[RESOLVED] Clicking Element

[nyyankeesfan28]

I am trying to click on a button on a webpage that matches what I have selected in my ListView. I am grabbing a list of items from a webpage, and organizing them into a ListView. Here is my code for that:

Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("MY URL IS HERE")
                        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
                        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?>(.+?)</li>")
                        Dim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1) As String
                        Dim Index As Integer
                        ListView1.Items.Clear()
                        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
                            Musics_List(Index) = RemoveTags(Match.Groups(1).ToString)
                            Dim tagsRemoved As String = Musics_List(Index)
                            Dim songName As String = tagsRemoved.Substring(0, tagsRemoved.IndexOf(" -"))
                            Dim artist As String = tagsRemoved.Substring(tagsRemoved.IndexOf("- ") + 2)
                            st(0) = songName
                            st(1) = artist
                            item = New ListViewItem(st)
                            ListView1.Items.Add(item)
                            Index += 1
                        Next

All of the above code works perfectly. Now my question: Let's say I clicked on one of the rows in my ListView to select it. Next, I want to click a button and by clicking that button, it is finding that corresponding text on the webpage and clicking on that one. I hope I made myself somewhat clear. I am a little bit of a rookie at this kind of stuff so here is what I tried but failed. I'm pretty sure I am waaaaaay off.

For Each Element As HtmlElement In Musics_Regex
            If ListView1.SelectedItems.Item(0).SubItems(0).Text = Musics_List(Index) Then
                Element.InvokeMember("click")
            End If
        Next

[dolot]

When you say it failed, what exactly is occurring? Is an exception being thrown or is it just not doing anything - or does it do something other than what you want?

[nyyankeesfan28]

When you say it failed, what exactly is occurring? Is an exception being thrown or is it just not doing anything - or does it do something other than what you want?

In the line "For Each Element As HtmlElement In Musics_Regex" there is an error. The error states "Unable to cast object of type 'System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match' to type 'System.Windows.Forms.HtmlElement'" pointing to "Musics_Regex."

[omundodogabriel]

Musics_Regex is an array of regex matches, and not of HtmlElements, this is why your code isn't working. I belive this code was meant to be used with the webbrowser control.

So, you said you want to simulate a "click" on the link. This would load a new page. What exactly you want to do? Grab more data from the page that will open, or just display the page to the user?

The following code will show the URL address of the details page when user click on the listview item (replace with the actual URLs on needed places):

    Private Structure Search_Result
        Dim Music_Name As String
        Dim Page_URL As String
    End Structure
    Dim Musics_List() As Search_Result
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim st() As String
        Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("PUT YOUR URL HERE")
        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?><a href=""(.+?)"" target=""_self"">(.+?)</li>")
        ReDim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1)
        Dim Index As Integer
        ListView1.Items.Clear()
        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
            Musics_List(Index).Page_URL = "http://PUT THE ROOT ADDRESS YOUR URL HERE" & Match.Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Music_Name = RemoveTags(Match.Groups(2).ToString)
            st = Musics_List(Index).Music_Name.Split("-")
            ListView1.Items.Add(New ListViewItem("Artist: " & st(0).Trim & " / Music: " & st(1).Trim))
            Index += 1
        Next
    End Sub
    Private Function RemoveTags(ByVal Str As String) As String
        Dim New_Str As String = Regex.Replace(Str, "<[/]?(.+?)>", "").Trim
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "&nbsp;", " ")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "&amp;", "&")
        Return New_Str
    End Function
    Private Sub ListView1_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ListView1.SelectedIndexChanged
        If ListView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 Then
            Dim First_Selected_Item As Integer = ListView1.SelectedItems(0).Index
            MsgBox(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)
        End If
    End Sub

[nyyankeesfan28]

I figured this would be difficult to explain. Lol. The items that are displayed on the webpage (the WebBrowser is hidden) are in list form and can be clicked on. As you know from helping me out on my other thread, the list is taken from the webpage and displayed in a ListView. Now, because this WebBrowser is hidden, i want to highlight one of the items in the ListView and then click on a button on my form to visit that song's respective webpage. I hope I somewhat cleared things up.

[omundodogabriel]

I figured this would be difficult to explain. Lol. The items that are displayed on the webpage (the WebBrowser is hidden) are in list form and can be clicked on. As you know from helping me out on my other thread, the list is taken from the webpage and displayed in a ListView. Now, because this WebBrowser is hidden, i want to highlight one of the items in the ListView and then click on a button on my form to visit that song's respective webpage. I hope I somewhat cleared things up.

