New function: _IELinkClickByTextTrimmed

[Andrew Peacock]

Hi all,

I had a problem with an IE-based script where the text within a link had leading and trailing spaces, and so wasn't getting clicked correctly.

Here's the solution:

; Modified function from IE class to ignore leading/trailing whitespace
Func _IELinkClickByTextTrimmed(ByRef $o_object, $s_linkText, $i_index = 0, $f_wait = 1)
    If Not IsObj($o_object) Then
        __IEErrorNotify("Error", "_IELinkClickByText", "$_IEStatus_InvalidDataType")
        SetError($_IEStatus_InvalidDataType, 1)
        Return 0
    EndIf
;
    
; Strip the input
    $s_linkText = StringStripWS($s_linkText, 3)
    Local $found = 0, $link, $linktext, $links = $o_object.document.links
    $i_index = Number($i_index)
    For $link In $links
        $linktext = $link.outerText & ""; Append empty string to prevent problem with no outerText (image) links
        $linktext = StringStripWS($linktext, 3)
        If $linktext = $s_linkText Then
            if ($found = $i_index) Then
                $link.click
                If $f_wait Then
                    _IELoadWait($o_object)
                    SetError(@error)
                    Return -1
                EndIf
                SetError($_IEStatus_Success)
                Return -1
            EndIf
            $found = $found + 1
        EndIf
    Next
    __IEErrorNotify("Warning", "_IELinkClickByText", "$_IEStatus_NoMatch")
    SetError($_IEStatus_NoMatch); Could be caused by parameter 2, 3 or both
    Return 0
EndFunc  ;==>_IELinkClickByTextTrimmed

Also, i tried to post this to the "Example Scripts" forum, but don't have permissions - is that normal?

Regards,

Andy

[Hasher]

I think you need 10+ posts to post in examples.

[big_daddy]

This would be more proper.

expandcollapse popup

#include <IE.au3>

$oIE = _IE_Example ("basic")
_IELinkClickByTextEx ($oIE, "user for", 0, 1)

;===============================================================================
;
; Function Name:    _IELinkClickByTextEx()
; Description:      Simulate a mouse click on a link with text sub-string matching the string provided
; Parameter(s):     $o_object   - Object variable of an InternetExplorer.Application, Window or Frame object
;                   $s_linkText - Text displayed on the web page for the desired link to click
;                   $i_index    - Optional: If the link text occurs more than once, specify which instance
;                                   you want to click by 0-based index
;                   $f_substring- Optional: specifies whether to match substrings
;                                   0 = (Default) Do not match substrings
;                                   1 = Match substrings
;                   $f_wait     - Optional: specifies whether to wait for page to load before returning
;                                   0 = Return immediately, not waiting for page to load
;                                   1 = (Default) Wait for page load to complete before returning
; Requirement(s):   AutoIt3 V3.2 or higher
; Return Value(s):  On Success  - Returns -1
;                   On Failure  - Returns 0 and sets @ERROR
;                   @ERROR      - 0 ($_IEStatus_Success) = No Error
;                               - 1 ($_IEStatus_GeneralError) = General Error
;                               - 3 ($_IEStatus_InvalidDataType) = Invalid Data Type
;                               - 4 ($_IEStatus_InvalidObjectType) = Invalid Object Type
;                               - 6 ($_IEStatus_LoadWaitTimeout) = Load Wait Timeout
;                               - 7 ($_IEStatus_NoMatch) = No Match
;                               - 8 ($_IEStatus_AccessIsDenied) = Access Is Denied
;                   @Extended   - Contains invalid parameter number
; Author(s):        Dale Hohm
;
;===============================================================================
;
Func _IELinkClickByTextEx(ByRef $o_object, $s_linkText, $i_index = 0, $f_substring = 0, $f_wait = 1)
    If Not IsObj($o_object) Then
        __IEErrorNotify ("Error", "_IELinkClickByTextEx", "$_IEStatus_InvalidDataType")
        SetError($_IEStatus_InvalidDataType, 1)
        Return 0
    EndIf
    ;
    Local $found = 0, $link, $linktext, $links = $o_object.document.links
    $i_index = Number($i_index)
    For $link In $links
        $linktext = $link.outerText & "" ; Append empty string to prevent problem with no outerText (image) links
        If $f_substring Then
            If Not StringInStr($linktext, $s_linkText) Then
                ContinueLoop
            EndIf
        Else
            If $linktext <> $s_linkText Then
                ContinueLoop
            EndIf
        EndIf
        If ($found = $i_index) Then
            $link.click
            If $f_wait Then
                _IELoadWait($o_object)
                SetError(@error)
                Return -1
            EndIf
            SetError($_IEStatus_Success)
            Return -1
        EndIf
        $found += 1
    Next
    __IEErrorNotify ("Warning", "_IELinkClickByTextEx", "$_IEStatus_NoMatch")
    SetError($_IEStatus_NoMatch) ; Could be caused by parameter 2, 3 or both
    Return 0
EndFunc   ;==>_IELinkClickByTextEx

[Andrew Peacock]

This would be more proper.

If Not StringInStr($linktext, $s_linkText) Then

ContinueLoop

EndIf

But won't that also click on a link called "get help for topic A here", when the script is written to find a link with text "help" as well? That's why I made it trim only - to miss out whitespace put in by various html editors or PHP pages that have inserted whitespace just so that the CODER can look at pretty code.

Andy

[DaleHohm]

Ya know, I was just bitten by this myself yesterday and decided I needed to address the issue. I intend to enhance _IELinkClickByText for the next release -- not quite sure how yet, but it may be another parameter to specify how to treat the string. This is one of the first couple of functions I wrote for the library so it is time to go back and spruce it up.

Dale