[RESOLVED] Accessing web data

[AccessShell]

IN VB6, not using "winHttp.winHttpRequest" , how do I access a web page, not as source, but as it displays within any browser? The info I am trying to get is on the page, but not in the source. I need to get one piece of info and write it to a text file.

Thanks

[jmsrickland]

I guess you're asking about WebBrowser control to show how a page looks

[AccessShell]

Yes.

[techgnome]

If data is being displayed, but isn't part of the source, then I'd suspect that it is probably being loaded dynamically by some js and an AJAX call. That poses a problem because it's not part of the original source loaded by the browser.

-tg

[dilettante]

Or the text might be written into the page by script loaded from an off-page file (script tag with a src attribute). Or script that fetches more script to execute and then that writes the text. Or it might even be text rendered as an image at the server and sent back for display.

In any case this could be going on for a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons is to prevent the very thing you are trying to do.

Web scraping is theft unless explicitly permitted by the site operator.

[AccessShell]

I believe that the data is protected. That is why it not in the source file. I am not trying to change any data. It is a number, probably less than 50. I can easily see the data on the screen. All I want to do is to copy that number and display it elsewhere. I have access rights to the displayed screen. I am the only one with the access rights.

[techgnome]

right... ok... but unless it is in the source, there isn't a means to extract it... you can't extract something that simply is not there...

-tg

[AccessShell]

OK thanks. I'll close this thread