Download a XML file through a WebBrowser Control in C#

Question

I have a Windows Form that I gave a WebBrowser Control, I need to download an XML file, but the download button generates the URI on the fly with JavaScript so I can't reference the URL/URI that holds the XML with a line of code. So what I have done was grabbed the element by its ID and then invoked the Button "click". That is no good because I need to know the name of the XML file that I download and Know where it is going, so I can reference the file and parse through it.

Here is the HTML of the button:

<button type="button" id="__button35" data-sap-ui="__button35" 
role="button" aria-disabled="false" tabindex="0" 
class="HB-14-1E3F57 extTextLinkDark sapUiBtn sapUiBtnIconAndText 
sapUiBtnNorm sapUiBtnS whiteToolPopupListLink sapUiBtnStd"><img 
id="__button35-img" src="costco/resource/image/xmlIcon.png" 
alt="" role="presentation" class="sapUiBtnIco sapUiBtnIcoL"><span 
class="sapUiBtnTxt">Download Details as XML</span></button>

And here is a simple way of clicking on the button:

var buttonElement = webBrowser1.Document.GetElementById("__button35");
buttonElement.InvokeMember("click");

Can someone please help me find a way to to send this to a folder of my choosing, give the xml file a different name, or even a way of catching it as it downloads so I can parse the data? Thank you.

Answer 1

I solved this by doing away with the Windows Form and relying completely on automation using a macro recorder, a C# Console Application and a Task Scheduler. First I created the Macro Recorder to log into the website and navigate to the appropriate page, choose the most current dates to download, and then download the XML File into the correct File folder. Then I created a C# application that Pulled the file from the file location (I had to pull the file in as a string because the XML file was so large any other method truncated the data and made the file invalid XML) and parse the XML file, load it into a SQL Server Database, and then archive the file. And all of this is done via my servers task Scheduler. Here is the code from the main C# class, this is the best way I have found to parse large XML files and to make sure you get every value put into the database (the item tag starts the child node):

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;

namespace Parse_Returns_XML_To_SQL
{
    class Program
    {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        int counter = 0;
        try
        {
            MainGetSet mainGetSet = new MainGetSet();
            LineGetSet lineGetSet = new LineGetSet();


            foreach (string file in Directory.EnumerateFiles(@"C:\_Data\CostcoXML", "*.xml"))
            {
                counter++;
                string xmlContents = File.ReadAllText(file);

                Console.WriteLine(file);
                //Console.ReadKey();


                XmlDocument xmldoc = new XmlDocument();
                xmldoc.LoadXml(xmlContents);
                XmlNodeList RTVnodes = xmldoc.SelectNodes("memo-list/RTVMemo");

                foreach (XmlNode rtv in RTVnodes)
                {
                    //MessageBox.Show(rtv["deduction-num"].InnerText);

                    if (rtv["vendor-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.VendorNum1 = rtv["vendor-num"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["dept-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.DeptNum1 = rtv["dept-num"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["deduction-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.DeductionNum1 = rtv["deduction-num"].InnerText;
                        lineGetSet.DeductionNum1 = rtv["deduction-num"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["ra-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.RaNum1 = rtv["ra-num"].InnerText;
                        lineGetSet.RaNum1 = rtv["ra-num"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["date-shipped"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.DateShipped1 = rtv["date-shipped"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["shipping-loc"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.ShippingLoc1 = rtv["shipping-loc"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["carrier-name"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.CarrierName1 = rtv["carrier-name"].InnerText;

                        if (mainGetSet.CarrierName1.Trim().Contains("FREIGHT"))
                        {
                            lineGetSet.TrackOrTruck1 = "Freight";
                        }
                        else if (mainGetSet.CarrierName1.Trim().Contains("VEND"))
                        {
                            lineGetSet.TrackOrTruck1 = "Vendor";
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            lineGetSet.TrackOrTruck1 = "Track";
                        }

                    }
                    if (rtv["total-cases"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.TotalCases1 = rtv["total-cases"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["total-weight"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.TotalWeight1 = rtv["total-weight"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["tracking-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.TrackingNum1 = rtv["tracking-num"].InnerText;
                        lineGetSet.TrackingNum1 = rtv["tracking-num"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["misc-charges-general"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.MiscChargesGeneral1 = rtv["misc-charges-general"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["log-line-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.LogLineNum1 = rtv["log-line-num"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["comment"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.Comment1 = rtv["comment"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["merch-cost"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.MerchCost1 = rtv["merch-cost"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["discount"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.Discount1 = rtv["discount"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["misc-charges"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.MiscCharges1 = rtv["misc-charges"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["freight-allowance"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.FreightAllowance1 = rtv["freight-allowance"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["inbound-freight"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.InboundFreight1 = rtv["inbound-freight"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["outbound-freight"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.OutboundFreight1 = rtv["outbound-freight"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["ECommerceFrt"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.ECommerceFrt1 = rtv["ECommerceFrt"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["total-amount"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.TotalAmount1 = rtv["total-amount"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["gst-tax"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.GstTax1 = rtv["gst-tax"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["qst-tax"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.QstTax1 = rtv["qst-tax"].InnerText;
                    }
                    if (rtv["hst-tax"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                    {
                        mainGetSet.HstTax1 = rtv["hst-tax"].InnerText;

                        ReturnsDB.AddReturnsToDB(mainGetSet);
                    }



                    XmlNodeList itemNodes = rtv.SelectNodes("item");
                    foreach (XmlNode item in itemNodes)
                    {

                        //MessageBox.Show(item["item-desc1"].InnerText);
                        if (item["quantity-returned"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                        {
                            lineGetSet.QuantityReturned1 = item["quantity-returned"].InnerText;
                        }
                        if (item["item-num"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                        {
                            lineGetSet.ItemNum1 = item["item-num"].InnerText;
                        }
                        if (item["item-desc1"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                        {
                            lineGetSet.ItemDesc11 = item["item-desc1"].InnerText;
                        }
                        if (item["net-cost"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                        {
                            lineGetSet.NetCost1 = item["net-cost"].InnerText;
                        }
                        if (item["extended-cost"].InnerText.Length > 0)
                        {
                            lineGetSet.ExtendedCost1 = item["extended-cost"].InnerText;
                            LinesDB.AddLinesToDB(lineGetSet);
                        }


                    }

                }


                string fileSplit = file.Split('\\').Last();

                File.Move(file, @"C:\_Data\CostcoXML\Archive\" + fileSplit);

            }

        }
        catch (Exception exc)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("There was an exception in the main program: " + exc);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Finished writing from server.");
        Console.WriteLine(" Number of files written to our database (file in folder): " + counter);
        //Console.ReadKey();
        pause myPause = new pause();

        Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Now + " - Entering " + 10 + " Seconds. Pause");
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000);
        int timeOut = 10000;
        myPause.Pause(timeOut);
        // MessageBox.Show(timeOut.ToString());
        Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Now + " - Exiting Pause - Execute\r\n");

    }
}
}