VB Form Filling

Question

I may be missing a very basic thing, but i just dont understand why this isnt working.

I am looking to fill out some web forms based on some user input.

I have already written this in vbscript where its working flawlessly. Now i want to import it to VB.

My 2 main issues atm.

Before, i would have a piece of code:

   For Each wnd In CreateObject("Shell.Application").Windows
  If InStr(1, wnd.FullName, "iexplore.exe", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
    Set IE = wnd
    Exit For
  End If
Next

For deciding what Internet Explore window to use. However, if i use this form in VB, i miss out on pretty much any type of event handling. I cant use IsBusy, i cant use DocumentCompleted or anything.

So instead i have to declare IE as a browser.

Dim IE As New WebBrowser

Which seems fine.. Except.. Now i cant navigate anywhere, no browsers are created, theres nothing happening. So when i run my code:

IE.Navigate("www.awebwithusernameandpasswordform.org")
                IE.Visible = True



                Helem = IE.Document.GetElementById("username")
                Helem.Value = "xxxx"
                Helem = IE.Document.GetElementById("password")
                Helem.Value = "xxxx"
                Helem = IE.Document.Forms("signupForm")
                Helem.Submit()

It just fails at the element "Username" because it never gets to navigate to the website.

It like it just ignores the IE.Navigate. I have tryed running a new process with process.start() but that doesnt work either, it still isnt opening a webpage for me or anything.

Secondly, i am having major issues having vb checking when a document is completely loaded. In VBS i used

Do while ie.readystate <> 4 or ie.busy or ie.document.readystate <> "complete" 
wscript.sleep 500 
Loop 
Do until ie.document.readystate = "complete" 
wscript.sleep 500 
Loop

And that works like a charm.

In VB, ie.document.readystate is not recognised, and i cant seem to get DocumentCompleted event handling to work. I have attempted several thing from this website, but either they just make everything hang, or it just doesnt work for various reasons. I have attempted the 2 solutions from How to wait until WebBrowser is completely loaded in VB.NET? but they both just make the script hang.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated..

it needs to be declared WithEvents: `Private WithEvents wb As New WebBrowser` or drop one on the form from the toolbox — Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp, Jan 07 '15 at 00:59
I think the reason you are running into problems is that Webbrowser is a control. Check [link1](http://www.vbtutor.net/vb2008/vb2008_lesson19.html) and [link2](http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?384076-Webbrowser-Control-Tip-and-Examples). — Mathemats, Jan 07 '15 at 02:48
Duplicate of [How to wait until WebBrowser is completely loaded in VB.NET?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3275515/how-to-wait-until-webbrowser-is-completely-loaded-in-vb-net) — Bjørn-Roger Kringsjå, Jan 07 '15 at 06:46
Plutonix ill give that a look. Thanks. Mathemats ill give those a look too... Have never done VB before, just figured it would be easier to implement the VBS i already had, rather than doing it in C#, which is the only other language i have some experience in. Bjørn-Roger: Then i guess you missed around half my post, which isnt about the documentcompleted event, but about just getting a browser to load a URL. — Gematria, Jan 07 '15 at 08:25

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 05 '15 at 11:05

What is happening is that your code runs way faster than the browser can navigate, meaning that you try to get elements before it has loaded any, as Bjørn-Roger Kringsjå tried to say.

What you need to do is to wait between .Navigate and .GetElementById :

IE.Navigate("www.awebwithusernameandpasswordform.org")

'WAIT BEFORE COMPLETION

'Continue
Helem = IE.Document.GetElementById("username")
Helem.Value = "xxxx"

However, this is really tricky to do in-line and is not recommended. It is much better to use the DocumentCompleted event handler for the browser control to run code after a page is loaded. Hope this clears it up enough.

VB Form Filling

1 Answers1