VBA - scraping websites videos | Excel VBA Part 57.2 - Basic Web Scraping with Selenium and Google Chrome

Enjoyed video on web scraping using Selenium and Google Chrome. The Selenium library is a must with most sites no longer compatible with IE so this video was very helpful :-)

I have a two simple question s(at least to begin with):

Is there a way to run the script without the Google Chrome running in the foregrand (or maybe run the Chrome instance minimized and then exit after webscraping completed)?

How can the scraped data be placed below the search screen/button (no new sheet each time search is performed)?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

------------

Pls help, i am getting error while running Element not found for name

<input type="text" id="_id2:logon:USERNAME" name="_id2:logon:USERNAME" value="SDN004">

Option Explicit
Private ch As Selenium.ChromeDriver
Sub test()

Set ch = New Selenium.ChromeDriver
ch.Start baseUrl:="http://sapbi.crb.apmoller.net/BOE/CMC"
ch.Get "/"
ch.FindElementByName("_id2:logon:USERNAME").SendKeys "SDN004"

End Sub

Andrew, first let me thank you for your Videos and your easy going persona, which is the embodiment of your websiet (WiseOwl).

I've learned how to scrape websites using selemium basic from you, with a great deal of success. I've run into a bit of a problem which I do not know how to solve, and I've agonized over coming here for help in order not to bother you. But I am out of ideas after a few weeks os researching. So I hope you find the time. 

I am simply taking a table from the website and sending it to excel by using (NomPrpVoteTbl.AsTable.ToExcel DS.Cells(lRow, 1).

However I am getting the following error: 

Run-time error '-2147417856 (80010100)'  System Call Failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80010100 (RPC_E_SYS_CALL_FAILED))

This is in a loop and I am executing the "asTable.toExcel" a few dozen times. If I limit the amount of times in the loop the error does not happen.

Any help, or pointers would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks for sharing such great informative training videos. Even toughest of the tough topic are made easy to understand. Even a person without any coding knowledge can digest your topics and become an expert..

Im getting a

Run-time error '1004': Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A03EC

Table.AsTable.ToExcel ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("DirStatus").Cells(2, 10)

Suprisingly the same code was running fine for 30-35 days, however offlate from past two days without any changes being done to the code it authomatically started throwing up this error. If possible kindly give your thoughts on the same..

Thank again for sharing all your training vidoes.

Hi Andrew,

Subsequent to my earier post, i made some adjustments. I am still stuck at how to get the output data into one results sheet in the pivot table format. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. The sample input data is valid for this code. 

Thanks much!

Option Explicit

Private chromebrowser As Selenium.ChromeDriver ' declaration at the module level. note we changed DIM to Private

Sub LoopScrapePropTaxWebsiteNew()

Dim FindBy As New Selenium.By ' declaration of an auto instancing BY object to query any changes to HTML class name

Dim PropertyOwnerQueryResults As Selenium.WebElements ' Declaration of a variable that can take multiple web elements
Dim PropertyTaxResults As Selenium.WebElements   ' Declaration of a variable that can take only one web element
Dim PropertyOwnerQueryResult As Selenium.WebElement
Dim PropertyTaxResult As Selenium.WebElement
Dim PropInfoTable As Selenium.WebElement
Dim PropTaxtable As Selenium.WebElement
Dim ValNo As String
Dim StratNo As String

Set chromebrowser = New Selenium.ChromeDriver

chromebrowser.Start 'The base URL in google chrome
chromebrowser.Get "https://ptsqueryonline.fsl.org.jm/PTSOnlineWeb/ptsquery.jsp" ' access the home page. If we wanted to access any page, we would just indicate the page name after the forward slash

Application.ScreenUpdating = False  'This line will turn off the screen flickering

Worksheets("PropTaxData").Activate ' Go back to the property Tax Sheet
Range("A2").Select
    
'-----------Loop to download the Property Tax Information
    
    Do Until ActiveCell.Value = ""
        
        ValNo = ActiveCell.Value
        StratNo = ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value
        
    If chromebrowser.IsElementPresent(FindBy.Name("valuationno"), 5000) = False Then ' this is to account for any changes in class name as time passes. the number is the timeout period in millisecond, ie 3000 milliseconds is 3 sec
        chromebrowser.Quit ' code to exit the chrome browser
        MsgBox "Could not find search input box", vbExclamation  ' Code to diplay message box with error
        Exit Sub  ' Exit sub routine
    End If ' end if statement

    chromebrowser.FindElementByName("valuationno").SendKeys ValNo

    If chromebrowser.IsElementPresent(FindBy.Name("stratalotno"), 5000) = False Then ' this is to account for any changes in class name as time passes. the number is the timeout period in millisecond, ie 3000 milliseconds is 3 sec
        chromebrowser.Quit ' code to exit the chrome browser
        MsgBox "Could not find search input box", vbExclamation  ' Code to diplay message box with error
        Exit Sub  ' Exit sub routine
    End If ' end if statement

