Using Excel VBA to automate form filling in Internet Explorer - excel

I want to take values from an excel sheet and store them in an array. I then want to take the values from the array and use them to fill the web form.
I have managed to store the values in the array and I have managed to get VBA to open Internet Explorer (IE)
The code runs and no errors appear, but the text fields are not being populated, nor is the button being clicked
(The debugger points to [While .Busy] as the error source, located in the WITH block)
How do I go about filling the form (that has a total of 3 text boxes to fill)?
There is also a drop down menu that I need to choose a value from, but I need to fill the text boxes prior to moving on to that part of the task.
Sub CONNECT_TO_IE()
the_start:
Dim ie As Object
Dim objElement As Object
Dim objCollection As Object
acct = GET_CLIENT_NAME()
name = GET_CODE()
Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
ie.Visible = True
ie.navigate ("<<my_website>>")
ie.FullScreen = False
On Error Resume Next
Do
DoEvents
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
ie.Quit
Set ie = Nothing
GoTo the_start:
End If
Loop Until ie.readystate = 4
Application.Wait Now + TimeValue("00:00:10")
ie.Document.getElementbyid("<<field_1>>").Value = "PPP"
ie.Document.getElementbyid("<<field_2>>").Value = "PPP"
ie.Document.getElementbyid("<<field_3>>").Click
Set ie = Nothing
End Sub

UPDATE: Turns out the reason this wasn't working is because there are some settings in the HTML of the site that do not allow for the automation to occur, so any code versions I had were correct but they were doomed to fail. So you were correct in that regard #TimWilliams.
I know this because the website I was trying to access is on a secure server/virtual machine. I edited the code to fill in the google search bar and it did not work on the virtual machine however when I ran the same code locally, it worked fine.

Related

Login to web page and scraping data using VBA

I'm coding a macro that will load a web page, login in it and get the datas from a table.
Thanks to several topics here I've done that:
Sub sail2()
Dim ie As Object
Set ie = New(InternetExplorer.Application")
ie.Visible = True
ie.Navigate "http://pfrwtekref/websail/"
With ie
Dim oLogin As Object, oPassword As Object
Set oLogin = .document.getElementById("txtPwd")(0)
Set oPassword = .document.getElementById("txtPwd")(0)
oLogin.Value = test
oPassword.Value = test
.document.forms(0).submit
End With
End Sub
But I have two type of errors "automation error" if I launch the macro and "error 462 - server not available"
Can anyone help me ?
Thanks for reading and have a good day !
The first issue seems to be that you have a mismatched comma on the third line; however, seeing as you're are complaining about an automation error I think that may be just a typo on this site.
I can't see your internal website so I'm just guessing but I suspect the next issue is that there is no element with ID "txtPwd". You can check to confirm by pressing Ctrl-Shift-C and then selecting the username and password entry boxes.
Finally, depending on how the site is set up your .document.forms(0).submit may not work. You may need to find the ID for the submit button class submit. Below is a function I created a while back for such a task:
Function logIn(userName As String, password As String) As Boolean
'This routine logs into the grade book using given credentials
Dim ie As New InternetExplorer
Dim doc As HTMLDocument
On Error GoTo loginFail
ie.Navigate "[website here]"
'ie.Visible = True
Do While ie.ReadyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE Or ie.Busy: DoEvents: Loop 'Wait server to respond
Set doc = ie.Document
doc.getElementsByName("u_name").Item(0).Value = userName 'These may be different for you
doc.getElementsByName("u_pass").Item(0).Value = password
doc.getElementsByClassName("btn").Item(0).Click
Do While ie.ReadyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE Or ie.Busy: DoEvents: Loop 'Wait server to respond
Set doc = ie.Document
'Add a check to confirm you aren't on the same page
ie.Quit
Set ie = Nothing
LogIn = True
Exit Function
loginFail:
MsgBox "There was an issue logging in. Please try again."
logIntoGradeBook = False
End Function
Note that the site I was dealing with was set up poorly and so I needed to switch to GetElementsByName and GetElementsByClassName to get access to what I needed. You may be fine with IDs.
Why don't you try to use the Excel PowerQuery to get your data from the tables you need? When your desired columns are done, you just click in close and load, select data model e now you can use a macro to perform a PivotTable whenever you load the document or just use a PivotTable and the data will be refreshed when you use the refresh data in data ribbon.