Understood. Add the button and use:

        If ListView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 Then
            Dim First_Selected_Item As Integer = ListView1.SelectedItems(0).Index
            WebBrowser1.Visible = True
            WebBrowser1.Navigate(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)
        End If

This will open the music page on the webbrowser control.
(also, say if you don't understand something on the code and I will explain, because I think you will not learn stuff if I keep posting just the code XD)

[nyyankeesfan28]

I must not be understanding something. How would I find my root address? Sorry for all this frustration I must be causing you. KryptonButton3 is clicked first to show the list of songs in my ListView and then KryptonButton2 is clicked to visit the webpage of the song. And once we figure out the correct code, can you please explain it? As you said, I am not learning anything. Couldn't thank you more! Here is my code:

Private Structure Search_Result
        Dim Music_Name As String
        Dim Page_URL As String
    End Structure

    Private Sub KryptonButton2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles KryptonButton2.Click
        Dim Musics_List() As Search_Result
        Dim st() As String
        Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("PUT YOUR URL HERE")
        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?><a href=""(.+?)"" target=""_self"">(.+?)</li>")
        ReDim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1)
        Dim Index As Integer
        ListView1.Items.Clear()
        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
            Musics_List(Index).Page_URL = "http://PUT THE ROOT ADDRESS YOUR URL HERE" & Match.Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Music_Name = RemoveTags(Match.Groups(2).ToString)
        Next

        If ListView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 Then
            Dim First_Selected_Item As Integer = ListView1.SelectedItems(0).Index
            MainForm.WebBrowser1.Visible = True
            MainForm.WebBrowser1.Navigate(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)
        End If

        id3.Read(Me.AxWindowsMediaPlayer1.URL)
        id3.Title = ListView1.SelectedItems.Item(0).SubItems(0).Text
        id3.Artist = ListView1.SelectedItems.Item(0).SubItems(1).Text
        'id3.Album=
        If FileInUse(Me.AxWindowsMediaPlayer1.URL) = True Then
            MsgBox("The file you opened is currently in use! Please close any programs that are using the file", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "File In Use!")
        Else
            id3.Write()
        End If
    End Sub

Private Sub KryptonButton3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles KryptonButton3.Click
        If KryptonTextBox1.Text = "" Or KryptonTextBox1.Text = "Please enter the name of the song here" Then
            MsgBox("Please enter the name of the song in the field provided.", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "Song Name")
            namenotempty = False
        Else
            MainForm.WebBrowser1.Navigate("MY URL")
            namenotempty = True
            WaitUntilPageLoads()
            Try
                Dim PageElement As HtmlElementCollection = MainForm.WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("h2")
                For Each CurElement As HtmlElement In PageElement
                    If CurElement.OuterText.Contains("Sorry, we don't have any results for the Song name") Then
                        MsgBox("We couldn't find any songs named '" + KryptonTextBox1.Text + ".' Please try again.", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "No Songs Found!")
                        HideButtons()
                    ElseIf CurElement.OuterText.Contains("Search results for") Then
                        Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("MY URL")
                        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
                        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?>(.+?)</li>")
                        Dim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1) As String
                        Dim Index As Integer
                        ListView1.Items.Clear()
                        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
                            Musics_List(Index) = RemoveTags(Match.Groups(1).ToString)
                            Dim tagsRemoved As String = Musics_List(Index)
                            Dim songName As String = tagsRemoved.Substring(0, tagsRemoved.IndexOf(" -"))
                            Dim artist As String = tagsRemoved.Substring(tagsRemoved.IndexOf("- ") + 2)
                            st(0) = songName
                            st(1) = artist
                            item = New ListViewItem(st)
                            ListView1.Items.Add(item)
                            Index += 1
                        Next
                        ShowButtons()
                    End If
                Next
            Catch ex As Exception
            End Try
        End If

[omundodogabriel]

What I called root page is the address of the page before the "/"
Example, on the page "https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hanasaku+iroha" the root page is "https://www.google.com.br"

Edit:
Looks like you messed the code a bit. The code I provided don't need the webbrowser to download the page.
To make things easier, this code goes on KryptonButton3:

