Access To A Webpage's Frame Document Without Navigating To This Webpage

The title might be confusing, but it's not just an impression. I had a previous post about this but the core problem is actually deeper than this. Basically I have a big code in w

Solution 1:

Here my idea in code (this code is untested). First navigate to start page to login. Then find the main page. From the main page navigate to first frame and then to second. After that the dom element should contain the target button which can be now clicked. HTH

Option Explicit

' Add reference to Microsoft Internet Controls (SHDocVw)
' Add reference to Microsoft HTML Object Library
' Add reference to Microsoft Shall Controls And Automation

' e.g. http://192.168.51.52:9999/SomeApp/LoginPrivateConst StartUrl AsString = "Your start URL"' e.g. http://192.168.51.52:9999/SomeApp/Content
Private Const MainUrl As String = "Your main URL" 

Sub ClickInsideOfFrame()

    Dim ie As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
    Dim doc As MSHTML.HTMLDocument

    On Error GoTo error_handler

    ' Navigate to start page
    Set ie = New SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
    ie.Visible = True
    ie.navigate StartUrl
    WaitWhileBusy ie

    ' Enter user name and password and login
    Login

    'Switch to Main page
    Set ie = IEWindowFromTitle(MainUrl)
    Set doc = ie.document

    ' First find content frame and navige to url of this frame
    NavigateToFrame ie, "frame[name='contentframe']"

    ' Find postfachcontent frame and navige to url of this frame next
    NavigateToFrame ie, "frame[name='postfachcontent']"' Dom document should now contain the button which is inside of the 
    ' postfachcontent frame
    doc.querySelector("input[type='button'][name='some-button']").Click

error_handler:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then MsgBox Err.Description, vbCritical, "Error"
    ie.Quit
    Set ie = Nothing
End Sub

Private Sub WaitWhileBusy(ie As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer)
    While ie.Busy Or ie.readyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE
        DoEvents
    Wend
End Sub

FunctionIEWindowFromTitle(sTitle AsString) AsSHDocVw.InternetExplorer
    ' ...
EndFunctionPrivateSubNavigateToFrame(ie As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer, selector AsString)
    DimframeAsMSHTML.HTMLFrameElementDimdocAsMSHTML.HTMLDocumentSetdoc = ie.documentSetframe = doc.querySelector(selector)
    IfNotframeIsNothingThenie.navigateMainUrl & frame.srcWaitWhileBusyieExitSubEndIfErr.RaisevbObjectError + 513, "NavigateToFrame", "Framenotfoundforselector '" & selector & "'."
EndSubPrivateSubLogin()
    ' ...
EndSub

Solution 2:

SOLUTION : For those it might interest, I found with the help of dee and the asnwer of Tim Williams on here a way to click on one of the multiple possible elements containing a "onclick" property.

For the greedy ones, here's the straight in-one-line solution which lists the clickable elements :

IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td")

where IEDoc is the HTML document of the Main webpage.

Remarks :

1. In order to get this final solution, I had to do some tests to see which type I was dealing with to make sure I knew what I was doing. You can see these tests steps in the following code sample as well as their displayed result in the MsgBox in comment :

   MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.getElementsByName("contentframe")(0)) ' returns HTMLFrameElement
       MsgBox IEDoc.getElementsByName("contentframe")(0).document.getElementsByName("postfachcontent").Length ' 0
       MsgBox IEDoc.frames(1).frames.Length ' returns 2
       MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1)) ' HTMLWindow2
       MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable")) ' HTMLDivElement
       MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").getElementsByName("result")) ' error
       MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")) 'DispElementcollection
        MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById
   
   ("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0)) ' HTMLFormElement
    MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).getElementsByClassName("resultRow")) ' error
     MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByClassName("resultRow")) ' error
   MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document) ' HTMLDocument
   Result_Form_Doc = IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document ' error
   IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).Click ' works...but no click
   MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("tr")) ' DispHTMLElementCollection
   MsgBox IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("tr").Length ' 12...weird...I counted 2
   IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.querySelector("td[onclick='cView(62972172,'0', viewButton, '' );']").Click ' error
   MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.querySelector("td[onclick='cView(62972172,'0', viewButton, '' );']")) 'error
    MsgBox IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td").Length '42...counted 34
   MsgBox IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("table").Length ' 4...counted 1
   IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td")(30).Click ' WORKSSSSS
   MsgBox IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td").querySelectorAll("td[onclick='cView(62972172,'0', viewButton, '' );']").Length ' error
   MsgBox IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td").querySelectorAll("td[rowSpan='1']").Length ' error
   MsgBox TypeName(IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td")) ' DispHTMLElementCollectionDim Elem_td As IHTMLElement
   Dim el AsInteger, ind AsIntegerDim align_center_collection()
   el = 0
   ind = 0ForEach Elem_td In IEDoc.frames(1).frames(1).document.getElementById("notPrintable").document.getElementsByName("result")(0).document.getElementsByTagName("td")
   el = el + 1If Elem_td.Align = "center"Then
           ind = ind + 1EndIfNext
   
   MsgBox el & " and " & ind   ' if onclick : 42 and 0 (expected 34 and 16)' if rowspan : 42 and 42(expected 34 and 34)' if align = center : 42 and 2 (expected 34 and 2) - > good' if align = left : 42 and 14 (expected 34 and 14) - > good' if rowSpan : 42 and 42 (expected 34 and 34)

   2. I noticed that at some point the Intellisense of VBA won't help you anymore to know the available properties/methods so that's why I had to go through a few tests
   3. It seems impossible somehow to do all this step by step because even though the typename returns a valid type, I can't store this in a variable of that same type.
   4. I didn't select one exact element finally, but since (as you can see on the picture) there are a few clickable, I didn't do the "finition".