[RESOLVED] Web Browser Control Problem

[tommygrayson]

Hi guys!

Got a problem here.

How do you emulate a mouse click button through code. (I hope the question is clear.)

Thanks in advance guys.

[benmartin101]

post a specific window message to the form. You'll need the window handle to the form that you're trying to emulate the mouse click. The api functions you'll need would be PostMessage() and FindWindow()/FindWindowEx(). You'll be sending WM_LBUTTONDOWN and WM_LBUTTONUP. To learn more about these functions and constants, and see examples of how they are use, you could do a search at the API forum.

[tommygrayson]

Thanks BenMartin,

Ok. Here is what I have got so far.

    Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN = &H201
    Private Const WM_LBUTTONUP = &H202
    Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32.dll" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName _
        As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
    Private Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32.dll" Alias "PostMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As _
        Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByRef lParam As Long) As Long

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        AxWebBrowser1.Navigate("http://somewebsite.com")
    End Sub

    Private Sub AxWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent) Handles AxWebBrowser1.DocumentComplete
    End Sub

What I am planning to do is click on the link in the page. I have used the Web Browser Control.

What I should do next is to use FindWindow and store it in a long data type named lhwnd and use Postmessage. Is that it?

[benmartin101]

If your using vb6, then it would be LONG data type, if its VB.NET, then it would be INTEGER data type. Since your using Web Browser Control, you probably don't need findwindow(), just use the ".handle" property of your web browser control. Then PostMessage() the WM_LBUTTONDOWN and/or WM_LBUTTONUP. However, you'll need to find the coordinates/location of where you want to send the mouse click.

[tommygrayson]

If your using vb6, then it would be LONG data type, if its VB.NET, then it would be INTEGER data type. Since your using Web Browser Control, you probably don't need findwindow(), just use the ".handle" property of your web browser control. Then PostMessage() the WM_LBUTTONDOWN and/or WM_LBUTTONUP. However, you'll need to find the coordinates/location of where you want to send the mouse click.

Thanks BenMartin,

Here's what I have got so far.

    Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN = &H201
    Private Const WM_LBUTTONUP = &H202
    Private Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32.dll" Alias "PostMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As _
        Integer, ByVal wMsg As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As Integer) As _
        Integer
    Private Structure POINTAPI
        Dim X As Long
    End Structure

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        AxWebBrowser1.Navigate("http://somewebsite.com")
    End Sub

    Private Sub AxWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent) Handles AxWebBrowser1.DocumentComplete
        PostMessage(AxWebBrowser1.Handle.ToInt32, WM_LBUTTONDOWN, 1, 0&)
        PostMessage(AxWebBrowser1.Handle.ToInt32, WM_LBUTTONUP, 1, 0&)
    End Sub

PostMessage now is working (I tested it on a command button.). Thanks to you.

I will now work on finding the coordinates of the link button. After finding it, I will store it in a structure and add it in the PostMessage function. Is this correct?

[iPrank]

You can do it without any Win32 API. See this thread.

With HTMLObject Library reference:

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    WebBrowser1.Navigate2 "http://www.vbforums.com/"
End Sub
 
Private Sub WebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal pDisp As Object, URL As Variant)
    'Wait till document has loaded
    If pDisp Is WebBrowser1.Object Then
        If WebBrowser1.LocationURL = "http://www.vbforums.com/" Then
            Dim HTMLDOC As HTMLDocument
            Dim HTMLA As HTMLAnchorElement
            Set HTMLDOC = WebBrowser1.Document
        
            'Loop through links
            For Each HTMLA In HTMLDOC.links
                If HTMLA.href = "http://www.vbforums.com/faq.php?" Then
                    MsgBox "Clicking on FAQ link"
                    HTMLA.Click
                    Exit Sub
                End If
            Next
        End If
    End If
End Sub

[tommygrayson]

You can do it without any Win32 API. See this thread.

With HTMLObject Library reference:

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    WebBrowser1.Navigate2 "http://www.vbforums.com/"
End Sub
 
Private Sub WebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal pDisp As Object, URL As Variant)
    'Wait till document has loaded
    If pDisp Is WebBrowser1.Object Then
        If WebBrowser1.LocationURL = "http://www.vbforums.com/" Then
            Dim HTMLDOC As HTMLDocument
            Dim HTMLA As HTMLAnchorElement
            Set HTMLDOC = WebBrowser1.Document
        
            'Loop through links
            For Each HTMLA In HTMLDOC.links
                If HTMLA.href = "http://www.vbforums.com/faq.php?" Then
                    MsgBox "Clicking on FAQ link"
                    HTMLA.Click
                    Exit Sub
                End If
            Next
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Hi iPrank,

Thanks for the reply, I will also use that and the API that benmartin suggested because the link opens a new pop-up window.