Excel VBA - Web Scraping - Get value in HTML Table cell

I am trying to create a macro that scrapes a cargo tracking website.
But I have to create 4 such macros as each airline has a different website.
I am new to VBA and web scraping.
I have put together a code that works for 1 website. But when I tried to replicate it for another one, I am stuck in the loop. I think it maybe how I am referring to the element, but like I said, I am new to VBA and have no clue about HTML.
I am trying to get the "notified" value in the highlighted line from the image.
IMAGE:"notified" text to be extracted
Below is the code I have written so far that gets stuck in the loop.
Any help with this would be appreciated.
Sub FlightStat_AF()
Dim url As String
Dim ie As Object
Dim nodeTable As Object
'You can handle the parameters id and pfx in a loop to scrape dynamic numbers
url = "https://www.afklcargo.com/mycargo/shipment/detail/057-92366691"
'Initialize Internet Explorer, set visibility,
'call URL and wait until page is fully loaded
Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
ie.Visible = False
ie.navigate url
Do Until ie.readyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop
'Wait to load dynamic content after IE reports it's ready
'We can do that in a loop to match the point the information is available
Do
On Error Resume Next
Set nodeTable = ie.document.getElementByClassName("block-whisper")
On Error GoTo 0
Loop Until Not nodeTable Is Nothing
'Get the status from the table
MsgBox Trim(nodeTable.getElementsByClassName("fs-12 body-font-bold").innerText)
'Clean up
ie.Quit
Set ie = Nothing
Set nodeTable = Nothing
End Sub
Some basics:
For simple accesses, like the present ones, you can use the get methods of the DOM (Document Object Model). But there is an important difference between getElementByID() and getElementsByClassName() / getElementsByTagName().
getElementByID() searches for the unique ID of a html tag. This is written as the ID attribute to html tags. If the html standard is kept by the page, there is only one element with this unique ID. That's the reason why the method begins with getElement.
If the ID is not found when using the method, VBA throws a runtime error. Therefore the call is encapsulated in the loop from the other answer from me, into switching off and on again the error handling. But in the page from this question there is no ID for the html area in question.
Instead, the required element can be accessed directly. You tried the access with getElementsByClassName(). That's right. But here comes the difference to getElementByID().
getElementsByClassName() and getElementsByTagName() begin with getElements. Thats plural because there can be as many elements with the same class or tag name as you want. This both methods create a html node collection. All html elements with the asked class or tag name will be listet in those collections.
All elements have an index, just like an array. The indexes start at 0. To access a particular element, the desired index must be specified. The two class names fs-12 body-font-bold (class names are seperated by spaces, you can also build a node collection by using only one class name) deliver 2 html elements to the node collection. You want the second one so you must use the index 1.
This is the VBA code for the asked page by using the IE:
Sub FlightStat_AF()
Dim url As String
Dim ie As Object
'You can handle the parameters id and pfx in a loop to scrape dynamic numbers
url = "https://www.afklcargo.com/mycargo/shipment/detail/057-92366691"
'Initialize Internet Explorer, set visibility,
'call URL and wait until page is fully loaded
Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
ie.Visible = False
ie.navigate url
Do Until ie.readyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop
'Wait to load dynamic content after IE reports it's ready
'We do that with a fix manual break of a few seconds
'because the whole page will be "reload"
'The last three values are hours, minutes, seconds
Application.Wait (Now + TimeSerial(0, 0, 3))
'Get the status from the table
MsgBox Trim(ie.document.getElementsByClassName("fs-12 body-font-bold")(1).innerText)
'Clean up
ie.Quit
Set ie = Nothing
End Sub
Edit: Sub as function
This sub to test the function:
Sub testFunction()
Dim flightStatAfResult As String
flightStatAfResult = FlightStat_AF("057-92366691")
MsgBox flightStatAfResult
End Sub
This is the sub as function:
Function FlightStat_AF(cargoNo As String) As String
Dim url As String
Dim ie As Object
Dim result As String
'You can handle the parameters id and pfx in a loop to scrape dynamic numbers
url = "https://www.afklcargo.com/mycargo/shipment/detail/" & cargoNo
'Initialize Internet Explorer, set visibility,
'call URL and wait until page is fully loaded
Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
ie.Visible = False
ie.navigate url
Do Until ie.readyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop
'Wait to load dynamic content after IE reports it's ready
'We do that with a fix manual break of a few seconds
'because the whole page will be "reload"
'The last three values are hours, minutes, seconds
Application.Wait (Now + TimeSerial(0, 0, 3))
'Get the status from the table
result = Trim(ie.document.getElementsByClassName("fs-12 body-font-bold")(1).innerText)
'Clean up
ie.Quit
Set ie = Nothing
'Return value of the function
FlightStat_AF = result
End Function

Run-Time error '91': Object variable or With block variable not set - works once then won't work again

