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PatOBrien

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WebBrowser Ctrl - populating vars in HTML

In a VB EXE project ... how do you bind or populate variables in html pages while using the WebBrowser control to display the html?

I'm aware of using client side or server side variables in ASP pages but I don't want to develop a DHTML project nor an IIS application.  I want to use the WebBrowser to display local html files, but I need to be able to replace some of the text with variable information..

It seems to me that pre-processing the html document prior to sending it to the WebBrowser in overkill or a "brute force" method.  That is, I could read through the html, looking for variables (eg.  <!LastName>  ) and replace that with the variable text before sending it to the WebBrowser control.

Actually, that's just a one-way communication anyway.  I guess I'm also looking for getting info back from the html page, perhaps the text in a text box, or the value of a radio button.  So how would you reference named objects in the document?... something like....

lsLastName = WebBrowser1.Document.formName.textareaName.value






Avatar of JonFish85
JonFish85

you can try this:

WebBrowser.Document.Body.innerHTML = Replace(WebBrowser.Document.Body.innerHTML, "<MyTag>", "VariableInfo")

hope this helps!
>>something like....
>>lsLastName = WebBrowser1.Document.formName.textareaName.value

yes, or:
var = WebBrowser1.Document.all("elementName").AnyProperty

your options for building the html are:
1) you can build the html on the fly
2) do search and replace
3) set values for named elements directly

for option 3, you can set the value for a textbox, for example, by using the same syntax as above, e.g.:

WebBrowser1.Document.all("txtName").value = "Some text"

where the html for that textbox may look like:

<input type="text" name="txtName">
all webbrowser questions should be labeled:
For AzraSound ;)

Avatar of PatOBrien

ASKER

Well, I couldn't get the method suggested by JonFish85 to work.

Using the #3 method suggested by AzraSound produced the following:

in my html document I added:

<span id="EEName">x</span>

where I wanted the name info to appear.

in my project, in a command_click event I had the navigate command and the innerText command as follows:

    WebBrowser1.Navigate2 App.Path & "\html\test.html"
    WebBrowser1.Document.All("EEName").innerText = "Elvis"
   
I got an error on the second line.... error 91 Object variable or With Block Variable not set.

However, when I went into debug mode I could step [F8] through the line and the resulting browser display showed the "Elvis" name right where I wanted it!!

I tried putting in a loop that waited while WebBrowerser1.busy was true.  That didn't help.  In fact I tried a 3 second delay between the two lines.  That didn't help either.


Finnaly, I moved the #2 line above to the WebBrowser1.NavigateComplete2 event

I had to add some code to check that the LocationName was the same as the html file that I was loading, but it seemed to work.
   
Next I'll try this with some text fields and radio buttons.
try this:

WebBrowser1.Navigate2 App.Path & "\html\test.html"
Do Until WebBrowser1.Busy = False
Doevents
Loop
WebBrowser1.Document.All("EEName").innerText = "Elvis"

hope this helps!
sorry, I didnt read thouroughly :-/
Avatar of Richie_Simonetti
Listening...
I think that if you don't want "brute-force" approach, first need to show the document and on the documentcomplete event do the changes.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of AzraSound
AzraSound
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If WebBrowser1.ReadyState > READYSTATE_COMPLETE Then Debug.Print "TOTALLY COMPLETE! :)"

Cheers
Thanks.  You pointed me in the right direction.