Saving web page temporarily

There is actualy an image on this particular page which i want to save on my disk.If not the disk then atleast load it on my picturebox1.
The image has no url since it's not saved on the server.
I simply want that whenever my browser navigates to this page,then this image should be copied to my hard disk or to my picturebox1 and it should always overwrite the previously saved image.
Meaning,suppose i navigate to this page once,the image1 get's saved.Now if i again navigate to this page,the new image that comes up now should get saved by overwriting the image1 that was saved previously.

I'm getting help from:
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?p=2268392

but can anyone tell me where is it saving these temporary files ?

if you are using urldownloadtofile , which seems to be the method used in the thread you link to
as you specify the filepath for urldownloadtofile it is where ever you want
if you want to use the users temp folder use environ("temp") to get the full path

if you are using someother method to save the files you need to specify what method you are using

if you just want to save the source code of the webpage you can just write out the document element outerhtml to a text file

try like

vb Code:

open environ("temp") & "\tempfile.htm") for output as 1
    print #1, wb.document.documentelement.outerhtml
close 1

either of these will overwrite existing without prompt

I tried a method or two myself...but the problem is that they save the web page as a single file !!!

What i want is that images be saved separately so that i can use those images when i want to...
Is there anyway to same .bmp image from a web page ?


The url of the image changes every time & i cannot download it twice so i have to find a way to copy it straight forwardly from my web control...

I found this coding but it doesn't save any images for sites other then the three mentioned in it:

Code:

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Option Explicit
 
Dim x As Integer
Dim b() As Byte
Dim sUrl As String
Dim sPicUrl As String
Dim sPicName As String
Dim iStart As Integer
Dim ctl As Control
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
ColorForm
List1.AddItem "www.Yahoo.com"
List1.AddItem "www.google.com"
List1.AddItem "www.visualbasicforum.com"
End Sub
 
Private Sub List1_Click()
 'Set clicked url to a string
 sUrl = List1.Text
 'Navigate to that url string
 WebBrowser1.Navigate sUrl
End Sub
 
Private Sub WebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal pDisp As Object, URL As Variant)
 
List2.AddItem "=========="
List2.AddItem sUrl

On Error Resume Next
MkDir App.Path & "\" & sUrl
 
'Loop through all images in html
For x = 0 To WebBrowser1.Document.Images.length - 1
  'Set image url to a string
  sPicUrl = WebBrowser1.Document.Images.Item(x).src
   
    'Sometimes the webbrowser control returns a default
    'error page on statup. If this is the case, do not
    'download images in this page
    If Mid$(sPicUrl, 1, 3) = "res" Then GoTo FirstLoad
       
    'Get the picture name out of the url string
    sPicName = Mid$(sPicUrl, InStrRev(sPicUrl, "/") + 1, Len(sPicUrl))
 
  'Download the picture
  DLpic
    'Add picture url to listbox
    List2.AddItem sPicUrl
   
Next x
    List2.AddItem "----------"

FirstLoad:
End Sub
Private Sub DLpic()
 
 'Open image url
 b() = Inet1.OpenURL(sPicUrl, icByteArray)
 
 'Open for a new file
 Open App.Path & "\" & sUrl & "\" & sPicName For Binary As #1
 
 Put #1, , b()
 Close #1
 Do
 DoEvents
  'Loop while still downloading
  Loop While Inet1.StillExecuting
 DoEvents
End Sub

Private Sub ColorForm()

'Loop through all controls in form and
'set the forcolor and backcolor for all listboxs
For Each ctl In Me
 If TypeOf ctl Is ListBox Then
  With ctl
  .BackColor = RGB(95, 95, 143)
  .ForeColor = vbWhite
  End With
End If
Next


'Loop through all controls in form and
'set the forcolor and backcolor for all labels
For Each ctl In Me
 If TypeOf ctl Is Label Then
  With ctl
  .BackColor = RGB(48, 111, 160)
  .ForeColor = vbWhite
  End With
 End If
Next

'Set the forms backcolor
Me.BackColor = RGB(48, 111, 160)

End Sub

---

you would need to loop through all the images in the document, then save them separately

vb Code:

for each ele in wb.document.getelementsbytagname("img")
    urldownloadtofile ele.href, "c:\somepath\" & ele.nameProp
next

this is may have errors as i have not tested

i also don't know how many images you can download at the same time, but if you do not clear the cache or pass the constant for the latest version it should get the image from the ie cache, which would be the same as displayed in the webbrowser control

westconn1:So,i should just put this code in a loop ?

I need to download only 1 image from that web page but that page originally contains 4 to 6 images i think.
If i put this coding in a loop,will it same all the images to my selected drive ?
Even if it does copies all the images,it's fine with me.Aslong as that 1 image i need is downloaded aswell...

