asked on

Running an http request

With the fewest number of references (no controls), how can I run an URL from VB ? I don't actually need to retrieve data as the URL runs some kind of Java applet that transfers data within the URL string to a database.

Thanks,

Tim

riduce

Hope this is you're answer
http://www.freevbcode.com/code/CGI.zip

Good luck
Riduce

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Erick37

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ATM

POST/GET via PROXY or Directly, Virtual Hosts.
Only one exception from your request its use WinSock.OCX.

'------------------------------------------------------------
Public JobURL As String
Public JobParams As String
Public JobMethod As String
Public JobReferer As String
Public ResponseDocument As String
Public StepCount As Long
Public IsProxyUsed As Boolean
Public ServerHostIP As String
Public ServerPort As Long

'------------------------------------------------------------
Dim LocalStepCounter As Long
Dim RequestHeader As String
Dim RequestTemplate As String
'------------------------------------------------------------

Public Sub ActionStartup()

FrmMainWin.DefSubmissionCompleted = False

If UCase(Left(JobURL, 7)) <> "HTTP://" Then
MsgBox "Missed http://, please check Your DB for proper Submission URLs", vbCritical + vbOK
Call ActionPostup
Me.Hide
Unload Me
Exit Sub
End If

LocalStepCounter = 0
RequestHeader = ""
RequestTemplate = JobMethod & " _$-$_$- HTTP/1.0" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/msword, application/x-comet, */*" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"Accept-Language: en" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"Accept-Encoding: gzip , deflate" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"Cache-Control: no-cache" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.1; Windows 98; SSM Agent 1.0)" & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"Host: @$@@$@" & Chr(13) & Chr(10)

If JobMethod = "POST" Then
RequestTemplate = RequestTemplate & "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
RequestTemplate = RequestTemplate & "Content-Length: " & CStr(Len(JobParams)) & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
RequestTemplate = RequestTemplate & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
RequestTemplate = RequestTemplate & JobParams & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
Else
JobURL = JobURL & "?" & JobParams
End If

pureURL = Right(JobURL, Len(JobURL) - 7)
startPos = InStr(1, pureURL, "/")

If startPos < 1 Then
Serveraddress = pureURL
documentURI = "/"
Else
Serveraddress = Left(pureURL, startPos - 1)
documentURI = Right(pureURL, Len(pureURL) - startPos + 1)
End If

If Serveraddress = "" Or documentURI = "" Then
MsgBox "Unable to detect target page!", vbCritical + vbOK
FrmActionWait.Hide
Unload FrmActionWait
Exit Sub
End If

If IsProxyUsed Then

If ServerHostIP = "" Then
MsgBox "Unable to detect proxy address!", vbCritical + vbOK
FrmActionWait.Hide
Unload FrmActionWait
Exit Sub
End If
RequestHeader = RequestTemplate
RequestHeader = Replace(RequestHeader, "@$@@$@", Serveraddress)
RequestHeader = Replace(RequestHeader, "_$-$_$-", JobURL)
Else
ddotsPos = 0
tmpPString = ""
ddotsPos = InStr(1, Serveraddress, ":")
If ddotsPos = 0 Then
ServerHostIP = Serveraddress
ServerPort = 80
Else
ServerHostIP = Mid(Serveraddress, 1, ddotsPos - 1)
tmpPString = Mid(Serveraddress, ddotsPos + 1, Len(Serveraddress) - ddotsPos - 1)
If IsNumeric(tmpPString) Then
ServerPort = CLng(tmpPString)
Else
ServerPort = 80
End If
End If

RequestHeader = RequestTemplate
RequestHeader = Replace(RequestHeader, "_$-$_$-", documentURI)
RequestHeader = Replace(RequestHeader, "@$@@$@", ServerHostIP)
End If

'Me.Show
RequestHeader = RequestHeader & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Text = "Connecting to server ..."
FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Refresh

If DEBON Then
Open App.Path & "\Submission.log" For Append As #1
Print #1, "-- " & DefData.ssmEngine & " --, " & ServerHostIP & ":" & ServerPort & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
Print #1, RequestHeader
Close #1
End If

'False
WS_HTTP.Connect ServerHostIP, ServerPort
End Sub

Private Sub WS_HTTP_Connect()

WS_HTTP.SendData RequestHeader

If DEBON Then
Open App.Path & "\Submission.log" For Append As #1
Print #1, "-- CONNECTED/A --" & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
Close #1
End If

FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Text = "Connected, try to submit page ..."
FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Refresh

End Sub

Private Sub WS_HTTP_DataArrival(ByVal bytesTotal As Long)

Dim tmpString As String
WS_HTTP.GetData tmpString, vbString

If DEBON Then
Open App.Path & "\Submission.log" For Append As #1
Print #1, "-- RESPONSE --" & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
Print #1, tmpString
Close #1
End If

FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Text = "Server response, continue ..."
FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Refresh

End Sub

Private Sub WS_HTTP_Error(ByVal Number As Integer, Description As String, ByVal Scode As Long, ByVal Source As String, ByVal HelpFile As String, ByVal HelpContext As Long, CancelDisplay As Boolean)

WS_HTTP.Close

If DEBON Then
Open App.Path & "\Submission.log" For Append As #1
Print #1, "-- ERROR/A: " & Number & " --" & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
Close #1
End If

Call ActionPostup

FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Text = "Completing submission ..."
FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Refresh

End Sub

Private Sub WS_HTTP_Close()

WS_HTTP.Close

If DEBON Then
Open App.Path & "\Submission.log" For Append As #1
Print #1, "-- CLOSED --" & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
Close #1
End If

Call ActionPostup

FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Text = "Completing submission ..."
FrmMainWin.txtSubmitStatus.Refresh

End Sub

Public Sub ActionPostup()

FrmMainWin.DefSubmissionCompleted = True

End Sub

timjc

ASKER

Nice answers by all experts. I thought that Erick37 was the quickest to use. I can't split points, so had to choose one, apologies to others.