        Dim st() As String
        Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("PUT YOUR URL HERE")
        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?><a href=""(.+?)"" target=""_self"">(.+?)</li>")
        ReDim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1)
        Dim Index As Integer
        ListView1.Items.Clear()
        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
            Musics_List(Index).Page_URL = "http://PUT THE ROOT ADDRESS YOUR URL HERE" & Match.Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Music_Name = RemoveTags(Match.Groups(2).ToString)
            st = Musics_List(Index).Music_Name.Split("-")
            ListView1.Items.Add(New ListViewItem("Artist: " & st(0).Trim & " / Music: " & st(1).Trim))
            Index += 1
        Next

And this one on KryptonButton2:

If ListView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 Then
            Dim First_Selected_Item As Integer = ListView1.SelectedItems(0).Index
            WebBrowser1.Visible = True
            WebBrowser1.Navigate(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)
        End If

And this on top of the form:

    Private Structure Search_Result
        Dim Music_Name As String
        Dim Page_URL As String
    End Structure
    Dim Musics_List() As Search_Result

Once you get this basic part working, then you start adding the other part you want, and I will explain parts you don't uderstand.

[nyyankeesfan28]

Well it didn't work. Just to make sure you understand what I want, I want the WebBrowser to navigate to the song's specific webpage.

Edit:
Hold on. Let me try what you said in your edit.

[nyyankeesfan28]

Something still isn't working...

[omundodogabriel]

Something still isn't working...

Weird, it should work... Can you post the entire code?

[nyyankeesfan28]

Weird, it should work... Can you post the entire code?

Private Structure Search_Result
        Dim Music_Name As String
        Dim Page_URL As String
    End Structure
    Dim Musics_List() As Search_Result

Private Sub KryptonButton2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles KryptonButton2.Click
        If ListView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 Then
            Dim First_Selected_Item As Integer = ListView1.SelectedItems(0).Index
            MainForm.WebBrowser1.Navigate(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)
        End If
    End Sub

Private Function RemoveTags(ByVal Str As String) As String
        Dim New_Str As String = Regex.Replace(Str, "<[/]?(.+?)>", "").Trim
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "</a>", "")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "&nbsp;", " ")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "&amp;", "&")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "'", "'")
        Return New_Str
    End Function

Private Sub KryptonButton3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles KryptonButton3.Click
        If KryptonTextBox1.Text = "" Or KryptonTextBox1.Text = "Please enter the name of the song here" Then
            MsgBox("Please enter the name of the song in the field provided.", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "Song Name")
            namenotempty = False
        Else
            MainForm.WebBrowser1.Navigate("MY URL")
            namenotempty = True
            WaitUntilPageLoads()
            Try
                Dim PageElement As HtmlElementCollection = MainForm.WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("h2")
                For Each CurElement As HtmlElement In PageElement
                    If CurElement.OuterText.Contains("Sorry, we don't have any results for the Song name") Then
                        MsgBox("We couldn't find any songs named '" + KryptonTextBox1.Text + ".' Please try again.", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "No Songs Found!")
                        HideButtons()
                    ElseIf CurElement.OuterText.Contains("Search results for") Then
                        Dim st() As String
                        Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("PUT YOUR URL HERE")
                        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
                        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?><a href=""(.+?)"" target=""_self"">(.+?)</li>")
                        ReDim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1)
                        Dim Index As Integer
                        ListView1.Items.Clear()
                        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
                            Musics_List(Index).Page_URL = "http://PUT THE ROOT ADDRESS YOUR URL HERE" & Match.Groups(1).ToString
                            Musics_List(Index).Music_Name = RemoveTags(Match.Groups(2).ToString)
                            st = Musics_List(Index).Music_Name.Split("-")
                            ListView1.Items.Add(New ListViewItem("Artist: " & st(0).Trim & " / Music: " & st(1).Trim))
                            Index += 1
                        Next
                ShowButtons()
                    End If
                Next
            Catch ex As Exception
            End Try
        End If
    End Sub

Obviously I replaced the URL's with the real ones. I'm not even getting the items to show up in my ListView anymore with this new code. Is it worth mentioning that I have my ListView broken into 2 columns?

