Question

Getting results from a web link to an excel file into the current excel worksheet

Asked by: bs329

As an example of what I'm trying to do...
Given a link I want to copy the contents of a link to an excel file from a webpage to the current open excel sheet on my local machine:

webpage:  http://www.census.gov/retail/
Excel file on webpage/server:  Retail and Food Services Sales: Excel (1992-present)
 
I want to be able to automatically run a macro that will go to that link, copy the contents of that excel file and dump it into my current open worksheet.

Thanks,

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Asked On
2009-11-06 at 23:01:07ID24880066
Tags

macro

,

vb script

,

vb

,

excel

Topics

Visual Basic v1.0.5.x

,

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

,

VB Script

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: brettdjPosted on 2009-11-07 at 01:56:37ID: 25765643

If you know the file link at the site you can use code like this to

  1. download the file to your hard drive 
  2. open the file and copy sheet 1 into the workbook containing the code 
  3. close, then delete the downloaded file 
Cheers
Dave


Sub TestingTheCode()
    Dim wb1 As Workbook, wb2 As Workbook, fPath As String
    Set wb1 = ThisWorkbook
    fPath = "c:\tempfile.xls"
    SaveWebFile "http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/excel/mrtssales92-09.xls", fPath
    Set wb2 = Workbooks.Open(fPath)
    wb2.Sheets(1).Copy after:=wb1.Sheets(wb1.Sheets.Count)
    wb2.Close
    Kill fPath
End Sub 
Function SaveWebFile(ByVal vWebFile As String, ByVal vLocalFile As String) As Boolean
    Dim oXMLHTTP As Object, i As Long, vFF As Long, oResp() As Byte 

    Set oXMLHTTP = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
    oXMLHTTP.Open "GET", vWebFile, False    'Open socket to get the website
    oXMLHTTP.Send    'send request 
    'Wait for request to finish
    Do While oXMLHTTP.readyState <> 4
        DoEvents
    Loop 
    oResp = oXMLHTTP.responseBody    'Returns the results as a byte array 
    'Create local file and save results to it
    vFF = FreeFile
    If Dir(vLocalFile) <> "" Then Kill vLocalFile
    Open vLocalFile For Binary As #vFF
    Put #vFF, , oResp
    Close #vFF 
    'Clear memory
    Set oXMLHTTP = Nothing
End Function
                                              
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by: bs329Posted on 2009-11-07 at 07:56:41ID: 25766725

Hi dave,  yes that is what I do now,  but for many, about 20 a day, files.  It would save me some time if I could automate the process.  Thx

 

by: brettdjPosted on 2009-11-09 at 14:35:10ID: 25780871

Do you know in advance  what these file names are?

Or do you want to download every available file at the website (if the name has a certain pattern) etc?

Cheers

Dave

 

by: bs329Posted on 2009-11-09 at 16:52:08ID: 25781581

Yes I know in advance the file names and the urls.

 

by: bs329Posted on 2009-11-09 at 16:54:56ID: 25781594

Hi Dave, didnt' see the original code earlier on my mobile device.  Will try out the snippet.  thx

 

by: bs329Posted on 2009-11-09 at 17:02:22ID: 31652108

Thanks, its gets me far enough...this will help

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