Quote:

---

westconn1:So,i should just put this code in a loop ?

---

that code is a loop

if you know the link to the image you do not need loop, just download the image you want

I think i'm very close now to solve this problem..but it's showing an error:

Code:

---

Compile error:

Sub or function not define

---

on the line:

urldownloadtofile ele.href, "D:\Bots\ page " & ele.nameProp

Can you give me the coding declaring this function aswell ?
That would be great then :)


I've tried this :

Code:

---

Private Declare Function URLDownloadToFile Lib "urlmon" Alias "URLDownloadToFileA" (ByVal pCaller As Long, ByVal szURL As String, ByVal szFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long

---

But it gives me an error on the same line saying:

Code:

---

Compile error:

Argument not optional

---

you need to supply the last 2 arguments for the function, see the thread you linked to in the second post, for examples

URLDownloadToFile 0, sURL, sLocalFile, 0, 0

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by westconn1

you need to supply the last 2 arguments for the function, see the thread you linked to in the second post, for examples

URLDownloadToFile 0, sURL, sLocalFile, 0, 0

---

Where should i exactly place this ?



The problem with this image is that it's url is not fixed and it can't be requested for twice from the server cause it's generated automatically every time,so the server doesn't hold a copy of this image...

From API-Guide. Very simple function.

vb Code:

Private Declare Function URLDownloadToFile Lib "urlmon" Alias "URLDownloadToFileA" (ByVal pCaller As Long, ByVal szURL As String, ByVal szFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long
Public Function DownloadFile(URL As String, LocalFilename As String) As Boolean
    Dim lngRetVal As Long
    lngRetVal = URLDownloadToFile(0, URL, LocalFilename, 0, 0)
    If lngRetVal = 0 Then DownloadFile = True
End Function
Private Sub Form_Load()
    'example by Matthew Gates ([email protected])
    DownloadFile "http://www.allapi.net", "c:\allapi.htm"
End Sub

i would assume that the image loaded in the webbrowser can be copied then saved to file, but i do not know how to do that, though the execwb method may be able to be used to copy an image on the webpage to clipboard, all examples i have seen try to copy the entire page

i believe that urldownloadtofile will get the image form cache if it exists there, but testing is a bit difficult, generally people always want to get the latest version and bypass the cache

EDIT:
Westconn1, I agree with your approach about Copying the image to the clipboard. I believe to Copy the image would be to have it as the selected image, then call ExecWB with OLECMDID_COPY. There's a selection property available, but before that:

DragonBoy, do you have more info on this "image"? Did you look at the page source? Any meaningful tags inside the IMG tag like Alt or Width and height? We need a viable method of locating the Image on the page. It would pointless to loop through the image elements when we dont know what to look for. Can you post the relevant source of the page? Can common sense overcome this, like it's a tiny tiny image? LOL I just need more info. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by westconn1

i believe that urldownloadtofile will get the image form cache if it exists there, but testing is a bit difficult, generally people always want to get the latest version and bypass the cache

---

I kinda doubt it. There a function for cache known as:

vb Code:

Private Declare Sub URLDownloadToCacheFile Lib "URLMON.dll" (ByVal lpunknown As Long, _
                                  ByVal lpcstr As String, ByVal lptstr As String, ByVal dword As Long, _
                                  ByVal dword As Long, ByRef TLPBINDSTATUSCALLBACK As LPBINDSTATUSCALLBACK)

See last post in this thread to copy image to clipboard...(Please note references in thread...)

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=570025

As for using URLDownloadToFile, sometimes, even if you specify it to get the latest copy, it will read from the cache, so what you would have to do is DeleteURLCacheEntry API...

http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?cod...ilenocache.htm


Good Luck

idk how this post got posted :/

westconn1:Thanks..i did try your coding on other site and it does saves the images but can't work on the web page i want it to cause it does it by downloading the image again from the server which i can't in this case :p

Have a look at the source code i'm pasting and tell me what i can do about it :)

vb5prgrmr:That's really helpfull..I didn't try it on the web page i'm trying to download image from but on yahoo...It's picture box shows me all the images one by one but how can i make it stop on the image i want to save ??


Xiphias3:Same thing..i can't download the image again from the server.
A simple right click on that image-->Save picture as...does save the image but i want it to be automatic so that the user can work while it runs on its own :p

And ofcourse..here is the source code:(It's a validation image in an online game.It's generaly easy but i need to save the image that comes up every time i go to that page)
Since the source is long..I'll use two posts to put it up..hope you can help me out.I've tried so many things but nothing seems to work here :ehh:

Here is the remaining half of the source code of that page :

(Really hope you can help me cause i've tried everything i know to download it but it's been useless..I want to make this automatic so that the user doesn't has to do anything with it and he can do whatever he want's to do while this browser saves the image automatically)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vb5prgrmr

See last post in this thread to copy image to clipboard...(Please note references in thread...)

