Which code I could use to refresh an website using R?

Question

I'm trying to refresh an Power BI dashboard to capture new data I scrape every hour.

I've tried shell.exec("link") in R to refresh it but it opened a new window. I´d like only to refresh it.

Tiago Martins Peres · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-01T08:58:43.183

1

Assuming you're using Windows, one can refresh a page using Shift+F5.

cls <- function () { 
  require(RDCOMClient) 
  wsh <- COMCreate("Wscript.Shell") 
  wsh$SendKeys("+{F5}") 
  invisible(wsh) 
} 
cls()

For more keypresses read here.

Edit - 1 Nov 2019

The problem with the approach mentioned above is that

how do I know which window is active?

, which I could not answer using R.

Instead I suggest a different take using RSelenium with methods navigate and refresh

remDr$navigate("https://...")
remDr$refresh()

If you decide to call a Python or JavaScript script from R to do the dirty work for you, then have a look at the answers to this question which is quite similar to yours and most answers use it to refresh.

edited Nov 01 '19 at 08:58

answered Oct 29 '19 at 07:55

Tiago Martins Peres

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ok, but I need to refresh an website in chrome – Bruno Gomes Oct 29 '19 at 19:01
For Windows and Linux: Shift+F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R – Tiago Martins Peres Oct 29 '19 at 19:19
Using R, not with the keyboard. – Bruno Gomes Oct 30 '19 at 11:10
Other workaround is to call a Python script inside R (invoking a [system command](https://stackoverflow.com/a/41638674/5675325)). Then, inside the Python script you use `SendKeys`. – Tiago Martins Peres Oct 30 '19 at 12:00
1

Ok, But how do I know which windows is active? – Bruno Gomes Nov 01 '19 at 00:54
Right... Was doing some research and the solution to the problem might pass through using [selenium-webdriver](https://stackoverflow.com/q/28457515/5675325). ([For inspiration](https://stackoverflow.com/a/26905716/5675325).) – Tiago Martins Peres Nov 01 '19 at 03:26
Using [RSelenium](https://rpubs.com/johndharrison/14707), `remDr$navigate("https://...") remDr$refresh()` – Tiago Martins Peres Nov 01 '19 at 03:36
[This link explains better](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/RSelenium/vignettes/basics.html). – Tiago Martins Peres Nov 01 '19 at 03:45
Thanks, rselenium its a good choice! – Bruno Gomes Nov 02 '19 at 13:06
Awesome, glad i could help @Brun Ijbh. – Tiago Martins Peres Nov 02 '19 at 16:59
Don't forget to upvote and mark as answer. – Tiago Martins Peres Nov 02 '19 at 19:31

Which code I could use to refresh an website using R?

1 Answers1

Edit - 1 Nov 2019