comment on

Basically what I need to do is get data from an already open IE window. I want to run the Perl script every minute to get the data that a user has entered in the browser window.

I can find the browser windows using Win32::Gui & GuiTest but from my searches it looks like I need to use Win32::OLE to extract anything from the windows. I'm hoping to fiddle with the DOM to get what I need from the web page and possibly change values later on.

So I've tried the GetActiveObject and EnumAllObjects and cannot find any Internet Explorer window although I can find Excel windows. I saw some examples on the web but they all seem to open new IE windows and that does not help me. I need to get to windows that are already open.

I'm using IE 6.0.29 on XP SP2 and Perl V5.8.8. Here is some of the code that does not work for me.

use strict;
use warnings;

use Cwd;
use Win32::Gui;
use Win32::Clipboard;

use Win32::GuiTest qw(:ALL);  
# Had to use GuiTest to do a sendkeys. Also found ShowWind-minimize me
+thod (don't use hide or you will never see the window again)

use Win32::OLE;    # need this to open up and IE window
use Win32::OLE qw(EVENTS in with valof );
use Win32::OLE::Variant;
Win32::OLE->Option( Warn => 2 ); # Always warn with verbose error mess
+ages

# try to find all OLE objects
my $Count = Win32::OLE->EnumAllObjects(sub {
            my $Object = shift;
            my $Class = Win32::OLE->QueryObjectType($Object);
            printf "# Object=%s Class=%s\n", $Object, $Class;
        });
print "---- The count of all OLE objects is '$Count'.\n";        
        
my $loExcel;
$loExcel = Win32::OLE->GetActiveObject('Excel.Application');
if ( defined $loExcel ) {
    print "Found Excel.\n";
    
} else { print "Did not find and Excel object. LastError=",
        Win32::OLE->LastError, "\n"};

my $IE;
$IE = Win32::OLE->GetActiveObject( "InternetExplorer.Application" );
print "=== GetActiveObject for ie returns '$IE'\n\n" if ( defined $IE)
+;
if ( !defined $IE ) {
    print "Can not find open IE object. Creating one...\n";
#       $IE = Win32::OLE->new( 'InternetExplorer.Application', "Quit" 
+)
    $IE = Win32::OLE->new( "InternetExplorer.Application" )
      or die "Unable to create a IE Object\n";
    ################ need logic in here to wait for window to open   #
+#############################
#     Win32::OLE->WithEvents($IE,\&Event,"DWebBrowserEvents2");  
}
[download]

This is the output I get when there is an Excel and IE window open.

---- The count of all OLE objects is '0'.
Found Excel.
Can not find open IE object. Creating one...
The current directory is H:/src/Perl.
Url found from IE object 'file://H:\src\Perl\osmerrors1.html' is=file:
+//H:/src/P
erl/osmerrors1.html?5,now.
[download]

Any help is greatly appreciated. I've spent many hours with the google monster and haven't found anything that works yet. So I now have admit I'm over my head and ask for help. THX, Nick

In reply to How to get DOM from currently open IE browser. by dadto7

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