Trouble in filling out a form in IE by using _IEFormGetObjByName

[Elena21]

Hello, I am too new to AutoIT, in fact i have just started using it. I have been wandering around forums and documentation for the last couple of days. Good thing is learning curve is not steep and I have found autoIt quite useful because of it.

However, there are some points where i can't succeed to make my code working even though i have used existing blocks of code that describe similar things (something like this  https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/89520-_ie-troubles/) . I was hoping you could assist me in this. 

My intention is to automate the browser, specifically IE, to fill out a "form" (will explain quotes shortly) and so on.I manage to get to a page successfully, followed codes of how to login and navigate through the website, but exploring this particular form (described in the block) was where I got stuck.  I am still in the early part of what I need to do. (Ultimately I want to download thousands of data from a web portal but I have a long way to go for this).

Anyway, for the form I am talking about, I am using the following code: 

$oForm = _IEFormGetObjByName ($oIE, "home_details")
$oQuery1 = _IEFormElementGetObjByName ($oForm, "home_id")
_IEFormElementSetValue ($oQuery1,"16623")

Where home id is part of the "form" which i need to set as a specific number (for e.g. 16623). I don't care about the rest.

Now, 

_IEFormGetObjByName

is supposed to have as name : "Specify the name of the Form you wish to match"

The thing is the particular form does not have a name (see 2nd screenshot) i.e. there is no form id, or form name in element source. 

The form looks like this :

 

and the page element looks like this:

 

The result is that i don't get anything. There is no error in my code but there is also no return, no filling the form. Which made me think this is not a form but then again what is it. I also tried to use 

_IEGetObjById($oIE, "home_id")

to get to that element directly but it didn't work. This could be for really obvious reasons but not enough obvious for me. On the other hand the particular debugger is not enough to tell me what i am doing wrong (i.e. is there really a form, not and w.e.).

Thanks in advance and I hope I described my issue well. Should you need any clarifications just ask and I will do my best. 

[Danp2]

First place I would check is the line:

$oForm = _IEFormGetObjByName ($oIE, "home_details")

The line is probably failing b/c "home_details" is the ID for a Div element. There isn't a form shown AFAICS.

[Elena21]

Thanks for your answer and I agree with you. This was the closest I could find to a name... So, how can I point to that element then i.e. the home_id ? 

Why does  the following also fail?

_IEGetObjById($oIE, "home_id")

There is no other command I could find to match this ...

[mLipok]

Try to read and use this:

   ie.au3 UDF with AutoIt v3.3.14.x  

EDIT:
and say: Do you have any further information after using knowledge from this mentioned link ?

 

Edited October 14, 2015 by mLipok

[Elena21]

Hi mLipok, thanks for this post; I was looking at debugging earlier but this didn't come up (maybe add it in keywords).

This is actually very helpful and definitely a good practice so will use it from now on.

So, yes I tried it in my code. The results were for: 

_IEFormGetObjByName

@error = 7
@extended = 0

For 

_IEGetObjById($oIE, "used a random_id")

@error = 7
@extended = 2

And finally for

_IEGetObjById($oIE, "home_id")

were nothing as there was no error. So, the only thing is that i cannot make it to write into the box. I used

send("16623")

but nothing. 

Also, @error = 7 means no match? What does @extended mean? Not sure i get it. 

Anyway, thanks for your suggestion to use "if error" blocks, it clarified a lot.

 

 

 

[mLipok]

@extended = parameter number

_IEGetObjById($oIE, "home_id")

were nothing as there was no error. So, the only thing is that i cannot make it to write into the box. I used

send("16623")

but nothing. 

...was no error.. so all is ok.

Using send is useless.

Try this:

Local $oIE_Home = _IEGetObjById($oIE, "home_id")
_IEFormElementSetValue($oIE_Home, "1234")

 

EDIT:

btw.

Welcome to the forum.

Edited October 14, 2015 by mLipok

[Danp2]

Looks like there may be frames involved. Have you ruled them out?

[mLipok]

Looks like there may be frames involved. Have you ruled them out?

No.

Op say

_IEGetObjById($oIE, "home_id")

were nothing as there was no error. So, the only thing is that i cannot make it to write into the box. I used

so _IEGetObjById works correctly.

The only one thing is that @Elena21 need to use IE UDF function to set text in input fileds instead using AutoIt internal Send() function.

 

[Danp2]

@mLipok,

You are probably correct. I just saw the iframe reference in the OP and wanted to make sure that they weren't affecting the outcome of the _IE function calls.

Dan

[mLipok]

No problem @Danp2 let see what OP say.

 

[Elena21]

@Danp2, @mLipok  

This is so great, it worked! Thanks both. Actually, I was using send() because i thought, since this is not a form, i cannot use the 

_IEFormElementSetValue

command so I found something similar. Thank you for the welcome, today I've learnt important elements from you. +1  See you soon, I bet I will have more questions coming.  

[mLipok]

Good to you. Keep learning.

mLipok