I am trying to scrape some data from a database, and I have it pretty much set. I look in IE for a tab that has me logged in into the database, and paste the query link there through vba. But how do I extract the data that it returns from the IE tab and put that into an excel cell or array.
This is the code I have for opening my query:
Sub import()
Dim row As Integer
Dim strTargetFile As String
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim test As String
Dim ie As Object
Call Fill_Array_Cultivar
For row = 3 To 4
Sheets.Add.Name = Cultivar_Array(row, 1)
strTargetFile = "https://www3.wipo.int/pluto/user/jsp/select.jsp?fl=app_date%2Cden_info%2Cden_final&hl=false&json.nl=map&wt=json&type=upov&start=0&qi=3-nNCXQ6etEVv184O9nnd5yg%3D%3D&q=cc%3AIT%20AND%20latin_name%3A(zea%20mays)%20AND%20den_info%3A" & Trim(Cultivar_Array(row, 1)) & "&facet=false"
Set ie = GetIE("https://www3.wipo.int" & "*")
If Not ie Is Nothing Then
ie.navigate (strTargetFile)
Else
MsgBox "IE not found!"
End If
Next row
End Sub
And this is the appropriate function:
'Find an IE window with a matching (partial) URL
'Assumes no frames.
Function GetIE(sAddress As String) As Object
Dim objShell As Object, objShellWindows As Object, o As Object
Dim retVal As Object, sURL As String
Set retVal = Nothing
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objShellWindows = objShell.Windows
'see if IE is already open
For Each o In objShellWindows
sURL = ""
On Error Resume Next
sURL = o.document.Location
On Error GoTo 0
If sURL <> "" Then
If sURL Like sAddress & "*" Then
Set retVal = o
Exit For
End If
End If
Next o
Set GetIE = retVal
End Function
What the website returns to me is a white page with a line of text. Here is an example:
{"response":{"start":0,"docs":[{"den_final":"Abacus","app_date":"1998-01-13T22:59:59Z"}],"numFound":1},"qi":"3-nNCXQ6etEVv184O9nnd5yg==","sv":"bswa2.wipo.int","lastUpdated":1436333633993}
PS. I also tried using the importxml function, it will import the website, but only an error page, as it does not recognize me as logged in.
I found the solution, which was fairly simple but hard to find. I can just grab the ie.Document.body.innertext which is all the text I need. See the code I updated below:
Sub import()
Dim row As Integer
Dim strTargetFile As String
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim test As String
Dim ie As Object
Dim pageText As String
Call Fill_Array_Cultivar
For row = 3 To 4
Sheets.Add.Name = Cultivar_Array(row, 1)
strTargetFile = "https://www3.wipo.int/pluto/user/jsp/select.jsp?fl=app_date%2Cden_info%2Cden_final&hl=false&json.nl=map&wt=json&type=upov&start=0&qi=3-nNCXQ6etEVv184O9nnd5yg%3D%3D&q=cc%3AIT%20AND%20latin_name%3A(zea%20mays)%20AND%20den_info%3A" & Trim(Cultivar_Array(row, 1)) & "&facet=false"
Set ie = GetIE("https://www3.wipo.int" & "*")
If Not ie Is Nothing Then
ie.navigate (strTargetFile)
Do Until ie.ReadyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop
pageText = ie.Document.body.innertext
ActiveSheet.Cells(1, 1) = pageText
pageText = Empty
Else
MsgBox "IE not found!"
End If
Next row
End Sub