Internet Explorer Automation with VBA input events

Question

am trying to use automation in from Microsoft Access 2003 to control Internet Explorer 9 to complete a form using database data.

The input fires an event in the browser which validates the data and makes the save button visible. If I use sendkeys the event is triggered; however, I have found sendkeys to be very unreliable. If I change the value of the element and then use .fireevent ("onchange"), nothing happens – not even an error.

My question is, how do I fire the event. Or, how can I find out what javascript is running. Is there a debug type of addin for IE which will tell me what event is fired? If so, can I just run the script myself?

My code is below.

    Set IE = CreateObject("internetexplorer.application")
IE.Visible = True
IE.Navigate "https://extranet.website.com/Planning/Edition/Periodic?language=en"

Do While IE.ReadyState <> 4 Or IE.Busy = True
    DoEvents
Loop


'log in
If IE.Document.Title = "website- access" Then
    IE.Document.getElementById("login_uid").Value = "username"
    IE.Document.getElementById("login_pwd").Value = "password"
    IE.Document.all("ButSubmit").Click
    Do While IE.ReadyState <> 4 Or IE.Busy = True
        DoEvents
    Loop
End If

Do While Not RstAvailability.EOF
    StartDate = RstAvailability!AvailDate
    IE.Document.getElementById("periodStart").Value = Format(StartDate, "dd mmm yy")
    IE.Document.getElementById("periodEnd").Value = Format(StartDate, "dd mmm yy")
    Set LinkCollection = IE.Document.GetElementsByTagName("A")
    For Each link In LinkCollection
        If link.innertext = "Add" Then
            link.Click
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
    Do While IE.ReadyState <> 4 Or IE.Busy = True
        DoEvents
    Loop


    Set objRows = IE.Document.GetElementsByTagName("tr")
    If RstAvailability!RoomType = "DTW" Then
        n = 0
        While n < objRows.Length
            If Trim(objRows(n).Cells(0).innertext) = "Single Room" Then
                For i = 1 To 7
                    'objRows(n).FireEvent ("onchange")
                    'objRows(n).Cells(i).GetElementsByTagName("input")(0).Focus
                    'SendKeys Format(RstAvailability!roomcount - RstAvailability!RoomsSold, "0") & "{TAB}"
                    objRows(n).Cells(i).GetElementsByTagName("input")(0).Value = Format(RstAvailability!roomcount - RstAvailability!RoomsSold, "0")
                    objRows(n).Cells(i).GetElementsByTagName("input")(0).fireevent ("onchange")
                    Do While IE.ReadyState <> 4 Or IE.Busy = True
                        DoEvents
                    Loop
                 Next i
            End If
            n = n + 1
        Wend
    End If

    Set objButtons = IE.Document.getelementsbyname("savePlanning")
    objButtons(0).Click

    Do While IE.ReadyState <> 4 Or IE.Busy = True
        DoEvents
    Loop

    newtime = Now + TimeValue("0:00:10")
    Do While True
        If Now > newtime Then Exit Do
    Loop

    RstAvailability.MoveNext
Loop

The html of the input fields are:

<tr class="first" roomId="30494" articleId="0" type="Availability" readonly="False">

<div>

  <span class="roomName">

    Single Room

  </span>



</div>

<span class="data">

<input id="Availabilities" name="Availabilities" type="text" value="" />

</span>

<span class="data">

<input id="Availabilities" name="Availabilities" type="text" value="" />

</span>

Thanks!

Answer 1

After sweating over this for a few days, the answer was actually very simple but nearly impossible to find in any documentation on MSDN or anywhere else on the web.

Before you change the value of the input field, you net to set the focus on that field. After you change the value, you need to set the focus to another field. Apparently, the events fire on the loss of focus. Therefore, the code should look like this:

        n = 0
    While n < objRows.Length
        If Trim(objRows(n).Cells(0).innertext) = "Family Room" Then
            For i = 1 To 7
                objRows(n).Cells(i).GetElementsByTagName("input")(0).Focus
                objRows(n).Cells(i).GetElementsByTagName("input")(0).Value = Format(RstAvailability!roomcount - RstAvailability!RoomsSold, "0")
            Next i
            objRows(n).Cells(1).GetElementsByTagName("input")(0).Focus

        End If
        n = n + 1
    Wend

The way I found this was by looking at some MSDN documentation about accessibility for IE9. It was advising on setting the focus for disabled users. I just thought I would give this a try and it worked. I hope this helps someone else.

Dave