I get the error mentioned in the title every time I try to run my VBA code. Error is appearing on this line:
Set Button_Top_Result = IE.document.getElementById_
("javascript:gx.evt.execEvt('EUSRACNAM.CLICK.0001',this);").href
Also did some research online and find this alternative code and tried it as well.
For Each ele In IE.document.getElementsByTagName("a")
If InStr(ele.href, "javascript:gx.evt.execEvt('EUSRACNAM.CLICK.0001',this);") > 0 Then IE.navigate_
ele.href: Exit For
Next
This line worked once, and now no longer works.
VBA Novice here, so this might be a simple solution but I am stumped - working on navigating through the company website and wrote line to click on hyperlink to navigate me to this next page. It worked the first time, and then won't work and spits out the above error. Really stumped here, already did some digging online and can't figure out where my error is.
Here is the html part of the web page
https://i.stack.imgur.com/kgJOo.png
'''Option Explicit
Sub GetMasterDetailKeyedDataTest2()
'The goal of this macro is to quickly and conveniently update BNA Depreciation by automating the steps necessary to complete the process.
'Dimensions identfy things I will define later to use.
Dim name As String
Dim IE As InternetExplorerMedium
Dim store As String
Dim client As String
Dim URL As String
Dim username
Dim Password
Dim Button_Next
Dim Button_Login
Dim Button_OnDemandReporting
Dim Search_Bar
Dim Button_Mag_Glass
Dim Button_Top_Result As Action
'Line below bypasses login if user is already logged in
'On Error Resume Next
store = Workbooks("Learning").Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A2")
client = Workbooks("Learning").Sheets("Sheet1").Range("B2")
'Abbreviates Internet Explorer. Note I need the correct references enabled in tools in order to run a web query using this name.
Set IE = New InternetExplorerMedium
'Define URL
URL = "Company website"
'make IE browser visible (False would allow IE to run in the background)
'Once program is working I will want to turn this off so that the user doesn't see the webbrowser.
IE.Visible = True
'Navigate to Login page
IE.navigate URL
'This loop prevents Excel from continuing the code
Do While IE.Busy Or IE.readyState <> 4
DoEvents
Loop
'These next four steps navigate through the login
Set username = IE.document.getElementById("username") 'id of the username control (HTML Control)
username.Value = "username"
Set Button_Next = IE.document.getElementById("next") 'id of the button control (HTML Control)
Button_Next.Click
Set Password = IE.document.getElementById("password") 'id of the password control (HTML Control)
Password.Value = "password"
Set Button_Login = IE.document.getElementById("submit") 'id of the button control (HTML Control)
Button_Login.Click
Do While IE.Busy Or IE.readyState <> 4
DoEvents
Loop
'Connects to OnDemand Reporting
Set Button_OnDemandReporting = IE.document.getElementById("IMAGE1_0004")
Button_OnDemandReporting.Click
Do While IE.Busy Or IE.readyState <> 4
DoEvents
Loop
Set Search_Bar = IE.document.getElementById("vNAME")
Search_Bar.Value = Workbooks("Learning").Sheets("Sheet1").Range("B2")
Set Button_Mag_Glass = IE.document.getElementById("IMAGE1")
Button_Mag_Glass.Click
Set Button_Top_Result = IE.document.getElementById("javascript:gx.evt.execEvt('EUSRACNAM.CLICK.0001',this);").href
Button_Top_Result.Click
End Sub
'''
I expect the last step to navigate me to the next part of the web page, but instead I keep getting the above error.

Copy specific image from webpage and paste into Excel using VBA

I'm trying to take a character string from a cell, copy it into a free QR code generator (ex| http://goqr.me/ ), and bring the resulting image back into my spreadsheet. (I like this generator because you don't need to click "submit" - it updates the image as the text is entered. Assuming/hoping that feature makes this easier)
I'm trying to avoid the installation of new barcode fonts and the purchasing of barcode specific packages.
Using the below code, I can get the browser to open and enter the desired text. I need a way to get the image back into my spreadsheet now. The code I'm using currently just returns "[object]" (as text) in cell C1.
How can I use VBA to get this image onto my clipboard?
Public ieApp As Object
Sub Barcode()
Dim ieDoc As Object
Dim InputBox As Object
Dim qrBoxImage as Object
barcodeTerm = Range("B1").Value
If TypeName(ieApp) = "Object" Or TypeName(ieApp) = "Nothing" Then
Set ieApp = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
ieApp.Navigate ("http://goqr.me/")
End If
While ieApp.ReadyState <> 4
DoEvents
Wend
ieApp.Visible = True
Set ieDoc = ieApp.Document
Set InputBox = ieDoc.getElementsByName("text")
Set qrBoxImage = ieDoc.getElementByID("qrcode-preview-image")
InputBox.Item(0).Value = barcodeTerm
Range("C1").Value = qrBoxImage
Set ieDoc = Nothing
End Sub
You can follow the steps detailed over here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/23860.print-screen-to-an-image-using-access-vba.aspx
Although the example is used in Access, it's still VBA code so it still should work in Excel

How does one wait for an Internet Explorer 9 frame to load using VBA Excel?

