doesn't get saved to the Custom Document Properties when the code is set up in a loop like the above. Since there are so many values to save and all the data is already in arrays, I would much prefer to use a loop rather than write out a separate line of code for all ~50 of the values. It does seem to work when each field is saved in a separate line of code.
I think this would probably get what you want. You don't really need to count the document properties first, only increment with the ones you want to update. Hopefully the only document properties you want contain the name AgentName in it.
ReDim AgentName(0) As String
Dim P As Long
For Each c In ThisDocument.CustomDocumentProperties
If InStr(1, c.Name, "AgentName", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
ReDim Preserve AgentName(P)
AgentName(P) = c.Value
P = P + 1
End If
Next c
As a guest I cannot post a comment here, but the code you gave works OK here.
However, there is a problem with creating legacy custom document properties programmatically, because doing that does not mark the document as "changed". When you close the document, Word does not necessarily save it and you lose the Properties and their values.
However, if you actually open up the Custom Document Property dialog, Word does then mark the document as "changed" and the Properties are saved.
So it is possible that the difference between your two scenarios is not the code, but that in one scenario you have actually opened the dialog box to check the values before closing the document and in the other you have not.
If that is the case, here, I was able to change this behaviour by adding the line
ActiveDocument.Saved = False
after setting the property values.
If you do not actually need the values to be Document Properties, it might be better either to use Document Variables, which are slightly easier to use since you can add them and modify them with exactly the same code, or perhaps by storing them in A Custom XML Part, which is harder work but can be useful if you need to extract the values somewhere where Word is not available.
You can make this even easier by looping the controls on the UserForm, testing whether the control name contains "Ag" and, if it does, create the Custom Document Property with the control's value - all in one step.
For example, the following code sample loops the controls in the UserForm. It tests whether the controls Name starts with "Ag". If it does, the CustomDocumentProperty is added with that control's value.
Sub LoadAndSaveData()
Dim ctl As MSForms.control
Dim controlName As String
For Each ctl In Me.Controls
controlName = ctl.Name
If Left(controlName, 2) = "Ag" Then
With ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties
.Add Name:=controlName, LinkToContent:=False, value:=ctl.value, Type:=msoPropertyTypeString
End With
End If
Next
End Sub
I feel a little stupid... I just realized that the reason that the code wasn't working was that the variable NumberofAgents was not being calculated correctly elsewhere in my code. I've got it working now. Thanks for your thoughts!

Syntax Error Issue on VBA

I am trying to extract some values using VBA from a Website
The following code contains the array of the data I am looking for. This works perfectly and gives me the array of the data I am looking for.
document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).querySelectorAll("[class$='price']")
The result for the above is
<NodeList length="23">...</NodeList>
But when I am trying to extract the values by running the loop in a VBA by using the following code
lnth = document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).querySelectorAll("[class$='price']").Length - 1
For x = 0 To lnth
firstResult = document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).querySelectorAll("[class$='price']")(x).innerText
Next x
The code would give error at firstResult since it would not get any value. I checked on Internet Explorer there is no value if I use "(" brackets,however if I use "[" on Internet Explorer it works but VBA would not accept "[" Brackets.
document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).querySelectorAll("[class$='price']")[0]
The code above works on Internet Explorer Console but cant be used in VBA.
I am sure I am missing something would be of great help if you can advice what is the workaround on this.
To get the innerText, you can use getElementsByClassName 2 more times, one of them inside for each .. next loop since your values are in list-flights -> price -> cash js_linkInsideCell:
Set priceData = IE.document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).getElementsByClassName("price")
For Each Item In priceData
Debug.Print Item.getElementsByClassName("cash js_linkInsideCell")(0).innerHTML
Next Item
Using .querySelectorAll("[class$='price']") works as well, but it crashes IE object after parsing. Try and see if it crashes:
Set priceData = IE.document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).querySelectorAll("[class$='price']")
For Each Item In priceData
Debug.Print Item.getElementsByClassName("cash js_linkInsideCell")(0).innerHTML
Next Item
Some quick notes:
1-You can use this code to wait for IE object to load url:
Do While IE.Busy
DoEvents
Loop
2-Sometimes, even if IE object is ready, query results are not returned that fast. This means the elements you are looking for are not ready yet and do not exists so you get an error message:
Run-time error '91': Object variable or With block variable not set
To avoid this message my workaround is as follows:
Do
On Error Resume Next
Set priceData = IE.document.getElementsByClassName("list-flights")(0).getElementsByClassName("price")
Loop Until Err.Number <> 91
I hope this helps.