Edit:
And there is more code involved in this form, but none of which is relevant to this problem. I figured I would let you know that. Lol

[omundodogabriel]

try commenting this part:

        Else
            MainForm.WebBrowser1.Navigate("MY URL")
            namenotempty = True
            WaitUntilPageLoads()
            Try
                Dim PageElement As HtmlElementCollection = MainForm.WebBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("h2")
                For Each CurElement As HtmlElement In PageElement
                    If CurElement.OuterText.Contains("Sorry, we don't have any results for the Song name") Then
                        MsgBox("We couldn't find any songs named '" + KryptonTextBox1.Text + ".' Please try again.", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "No Songs Found!")
                        HideButtons()

Also, using a empty try/catch is not a good idea, since it will not show error that may be happening to you. I tested this code (the part I provided) on the HTML you provided in the other thread and it worked fine.

[nyyankeesfan28]

Nope. I don't get what I am doing wrong...

[omundodogabriel]

try this:

        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?>(.+?)</li>")
        ReDim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1)
        Dim Index As Integer
        ListView1.Items.Clear()
        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
            Dim Data As String = Match.Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Page_URL = "http://PUT THE ROOT ADDRESS YOUR URL HERE" & Regex.Match(Data, "href=""(.+?)""").Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Music_Name = RemoveTags(Data)
            st = Musics_List(Index).Music_Name.Split("-")
            ListView1.Items.Add(New ListViewItem("Artist: " & st(0).Trim & " / Music: " & st(1).Trim))
            Index += 1
        Next

I will sleep now, if this doesn't work either, you can post the page url or the html source here if you want and I will take a look tomorrow.

[nyyankeesfan28]

Thank you so much for your help!! I will give that a try tomorrow as well as I need some sleep too. Sorry for the frustration..

[nyyankeesfan28]

Well I tried it. I created a new application just for testing the code to make sure that some part of the other code in my real application was screwing up and throwing something off and something is just a little bit off. I am getting correct results in the ListView, so I click on one of the songs, and click the button to visit that song's webpage and it is bringing me to some random song's webpage. Here is the ENTIRE code:

Imports System.Net
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions

Public Class Form1
    Private Structure Search_Result
        Dim Music_Name As String
        Dim Page_URL As String
    End Structure
    Dim Musics_List() As Search_Result

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim st() As String
        Dim HTML As String = New WebClient().DownloadString("MY URL")
        HTML = Regex.Match(HTML, "<ul class=""songullist-orange"">(.+?)</ul>", RegexOptions.Singleline).Groups(1).ToString
        Dim Musics_Regex As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(HTML, "<li.+?>(.+?)</li>")
        ReDim Musics_List(Musics_Regex.Count - 1)
        Dim Index As Integer
        ListView1.Items.Clear()
        For Each Match As Match In Musics_Regex
            Dim Data As String = Match.Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Page_URL = ("MY URL") & Regex.Match(Data, "href=""(.+?)""").Groups(1).ToString
            Musics_List(Index).Music_Name = RemoveTags(Data)
            st = Musics_List(Index).Music_Name.Split("-")
            ListView1.Items.Add(New ListViewItem("Song: " & st(0).Trim & " / Artist: " & st(1).Trim))
            Index += 1
        Next
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        If ListView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 Then
            Dim First_Selected_Item As Integer = ListView1.SelectedItems(0).Index
            WebBrowser1.Visible = True
            WebBrowser1.Navigate(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Function RemoveTags(ByVal Str As String) As String
        Dim New_Str As String = Regex.Replace(Str, "<[/]?(.+?)>", "").Trim
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "</a>", "")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "&nbsp;", " ")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "&amp;", "&")
        New_Str = Replace(New_Str, "'", "'")
        Return New_Str
    End Function
End Class

[omundodogabriel]

Well, this is a weird behaviour, but to find out the problem, show the browsed URL.
Below the "WebBrowser1.Visible = True", add the line "MsgBox(Musics_List(First_Selected_Item).Page_URL)". Then run, click on a item on the listview. Try opening the correct music page in your browser, and compare with the one showed in your app.

[nyyankeesfan28]

It is only showing my root URL..

Edit:
Just realized that when I click on the button, that is the page it is navigating to. It is actually navigating to the root URL and not another song's webpage (what I originally thought). Sorry for the confusion.

[omundodogabriel]

It is only showing my root URL..

Edit:
Just realized that when I click on the button, that is the page it is navigating to. It is actually navigating to the root URL and not another song's webpage (what I originally thought). Sorry for the confusion.

Can you provide HTML code of the page, so I can test here?

[nyyankeesfan28]

Of which page? The search results page??

[omundodogabriel]

Of which page? The search results page??

Yes, the search results page.

[nyyankeesfan28]

Yes, the search results page.

I will PM it.