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=570025

---

I see now, IHTMLControlRange is what's required.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vb5prgrmr

As for using URLDownloadToFile, sometimes, even if you specify it to get the latest copy, it will read from the cache, so what you would have to do is DeleteURLCacheEntry API...

http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?cod...ilenocache.htm

Good Luck

---

Good stuff! Thankx!

@DragonBoy

OK. Well I was expecting you to post just the relevant parts:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xiphias3

Any meaningful tags inside the IMG tag like Alt or Width and height?

---

However, based on what you said:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DragonBoy

It's a validation image in an online game.

---

I believe this is what i need. What I really wanted is in Bold and Underline.

Code:

---



<form action="/bonus.php" method="POST"><p class="center">Combination:<br /><img src="validate_image.php?id=907af914b95a0fc33c3f33bf6b4f1ec9f4b5c8207f8fc29522efe783d"
alt="Validation Image" /></p><p class="center"><input type="text" name="Validate"
size="6" maxlength="6" /><br /><input type="submit" value="Enter Combination!" /></p>
</form>

---

So, based on vb5prgrmr's post, I might have a solution. Lemme go type something.

Xiphias3:Yah,i was thinking i have posted a bit long source code xD.

But anything that can help me out here would be a life saver cause i'm really tired of trying this myself even though you guys have helped me alot here at VBforums :p

No problem. Navigate to whatever page you need to and debug the code looking at the alt properties and stuff.

In the Form:

vb Code:

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim oEle As IHTMLElement, oImgEle As IHTMLImgElement, _
        oHTMLDoc As HTMLDocument, oCR As IHTMLControlRange, _
        oNavNWait As cX3WebBrowserNavAndWait
    
    Set oNavNWait = New cX3WebBrowserNavAndWait
    Call oNavNWait.navigateAndWait(WebBrowser1, "www.yahoo.com")
    Set oHTMLDoc = WebBrowser1.Document
    
    For Each oEle In oHTMLDoc.getElementsByTagName("IMG")
        Set oImgEle = oEle
        If (LCase(oImgEle.alt) = LCase("Validation Image")) Then
            Set oCR = oHTMLDoc.body.createControlRange()
            Call Clipboard.Clear
            Call oCR.Add(oImgEle)
            If (oCR.execCommand("copy")) Then
                Set Me.Picture = Clipboard.GetData(ClipBoardConstants.vbCFBitmap)
                Call SavePicture(Clipboard.GetData(vbCFBitmap), "C:\tmp.gif")
            End If
            Exit For
        End If
    Next oEle
    Set oNavNWait = Nothing
End Sub

Xiphias3:High five if that works :D

I'll try it out.
Where will it be saving that image ??Which directory exactly ??

"C:\tmp.gif". You may have to rename depending on the pic format.

vb Code:

Call SavePicture(Clipboard.GetData(vbCFBitmap), "C:\tmp.gif")

As I said, Debug first.
Also, the Form's Picture will also be set:

vb Code:

Set Me.Picture = Clipboard.GetData(ClipBoardConstants.vbCFBitmap)

@ Xiphias3

Quote:

---

Set oCR = oHTMLDoc.body.createControlRange()
Call Clipboard.Clear
Call oCR.Add(oImgEle)
If (oCR.execCommand("copy")) Then

---

that was what i couldn't figure out at all, very nice

Okay, see post #3 of that same thread I pointed you to. I believe you said you know the url of the image you are wanting so you could use .href or perhaps .url in the do loop to test to see if the image is the one you are after.



Good Luck

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vb5prgrmr

Okay, see post #3 of that same thread I pointed you to. I believe you said you know the url of the image you are wanting so you could use .href or perhaps .url in the do loop to test to see if the image is the one you are after.

Good Luck

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DragonBoy

Xiphias3:Same thing..i can't download the image again from the server.

---

Well, it would not work as the image isnt stored on the server or something, which is why we resorted to copying the image to the Clipboard using the code you provided in the link. Still waiting on the results of Post #20 in this thread.

@vb5prgrmr
That's the problem,I don't know it's url since it's not stored on the server and hence doesn't has a fixed url.