VBA Excel Break Points and Stop do not work

Any idea why inserting break points and stop no longer stops my vba code from running?
The code runs ok all the way to the end (I tested it) but ignores break points and Stop.
Also step into just makes the code run in it's entirety, ignoring break points and stops.
When I close the workbook where the issue seems to originate from the same issue occurs in other macro workbooks.
if I completely close excel and re-open it with a normally working macro workbook the issue doesn't occur until I re-open the problem work book.
I added breakpoints on:
TotP1 = 0
of the following code:
Option Explicit
Private Country As String
Private Measure As String
Private P1 As String
Private P2 As String
Private TotP1 As Double
Private TotP2 As Double
Sub VennDisplayIt()
Dim SI() As String
Dim SICount As Integer
Dim x As Integer
Dim OSh As Worksheet
Dim BrandListBox As Object
Dim VennGroup As Shape
TotP1 = 0
TotP2 = 0
Set OSh = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Venn")
Set BrandListBox = OSh.OLEObjects("BrandListBox").Object
ReDim SI(2, 0)
For x = 0 To BrandListBox.ListCount - 1
If BrandListBox.Selected(x) = True Then
'If UBound(SI) < 4 Then
ReDim Preserve SI(2, UBound(SI, 2) + 1)
SI(1, UBound(SI, 2)) = BrandListBox.List(x)
SI(2, UBound(SI, 2)) = x + 1
'End If
End If
Next x
If UBound(SI, 2) < 2 Then
BrandListBox.Selected(BrandListBox.ListIndex) = True
Exit Sub
ElseIf UBound(SI, 2) > 4 Then
BrandListBox.Selected(BrandListBox.ListIndex) = False
Exit Sub
End If
For x = 1 To UBound(SI, 2)
OSh.Range("o8").Offset(x, 0).Value = SI(1, x)
OSh.Range("o8").Offset(x + 5, 0).Value = SI(1, x)
Next x
For x = UBound(SI, 2) + 1 To 4
OSh.Range("o8").Offset(x, 0).Value = ""
OSh.Range("o8").Offset(x + 5, 0).Value = ""
Next x
SICount = UBound(SI, 2)
For x = 1 To OSh.Shapes.Count
If Right(OSh.Shapes(x).Name, 5) = "Group" Then
If LCase(OSh.Shapes(x).Name) = SICount & "waygroup" Then
Set VennGroup = OSh.Shapes(x)
OSh.Shapes(x).Visible = True
Else
OSh.Shapes(x).Visible = False
End If
End If
Next x
For x = 1 To SICount
VennGroup.GroupItems.Item(SICount & "WayBrand" & x).DrawingObject.Text = SI(1, x)
Next x
Country = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Venn").Range("D4").Value
Measure = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Venn").Range("E32").Value
P2 = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Venn").Range("E31").Value
P1 = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Selections").Range("B5").Value
End Sub
I've never heard of Stop not working, but I've heard about and experienced the breakpoint thing many times. When you compile VBA, it creates a p-code, which is used by the interpreter. You have the VBA syntax layer that you can see and the p-code layer that you can't see. When breakpoints stop working, it's because the p-code was corrupted. I don't know how or why it happened, but it did.
The fix is to export, remove, and reimport all of your modules. Exporting them creates a .bas file (plain text, really). When you re-import, the p-code is regenerated from scratch. If you have more than a couple of modules, get CodeCleaner (free add-in) and it will export and reimport automatically.
If one of the settings is unchecked then breakpoints will not work. "File/options/Current database/Application options/use access special keys" should be checked
Just to 'second' Tibo's comment: I had a problem where I had a form with about 5 different subroutines. One of them (attached to a button event) would not stop when I set a breakpoint. in 10 years of VBA writing, I've never seen that happen. Interestingly, breakpoints worked on all of the other subroutines in that form. After much head-scratching and searching, I came upon this post and Tibo's comment. I added a "Stop" command to the affected subroutine, ran the procedure (it stopped as it should have) and then breakpoints began working again! Hope this helps someone in the future.
If the breakpoints are in your code, then the code should stop running as soon as it hits that line. Possible causes of your problem:
a) The code never gets to the Breakpoint.
Seems highly unlikely seeing as you're breaking on the first line of your code. Maybe step through the sub (F8) just to check it's running as it should.
b) Your breakpoints have been wiped. Any line with a breakpoint should display as highlighted in red on your IDE. Your breakpoints can easily be wiped through, e.g. closing and opening the workbook (a screenshot would be really useful).
c) your workbook is broken in some way. It would be unlikely to break something as fundamental as stopping at breakpoints and still function normally. Are you sure your code is actually running?
Just sharing a funny thing which happened to me in case it helps someone. The mistake I did was that I simply took someone's method code meant for workbook open event and pasted it on Sheet1 excel object code area. So there was no possibility of Workbook_Open method getting fired ever.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Stop
On Error Resume Next
Call ActiveSheet.Worksheet_Activate
On Error GoTo 0
End Sub
What I was supposed to do is paste this method after double clicking ThisWorkbook node under Microsoft Excel Objects in Project pane as shown below:
Note: Side effect of copy-pasting others code can be freaky at times.
a) Double check that your breakpoints got disabled or not.
b) Double check that you added a conditional breakpoint or not
c) If you run your macro using C# code (using, the _Run2 command), breakpoints and stop doesn't work sometimes.
I have the problems as described above:
Stop and Breakpoints not working
Single step F8 worked, but code was not highlighted in yellow
Closing VBA editor did not help
My remedy: close VBA editor again, save Excel-file, open editor, back to normal
I've never faced this problem for years. Today for the first time I started using watch expressions with stopping when true.
This happens to me once in a while and the following solves the problem for me every time:
Create a Sub with only the command Stop in it. Run it. Then try your routine, the breakpoints and Stop commands should now work correctly.
Make sure that you do not have a named Range that matches the name of the Function or Subroutine you are calling. This will look like the Function or Subroutine is failing, but it is actually failing before the routine is ever called with an 'invalid cell reference'.
I had this problem as well. My solution was put an error in the code and run it. After I cleared the error the breakpoints started working again. That was weird.
I been writing code in VBA for many years but today I came across this problem for the first time. None of the solutions I found on the web worked but here's something simply you can use instead of Stop:
ErrCatch = 1 / 0
Still doesn't solve the breakpoints not working though...
I went int my vba code, added an enter (new blank line), then ran it again.
Voila! It ran the code and stopped at the breakpoint!
Not just me then! On a few occasions the yellow hi-lite stops a few lines beyond the breakpoint! I guess the code is running so fast it can't stop in time. :) As suggested above, I find adding "stops" here and there and also exporting & re-importing helps too.