Do you have another example that is in VB .NET 2003 format. The event parameters in the WebBrowser_DocumentComplete Event is different than in Vb 6.0.

Therefore I cannot identify properly what to do with pDisp in VB .NET 2003

[iPrank]

Sorry. I don't know VB.Net.
Make a VB6 project and try to import it and see what happens. If that doesn't work, post in VB.NET section.

[tommygrayson]

Sorry. I don't know VB.Net.
Make a VB6 project and try to import it and see what happens. If that doesn't work, post in VB.NET section.

I already did. But alas, jm only responded and was not resolved.

[benmartin101]

What do you need to do with the pop up window? Close it or do you need to do what u did with the first one?

[tommygrayson]

What do you need to do with the pop up window? Close it or do you need to do what u did with the first one?

Hi benmartin,

I will require the API to transact with the pop-up window. At the first page, I need to fill up 2 textboxes, one is a textbox and another is a password.

By the way, how will you know the location of the mouse coordinates. I can't seem to locate it so I can't click on the link?

Can this be done by PostMessage alone or I will require another API function call?

[benmartin101]

I think you should just use what IPrank suggested with the button click. Here is the .NET equivalent:

Private Sub AxWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent) Handles AxWebBrowser1.DocumentComplete
        'note: add reference of Microsoft.mshtml to your project
        If AxWebBrowser1.LocationURL = "http://www.google.com/" Then 'notice that there is a "/" at the end of .com
            Dim HTMLDOC As mshtml.HTMLDocument
            Dim HTMLA As mshtml.HTMLAnchorElement
            HTMLDOC = AxWebBrowser1.Document
 
            'Loop through links
            For Each HTMLA In HTMLDOC.links
                If HTMLA.href = "http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en" Then
                    MsgBox("Clicking on preference link.")
                    HTMLA.click()
 
                    Exit Sub
                End If
            Next
        End If
    End Sub

You could also do a similar thing with the textbox inputs. The code below:

Dim HTMLDOC As mshtml.HTMLDocument
        HTMLDOC = AxWebBrowser1.Document 'make sure axwebbrowser1 already navigated to a page before going to this code
        Dim inner As String = HTMLDOC.body.innerHTML 
 
        Dim replaceStr As String = Chr(34) & "Google Search" & Chr(34) '= "Google Search" -- chr(34) is apostrophe
        Dim newStr As String = replaceStr & " value=" & Chr(34) & "Hello World" & Chr(34)
        inner = inner.Replace(replaceStr, newStr)
        HTMLDOC.body.innerHTML = inner

Try the above sample with Google.com, it should put a "Hello World" on the search textbox. What it's basically doing is changing the html code to that of a google page that has "Hello World" in the textbox. You can find out which html codes to replace by going to the target html page, putting your input on the textbox and doing a View->Source on internet explorer. You'll see that your input is somewhere in the html source code.

[tommygrayson]

I think you should just use what IPrank suggested with the button click. Here is the .NET equivalent:

Private Sub AxWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent) Handles AxWebBrowser1.DocumentComplete
        'note: add reference of Microsoft.mshtml to your project
        If AxWebBrowser1.LocationURL = "http://www.google.com/" Then 'notice that there is a "/" at the end of .com
            Dim HTMLDOC As mshtml.HTMLDocument
            Dim HTMLA As mshtml.HTMLAnchorElement
            HTMLDOC = AxWebBrowser1.Document
 
            'Loop through links
            For Each HTMLA In HTMLDOC.links
                If HTMLA.href = "http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en" Then
                    MsgBox("Clicking on preference link.")
                    HTMLA.click()
 
                    Exit Sub
                End If
            Next
        End If
    End Sub

You could also do a similar thing with the textbox inputs. The code below:

Dim HTMLDOC As mshtml.HTMLDocument
        HTMLDOC = AxWebBrowser1.Document 'make sure axwebbrowser1 already navigated to a page before going to this code
        Dim inner As String = HTMLDOC.body.innerHTML 
 
        Dim replaceStr As String = Chr(34) & "Google Search" & Chr(34) '= "Google Search" -- chr(34) is apostrophe
        Dim newStr As String = replaceStr & " value=" & Chr(34) & "Hello World" & Chr(34)
        inner = inner.Replace(replaceStr, newStr)
        HTMLDOC.body.innerHTML = inner

Try the above sample with Google.com, it should put a "Hello World" on the search textbox. What it's basically doing is changing the html code to that of a google page that has "Hello World" in the textbox. You can find out which html codes to replace by going to the target html page, putting your input on the textbox and doing a View->Source on internet explorer. You'll see that your input is somewhere in the html source code.

WOW!!!! Cool Thanks.

+ reputation to you.