Filling a form in the WebBrowser Control (automatically)

In this sample I will fill the altavista search box, with the WebBrowser control. Below I will list some subs and functions which are used in this sample.

Open a new project (standard exe) and place a WebBrowser control, a textbox, and a command button on form1. Make sure you also have an reference to mshtml.tlb.

Add the following code to form1:

Private Sub Command1_Click() Dim doc As HTMLDocument 'go to the altavista (text) search page WebBrowser1.Navigate "http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?text" 'Wait until page is loaded Do DoEvents Loop Until Not WebBrowser1.Busy 'Make doc reference to the document inside the webbrowser control Set doc = WebBrowser1.Document 'Set field q with the value of Text1 SetInputField doc, 0, "q", Text1 'Submit the form (same result as click the search button) doc.Forms(0).submit 'Wait until result are loaded Do DoEvents Loop Until Not WebBrowser1.Busy MsgBox "Altavista search result loaded" End Sub

Add the following code to a module:

Public Sub SetInputField(doc As HTMLDocument, Form As Integer, Name As String, Value As String) 'doc = HTMLDocument, can be retrieved from webbrowser --> webbrowser.document 'Form = number of the form (if only one form in the doc --> Form = 0) 'Name = Name of the field you would like to fill 'Value = The new value for the input field called name 'PRE: Legal parameters entered 'POST: Input field with name Name on form Form in document doc will be filled with Value For q = 0 To doc.Forms(Form).length - 1 If doc.Forms(Form)(q).Name = Name Then doc.Forms(Form)(q).Value = Value Exit For End If Next q End Sub

Additional useful subs:

Sub to get the contents from a textbox:

Public Function GetInputField(doc As HTMLDocument, Form As Integer, Name As String) As String For q = 0 To doc.Forms(Form).Length - 1 If doc.Forms(Form)(q).Name = Name Then GetInputField = doc.Forms(From)(q).Value Exit For End If Next q End Function

Sub to set a Checkbox:

Public Sub SetCheckBox(doc As HTMLDocument, Form As Integer, Name As String, Value As Boolean) For q = 0 To doc.Forms(Form).Length - 1 If doc.Forms(Form)(q).Name = Name Then doc.Forms(From)(q).Checked = Value Exit For End If Next q End Sub

Sub set a radio button:

Public Sub SetRadioButton(doc As HTMLDocument, Form As Integer, Name As String, Name2 As String) For q = 0 To doc.Forms(Form).Length - 1 If (doc.Forms(Form)(q).Name = Name) And (doc.Forms(Form)(q).Value = Name2) Then doc.Forms(From)(q).Checked = True Exit For End If Next q End Sub

Sub set a combo box:

Public Function SetComboBoxValue(ByVal doc As IHTMLDocument3, Form As Integer, Name As String, Name2 As String) '**** This one bases it's selection on the Value of the - - Tag. Dim q, i For q = 0 To doc.Forms(Form).length - 1 If (doc.Forms(Form)(q).Name = Name) Then For i = 0 To doc.Forms(Form)(q).length - 1 If doc.Forms(Form)(q).Options(i).Value = Name2 Then doc.Forms(Form)(q).Options(i).Selected = True Exit For End If Next i End If Next q End Function

Public Function SetComboValue(ByVal doc As IHTMLDocument3, Form As Integer, Name As String, Name2 As String) '**** This one bases it's selection on the Value of the Text after the - 'Text - Tag. Dim q, i For q = 0 To doc.Forms(Form).length - 1 If (doc.Forms(Form)(q).Name = Name) Then For i = 0 To doc.Forms(Form)(q).length - 1 If doc.Forms(Form)(q).Options(i).Text = Name2 Then doc.Forms(Form)(q).Options(i).Selected = True Exit For End If Next End If Next q