    chromebrowser.FindElementByName("stratalotno").SendKeys StratNo

    If chromebrowser.IsElementPresent(FindBy.Class("btn"), 5000) = False Then ' this is to account for any changes button name as time passes. the number is the timeout period in millisecond, ie 3000 milliseconds is 3 sec
        chromebrowser.Quit ' code to exit the chrome browser
        MsgBox "Could not find submit button", vbExclamation  ' Code to diplay message box with error
        Exit Sub  ' Exit sub routine
    End If ' end if statement

    chromebrowser.FindElementByClass("btn", 3000).Click

'---------------Retriving the results of the property tax query

    Set PropertyOwnerQueryResults = chromebrowser.FindElementsByClass("form-horizontal")

    If PropertyOwnerQueryResults.Count = 0 Then      ' Condition to account for an empty result set
        'chromebrowser.Quit
        MsgBox "No Results Found" & " " & "for Valuation No" & " " & ValNo, vbExclamation
        Exit Sub
    End If

        For Each PropertyOwnerQueryResult In PropertyOwnerQueryResults ' loops through the web elements

            Set PropInfoTable = PropertyOwnerQueryResult.FindElementByTag("tbody")
             'Debug.Print PropInfoTable.Text ' print the webeleemnt texts to the immediate window
             
        Next PropertyOwnerQueryResult

    ProcessTable PropInfoTable
    
    chromebrowser.FindElementById("back").Click 'Select the back button
     
    Worksheets("PropTaxData").Activate
        
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select ' Go to the next cell
    
    Loop
    
    'Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Sub

Sub ProcessTable(TableToProcess As Selenium.WebElement)

    Dim AllRows As Selenium.WebElements
    Dim SingleRow As Selenium.WebElement
    Dim AllRowCells As Selenium.WebElements
    Dim SingleCell As Selenium.WebElement
    Dim OutputSheet As Worksheet
    Dim RowNum As Long, ColNum As Long
    Dim TargetCell As Range
    

    Set OutputSheet = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Results")
    
    Set AllRows = TableToProcess.FindElementsByTag("tr")

    For Each SingleRow In AllRows
    
        RowNum = RowNum + 1
        Set AllRowCells = SingleRow.FindElementsByTag("td")
        
        If AllRowCells.Count = 0 Then
            Set AllRowCells = SingleRow.FindElementsByTag("th")
        End If
        
        For Each SingleCell In AllRowCells
        
            ColNum = ColNum + 1
            
            Set TargetCell = OutputSheet.Cells(RowNum, ColNum)
            
            TargetCell.Value = SingleCell.Text
            
            'Debug.Print SingleCell.Text
        Next SingleCell
    
        ColNum = 0
        
    Next SingleRow

End Sub

Hi Andrew,

I am loving your content. The videos are insightful, simple and easy to understand. Using Selenium, I am writing a webscraping script to loop over an excel array of values to login a website, copy the particulars from that website and write the contents to an excel sheet.  The data is returned across as a table. I know the script works as the data is generated in the immediate window.  I need your guidance how to write the details to an excel file in a pivot table format with the appropriate headers.

Here is some sample values to test the script

16402008114

17006012198

00604005040

06901022020

031D5Y27115

19002019045

031D5Y27129

031D5Y27134

105D5Z02004

031D5Y27109

16301002229

Looking forward to your kind support

Option Explicit

Private chromebrowser As Selenium.ChromeDriver ' declaration at the module level. note we changed DIM to Private

Sub LoopScrapePropTaxWebsite()

Dim FindBy As New Selenium.By ' declaration of an auto instancing BY object to query any changes to HTML class name

Dim PropertyOwnerQueryResults As Selenium.WebElements ' Declaration of a variable that can take multiple web elements
Dim PropertyTaxResults As Selenium.WebElements   ' Declaration of a variable that can take only one web element
Dim PropertyOwnerQueryResult As Selenium.WebElement
Dim PropertyTaxResult As Selenium.WebElement
Dim PropInfoTable As Selenium.WebElement
Dim PropTaxtable As Selenium.WebElement
Dim ValNo As String
Dim StratNo As String

Set chromebrowser = New Selenium.ChromeDriver

chromebrowser.Start 'The base URL in google chrome
chromebrowser.Get "https://ptsqueryonline.fsl.org.jm/PTSOnlineWeb/ptsquery.jsp" ' access the home page. If we wanted to access any page, we would just indicate the page name after the forward slash

Application.ScreenUpdating = False  'This line will turn off the screen flickering

Worksheets("PropTaxData").Activate ' Go back to the property Tax Sheet
Range("A2").Select
    
