Automating a Save File Dialog Box in C#

Ok,
So, I used that but it only saved the document of the report page.  I need the file that it prompts you for.  Here is a quick code mock up of what Iam trying.

using mshtml
....
axWebBrowser1.Navigate("To Report Page");
//wait until page loads....
mshtml.HTMLDocument doc = (mshtml.HTMLDocument) axWebBrowser1.Document
//set up report options
mshtml.HTMLSelectElement startMonth = (mshtml.HTMLSelectElement) doc.all.item("startMonth",0);
startMonth.value = "my start month";
mshtml.HTMLSelectElement startDay = (mshtml.HTMLSelectElement) doc.all.item("startDay",0);
startDay.value = "my start day";
.....
//2 image buttons, one for .csv report and one for .xml report
mshtml.HTMLInputElement csvButton = (mshtml.HTMLInputElement) doc.all.item("csvReport",0);
mshtml.HTMLInputElement xmlButton = (mshtml.HTMLInputElement) doc.all.item("xmlReport",0);

xmlButton.Click()


After this I get prompted to save the report and I dont know how to get control of the prompt box.  Still stuck.
Thanks for the suggestion eternal_21, but I cant figure how or where to add it in here.

-tcash

increasing point level cause its kinda urgent.

Example:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

...

    private void axWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(object sender, AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent e)
    {

      UCOMIPersistFile persistFile = (UCOMIPersistFile)e.pDisp;

      persistFile.Save(@"C:\temp\Persist.html", true);
   
    }

Bob

I currently have a the event hadler for the document complete event set up to set my "PageLoaded" variable also so that I know when a page that I have navigated to is done...so adding the above suggestion in, something like this:

//Globals
private bool PageLoaded;
....
PageLoaded = false;
axWebBrowser1.Navigate("To report page or whereever");
while(!PageLoaded)Application.DoEvents();
....
private void axWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(object sender, AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent e)
{
      UCOMIPersistFile persistFile = (UCOMIPersistFile)e.pDisp;
      persistFile.Save(@"C:\temp\persist.txt", true);
      PageLoaded = true;
}


now if I put the persist file stuff above the PageLoaded assignment, my program just hangs (in a while() loop that waits for PageLoaded to become true) when I navigate to the report creation page; this is probably because there is no UCOMIPersistFile there, so it is stalling trying to find it and never getting to my PageLoaded switch.  So, I set up a bool variable to tell if it was going to be a document load with a persistFile result, something like this....

//Globals
private bool PageLoaded;
private bool PersistFileFlag;
....
PageLoaded = false;
PersistFileFlag = false;
axWebBrowser1.Navigate("To report page or whereever");
while(!PageLoaded)Application.DoEvents();

//set up form variables for report dates, report types etc... see above author comment with code

PageLoaded = false;
PersistFileFlag = true;
xmlButton.click();
while(!PageLoaded)Application.DoEvents();
....
private void axWebBrowser1_DocumentComplete(object sender, AxSHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_DocumentCompleteEvent e)
{
      if(PersistFileFlag)
      {
            UCOMIPersistFile persistFile = (UCOMIPersistFile)e.pDisp;
            persistFile.Save(@"C:\temp\persist.txt", true);
      }
      PageLoaded = true;
}

This didnt work either.  I set a break point in my debugger inside the if(PersistFileFlag) and it never got in there.  It just gets to the IE save file box and waits for my input like it originally did.  Any ideas???  Thanks for the help thus far.

-tcash

What I mean by it never got in there is that the xmlButton.click didnt trigger a document loading event.  It just pops the save file dialog...

So is this possible or not?????  Just say if you think not so I can move to the fun task of displaying the report on the page and scrapping the html.

I am not exactly sure if I understand what you are trying to accomplish here?

Are you trying to start the process of getting a web page into the browser, and then wait for the document to be complete before continuing?

My suggestion would be to start the process somewhere else, and then do the web page processing from the DocumentComplete event.

Bob

I am trying to automate the save file box that pops up.  Just like on any download page...like if I were to click an attachment on a WebMail account, or a driver page... The box that pops up and asks you where to save it; can I get control of it?  That box does not trigger the DocumentComplete event.  I just want to save the file, thats all, but I cant figure out how to get control of the save dialog.  The web page does not change in the browser, Im just clicking a button that results in the save file pop up box.  Thanks for your help thus far,

TCash

Let me see if I understand what you are looking for,

Do you want to be able to click on a link in the browser, and have the resulting HTML saved, without the dialog box?

Bob

No,  I click on a link in a browser that spawns a save file dialog box.  I want to save the file coorosponding to the save file dialog box.  It is a report setup page that creates a XML report according to options I set...So after I automated the correct selection of radio buttons and select boxes I then click on an input image like this:

<input type="image" src=https://whereever.com/download_XML.gif  name="submit.download_XML">

this then pops up the save file dialog that you see whenever you download a file from a web browser.

When you click on the link, do you want to save the image, without having the save file dialog?

Bob

no I dont want to save the image, I want to save the XML file that I am prompted to save.  The image is just acting as a submit button for the POST info the form contains that I have already automated.

Out-loud thoughts:

You might be able to bypass the save dialog, but I need to understand how it occurs in the first place.  There is the BeforeNavigate2 event with an argument that you can use to avoid navigating to any link:

e.cancel = True

Bob

ok, so what if I use axWebBrowser.Navigate with my POST variables included (including the "submit.download_XML" input) in the overloaded method that accepts them, and then save the resulting document.  Do you know anything about the overloaded Navigate(uRL, flags, targetFrameName, postData, headers) method??  Ive never used it.