Using a for loop to call consecutive variable names (ie car1, car2.... car10) in VBA

Scenario)
I have seven variables; labelKid1, labelKid2, ...LabelKid3. I'm searching through cells to find ones that are not empty, and then entering the value into the label, starting with labelKid1, and then moving on to the next label.
Question)
Is there a way to us a for loop to go through these variables? By this I mean can I somehow call the variable with something such as labelKid + j , with j being the value of the for loop? This would allow me to march through the labels a lot more easily.
Now, I understand that I could probably do this by putting the labels into an array and using a for loop to call their indicies, but is there a way to do it as I stated above?
No, VBA does not support variable variables (as they are called in PHP). As you said you will need to use a list, dictionary or similar instead.
You can achieve this using UserForm1.Controls("labelKid" & i) Which calls any form control by name associated with UserForm1
So you would need something like this
Sub ControlName()
Dim i As Long
For i = 1 To 10
UserForm1.Controls("labelKid" & i).Value = i
Next
End Sub
Hope this helps!

GetCrossReferenceItems in msword and VBA showing only limited content

I want to make a special list of figures with use of VBA and here I am using the function
myFigures = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(Referencetype:="Figure")
In my word document there are 20 figures, but myFigures only contains the first 10 figures (see my code below.).
I search the internet and found that others had the same problem, but I have not found any solutions.
My word is 2003 version
Please help me ....
Sub List()
Dim i As Long
Dim LowerValFig, UpperValFig As Integer
Dim myTables, myFigures as Variant
If ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Count >= 1 Then
myFigures = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(Referencetype:="Figure")
' Test size...
LowerValFig = LBound(myFigures) 'Get the lower boundry number.
UpperValFig = UBound(myFigures) 'Get the upper boundry number
' Do something ....
For i = LBound(myFigures) To UBound(myFigures) ‘ should be 1…20, but is onlu 1…10
'Do something ....
Next i
End If
MsgBox ("Done ....")
End Sub*
Definitely something flaky with that. If I run the following code on a document that contains 32 Figure captions, the message boxes both display 32. However, if I uncomment the For Next loop, they only display 12 and the iteration ceases after the 12th item.
Dim i As Long
Dim myFigures As Variant
myFigures = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems("Figure")
MsgBox myFigures(UBound(myFigures))
MsgBox UBound(myFigures)
'For i = 1 To UBound(myFigures)
' MsgBox myFigures(i)
'Next i
I had the same problem with my custom cross-refference dialog and solved it by invoking the dialog after each command ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(YourCaptionName).
So you type:
varRefItemsFigure1 = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(g_strCaptionLabelFigure1)
For k = 1 To UBound(varRefItemsFigure1)
frmBwtRefDialog.ListBoxFigures.AddItem varRefItemsFigure1(k)
Next
and then:
frmBwtRefDialog.Show vbModeless
Thus the dialog invoked several times instead of one, but it works fast and don't do any trouble. I used this for one year and didn't see any errors.
Enjoy!
Frankly I feel bad about calling this an "answer", but here's what I did in the same situation. It would appear that entering the debugger and stepping through the GetCrossReferenceItems always returns the correct value. Inspired by this I tried various ways of giving control back to Word (DoEvents; running next segment using Application.OnTime) but to no avail. Eventually the only thing I found that worked was to invoke the debugger between assignments, so I have:
availRefs =
ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(wdRefTypeNumberedItem):Stop
availTables =
ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(wdCaptionTable):Stop
availFigures = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(wdCaptionFigure)
It's not pretty but, as I'm the only person who'll be running this, it kind of works for my purposes.