'-----------Loop to download the Property Tax Information
    
    Do Until ActiveCell.Value = ""
        
        ValNo = ActiveCell.Value
        StratNo = ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value
        
    If chromebrowser.IsElementPresent(FindBy.Name("valuationno"), 5000) = False Then ' this is to account for any changes in class name as time passes. the number is the timeout period in millisecond, ie 3000 milliseconds is 3 sec
        chromebrowser.Quit ' code to exit the chrome browser
        MsgBox "Could not find search input box", vbExclamation  ' Code to diplay message box with error
        Exit Sub  ' Exit sub routine
    End If ' end if statement

    chromebrowser.FindElementByName("valuationno").SendKeys ValNo

    If chromebrowser.IsElementPresent(FindBy.Name("stratalotno"), 5000) = False Then ' this is to account for any changes in class name as time passes. the number is the timeout period in millisecond, ie 3000 milliseconds is 3 sec
        chromebrowser.Quit ' code to exit the chrome browser
        MsgBox "Could not find search input box", vbExclamation  ' Code to diplay message box with error
        Exit Sub  ' Exit sub routine
    End If ' end if statement

    chromebrowser.FindElementByName("stratalotno").SendKeys StratNo

    If chromebrowser.IsElementPresent(FindBy.Class("btn"), 5000) = False Then ' this is to account for any changes button name as time passes. the number is the timeout period in millisecond, ie 3000 milliseconds is 3 sec
        chromebrowser.Quit ' code to exit the chrome browser
        MsgBox "Could not find submit button", vbExclamation  ' Code to diplay message box with error
        Exit Sub  ' Exit sub routine
    End If ' end if statement

    chromebrowser.FindElementByClass("btn", 3000).Click

'---------------Retriving the results of the property tax query

    Set PropertyOwnerQueryResults = chromebrowser.FindElementsByClass("topInfo")

    If PropertyOwnerQueryResults.Count = 0 Then      ' Condition to account for an empty result set
        'chromebrowser.Quit
        MsgBox "No Results Found" & " " & "for Valuation No" & " " & ValNo, vbExclamation
        Exit Sub
    End If

        For Each PropertyOwnerQueryResult In PropertyOwnerQueryResults ' loops through the web elements
            Debug.Print PropertyOwnerQueryResult.Text ' print the webeleemnt texts to the immediate window
        
        Next PropertyOwnerQueryResult

    Set PropertyTaxResults = chromebrowser.FindElementsByClass("middleTable")
    
    If PropertyTaxResults.Count = 0 Then          ' Condition to account for an empty result set
        chromebrowser.Quit
        MsgBox "No Results Found", vbExclamation
        Exit Sub
    End If

        For Each PropertyTaxResult In PropertyTaxResults  ' This For Loop goes through the elements of the results table and prints the text in the immediate window
    
            Debug.Print PropertyTaxResult.Text
            

        Next PropertyTaxResult
        
    
    chromebrowser.FindElementById("back").Click 'Select the back button
     
    Worksheets("PropTaxData").Activate
        
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select ' Go to the next cell
    
    Loop
    
   

End Sub

Hi Andrew,

Thank you so much for your reply to my post under Excel VBA Part 47.1. I've managed to apply and adjust the code scroll through all pages and tabs on the AustralianSuper site. When I tried to use a similar approach on another website, I seem to be running into a challenge. On this page https://www.pfzw.nl/over-ons/zo-beleggen-we/waarin-we-beleggen/overzicht-aandelen.html I want to copy the table (like with the AustralianSuper). But all of these FindElementByXXX don't seem to find the table, while in the inspector I can see it there clearly:

 Set PFZWTable = ch.FindElementByClass("data-table style-scope p-data-table")
 Set PFZWTable = ch.FindElementByCss(".data-table.style-scope.p-data-table")
 Set PFZWTable = ch.FindElementByTag("Table")
 Set PFZWTable = ch.FindElementsByXPath("//*[@id='tabledatasource-642984829']//div/div/div/div/table")

Inspector element: <table class="data-table style-scope p-data-table" style="min-width: 830px">, XPath //*[@id="tabledatasource-642984829"]//div/div/div/div/table

I've also given the page a little while to load (ch.Wait "3000"), just in case it needed time to load. I seem to be struggling with FindElementBy the above options in general. On other pages, the only FindElement that works for me is FindElementByLinkText, and in one case ch.FindElementByCss(".next") to click the Next button. 

What am I doing wrong? Am I missing something? If an element seems to have the tag 'table' why does ch.FindElementByTag("Table") when there is only one table tag on the page? The same for FindElementByClass("data-table style-scope p-data-table"). I've watch a lot of (but admittedly not all of) your video 57.4, but still can't seem find what I'm doing wrong.

Your guidance on this is really appreciated! 

Best,