@Xiphias3
I am already using a set of coding in which i have to integrate this coding,let me just post it here to give you an idea :

I tried to integrate your coding but it gave me an error :

Code:

---

Compile error:

User defined type not defined

---

On each of these types:

Code:

---

Dim oEle As IHTMLElement
Dim oImgEle As IHTMLImgElement
Dim oHTMLDoc As HTMLDocument
Dim oCR As IHTMLControlRange
Dim oNavNWait AscX3WebBrowserNavAndWait

---

Does it have a tag of any sorts besides image (img) perhaps a name? If so you could use that to isolate it in the for each loop. Another way if it is in the same position all of the time then you might be able to use an integer to count the iterations to isolate the image.



Good Luck

vb5prgrmr:here is the whole image source code from the page source code for you :

And yes,it's position is always same on every occasion :)
How can i use that property of this image ??
I however did try and cut/copy that portion from the webpage but the coding only gets longer and longer that way and it still requires me to use my mouse then...

Even if i can't save this image..can i atleast load it on a picturebox in my form ???
If yes then how ??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DragonBoy

On each of these types:

Code:

---

Dim oEle As IHTMLElement
Dim oImgEle As IHTMLImgElement
Dim oHTMLDoc As HTMLDocument
Dim oCR As IHTMLControlRange
Dim oNavNWait As cX3WebBrowserNavAndWait

---

---

OK, let's backup. Are you telling me you havent referenced to the HTML Obj API? How do you survive without intellisense from dot-notation? In any case, you should have some version of the HTML API on your system. Do the following:

1) Goto Project (in menu bar) -> References -> "Microsoft HTML Object library" (Syste32\MSHTML.TLB).
Type-Libraries are used to make the programmer's life easier and are not required at run-time. They're used to allow VB to access external elements such as Interfaces(IStream from Edanmo's OLE TLB) and DataTypes (IHTMLDocument from the MS HTML TLB).

2) Add the cX3WebBrowserNavAndWait to your project. it is attached.

something like...

Code:

---

Dim Pic As Object
For Each Pic In WB.Document.Images
  If Pic.alt = "Validation Image" Then
    '...copy code

---

Good Luck

@vb5prgrmr
I'm gonna try it once again then i think..Thanks D:

@Xiphias3
LoL,yah,i'm a beginner in VB and all this is kinda new to me xD
Anyways..
Done the first step.
Copied the class module to my Project and copied some of it's coding into the coding of my Form1(the form with the browser)

And the format of the image is Bitmap...



I think you are just about there to solve my problem.Just help me out on this one :p

hmmm..... I have little time now, so..... post of a pic of the Local variables.
When the error pops up, Break the code via Ctrl + Break on ur keyboard
Go to view and click Locals
Up a pic of the locals variables, as I cant really tell what's going on in your code.

Should i send a attachment of my coding to you so that you can simply see what's going wrong ?
I'm sure something only small is bothering me right now and you can easily fix it in a sec ? :)

I made a function for that. However, things go wrong.

Public Function imgToFile(img As HTMLImg, affiliateprogramid As Long) As String
Dim ocr As IHTMLControlRange
Dim theFile As String

theFile = trim(CStr((GetTickCount Mod 100000))) + ".jpg"


Set ocr = img.Document.body.createControlRange
Clipboard.Clear
ocr.Add img
ocr.execCommand "copy" '<- It doesn't get copied
Call SavePicture(Clipboard.GetData(ClipBoardConstants.vbCFBitmap), theFile)
imgToFile = theFile
End Function

So where did I do wrong?

what exactly is being passed as img?

The html image element

This code works though

Public Function imgToFile(img As HTMLImg) As String
Dim ocr As IHTMLControlRange
Dim theFile As String

theFile = trim(CStr((GetTickCount Mod 100000))) + ".jpg"

'Set img = ias.findAnElement(dw1.body, "src", "https://mail.google.com/mail/help/images/logo2.gif")
Set ocr = img.Document.body.createControlRange
Clipboard.Clear
ocr.Add img
ocr.execCommandShowHelp ("Copy")
SavePicture Clipboard.GetData(ClipBoardConstants.vbCFBitmap), theFile
imgToFile = theFile
End Function

Quote:

---

ocr.execCommand "copy"

---

did you try brackets around "copy" as per the original code posted?

I tried both.

I think changing to execCommandShowHelp is the one that does the trick somehow. I figured this out through sheer luck. I don't even know what execCommandShowHelp does help?

Can URLDownloadToFile use proxies?

execcommandshowhelp works most of the time. But after a while it simply fail to copy for no know reason. Only if I actually logged in it works. So if I switch to another user and let my program run it doesn't. Well, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

Using execcommand without help will make ie pops out a message saying whether I will allow website to copy clipboard.

try execcommand("copy", false)

I tried that. What happen is ie will ask whether I allow using the web to have clipboard access.

I don't want that.