VBA How to download a generated file from IE

Question

Hi guys,
Apologies if this is an easy one, I couldn't find anything that helped me with my problem and was hoping someone might point me in the right direction for which object/argument to use.
I'm trying to automate the downloading of a report, it will be a CSV file however it's not a static address (i.e. www.hello.com/files/goodbye.csv)
The website is a CMS with database backend and upon clicking a button, the report is generated and the user will be prompted to download a resulting file (once it has been prepared).
It is this action that I am trying to automate, however I'm not sure how to get IE to click the button and automatically saving instead of prompting the user at all (ideally this will be done with IE Visible being false in the end).
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Best regards,
Jeff.

Answer 1

You can use an API to do the work too!
Option Explicit
Public Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" ( _
ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
Public Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowExA" ( _
ByVal hWnd1 As Long, ByVal hwnd2 As Long, _
ByVal lpsz1 As String, ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Long
Public Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" ( _
ByVal hWnd As Long, _
ByVal wMsg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, _
lParam As Any) As Long
Public Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32.dll" Alias "PostMessageA"
ByVal hWnd As Long, _
ByVal wMsg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, _
ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function SetForegroundWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As
Long) As Long
Public Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
Public Const TCM_SETCURFOCUS As Long = &H1330&
Public Const BM_CLICK As Long = &HF5&
Private Const WM_COMMAND As Long = &H111
Sub Download()
Dim i As Long, res As Long
Dim hWndUI As Long, hWndBtn As Long
Dim timeOut As Double
Const cClsName As String = "#32770" ' same classname for all the control
windows we'll need
ReDim aWinText(1 To 3) As String
aWinText(1) = "File Download - Security Warning"
aWinText(2) = "Save As"
aWinText(3) = "Download complete"
' 1, get the File download window and click Save
' 2, get the Save As window and click Save
For i = 1 To 2
hWndUI = 0
timeOut = Timer + 5
While hWndUI = 0 And Timer < timeOut
Sleep 100&
hWndUI = FindWindow(cClsName, aWinText(i))
Wend
If hWndUI = 0 Then
' eg bad url
Err.Raise 12345, , "didn't get " & vbCr & aWinText(i)
End If
SetForegroundWindow hWndUI
Sleep 100&
hWndBtn = FindWindowEx(hWndUI, 0&, "Button", "&Save")
Sleep 200&
res = SendMessage(hWndBtn, TCM_SETCURFOCUS, 1, ByVal 0&)
'res = SendMessage(hWndBtn, BM_CLICK, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&)
res = PostMessage(hWndBtn, BM_CLICK, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&)
res = SendMessage(hWndBtn, WM_COMMAND, 0&, 0&)
Next
' 3, wait until Download complete appears
hWndUI = 0
timeOut = Timer + 10 ' increase timeOut with bigger files
While hWndUI = 0 And Timer < timeOut
hWndUI = FindWindow(cClsName, aWinText(3))
Wend
' optional open folder
hWndBtn = FindWindowEx(hWndUI, 0&, "Button", "Open &Folder")
res = SendMessage(hWndBtn, TCM_SETCURFOCUS, 1, ByVal 0&)
res = PostMessage(hWndBtn, BM_CLICK, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&)
' res = SendMessage(hWndBtn, BM_CLICK, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&)
res = SendMessage(hWndBtn, WM_COMMAND, 0&, 0&)
DoEvents
End Sub
Sub Test1()
Dim url As String
Dim objIE As Object
On Error GoTo errH
url = "http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/25241/"
' iso IE suggest add a WebBrowser control to a sheet or a userform
' and use that rather than starting an instance of IE
Set objIE = CreateObject("internetexplorer.application")
objIE.Navigate url
Download
done:
On Error Resume Next
objIE.Quit
Exit Sub
errH:
MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub
Knowledge is the only thing that I can give you, and still retain, and we are both better off for it.