There are many online resources that illustrate using Microsoft Internet Explorer Controls within VBA Excel to perform basic IE automation tasks. These work when the webpage has a basic construct. However, when webpages contain multiple frames they can be difficult to work with.
I need to determine if an individual frame within a webpage has completely loaded. For example, this VBA Excel code opens IE, loads a webpage, loops thru an Excel sheet placing data into the webpage fields, executes search, and then returns the IE results data to Excel (my apologies for omitting the site address).
The target webpage contains two frames:
1) The searchbar.asp frame for search value input and executing search
2) The searchresults.asp frame for displaying search results
In this construct the search bar is static, while the search results change according to input criteria. Because the webpage is built in this manner, the IEApp.ReadyState and IEApp.Busy cannot be used to determine IEfr1 frame load completion, as these properties do not change after the initial search.asp load. Therefore, I use a large static wait time to avoid runtime errors as internet traffic fluctuates. This code does work, but is slow. Note the 10 second wait after the cmdGO statement. I would like to improve the performance by adding solid logic to determine the frame load progress.
How do I determine if an autonomous frame has finished loading?
' NOTE: you must add a VBA project reference to "Internet Explorer Controls"
' in order for this code to work
Dim IEapp As Object
Dim IEfr0 As Object
Dim IEfr1 As Object
' Set new IE instance
Set IEapp = New InternetExplorer
' With IE object
With IEapp
' Make visible on desktop
.Visible = True
' Load target webpage
.Navigate "http://www.MyTargetWebpage.com/search.asp"
' Loop until IE finishes loading
While .ReadyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE
DoEvents
Wend
End With
' Set the searchbar.asp frame0
Set IEfr0 = IEapp.Document.frames(0).Document
' For each row in my worksheet
For i = 1 To 9999
' Input search values into IEfr0 (frame0)
IEfr0.getElementById("SearchVal1").Value = Cells(i, 5)
IEfr0.getElementById("SearchVal2").Value = Cells(i, 6)
' Execute search
IEfr0.all("cmdGo").Click
' Wait a fixed 10sec
Application.Wait (Now() + TimeValue("00:00:10"))
' Set the searchresults.asp frame1
Set IEfr1 = IEapp.Document.frames(1).Document
' Retrieve webpage results data
Cells(i, 7) = Trim(IEfr1.all.Item(26).innerText)
Cells(i, 8) = Trim(IEfr1.all.Item(35).innerText)
Next
As #JimmyPena said. it's a lot easier to help if we can see the URL.
If we can't, hopefully this overview can put you in the right direction:
Wait for page to load (IEApp.ReadyState and IEApp.Busy)
Get the document object from the IE object. (done)
Loop until the document object is not nothing.
Get the frame object from the document object.
Loop until the frame object is not nothing.
Hope this helps!
I used loop option to check the field value until its populated like this
Do While IE.Document.getElementById("USERID").Value <> "test3"
IE.Document.getElementById("USERID").Value = "test3"
Loop
this is a Rrrreeally old thread, but I figured I would post my findings, because I came here looking for an answer...
Looking in the locals window, I could see that the "readystate" variable was only "READYSTATE_COMPLETE" for the IE App itself. but for the iframe, it was lowercase "complete"
So I explored this by using a debug.print loop on the .readystate of the frame I was working with.
Dim IE As Object
Dim doc As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
Set doc = IE.Document
Dim iframeDoc As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
Set iframeDoc = doc.Frames("TheFrameIwasWaitingFor").Document
' then, after I had filled in the form and fired the submit event,
Debug.Print iframeDoc.readyState
Do Until iframeDoc.readyState = "complete"
Debug.Print iframeDoc.readyState
DoEvents
Loop
So this will show you line after line of "loading" in the immediate window, eventually showing "complete" and ending the loop. it can be abridged to remove the debug.prints of course.
another thing:
debug.print iframeDoc.readystate ' is the same as...
debug.print doc.frames("TheFrameIwasWaitingFor").Document.readystate
' however, you cant use...
IE.Document.frames("TheFrameIwasWaitingFor").Document.readystate ' for some reason...
forgive me if all of this is common knowledge. I really only picked up VBA scripting a couple days ago...

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