How to get access to elements embedded in a iframe?

[jwei]

I have a frame, and inside it, there's an iframe.

Anyone can tell me how to gain access to elements within the iframe? Great thanks!

Following code snippet shows the methods I tried (and failed):

; Get frame objects of the OUTER frame and the INNER iframe.
$oMainFrame = _IEFrameGetObjByName($oIE, "main_frame")
$oSubIFrame = _IEGetObjById($oMainFrame, "sub_iframe_1")

; Try to get element within the OUTER frame.
; And it seems that both the following methods will work for getting the element object.
$oElem1 = $oMainFrame.document.getElementById("main_frame_elem_1")
$oElem2 = $oSubIFrame.document.getElementById("main_frame_elem_1")
ConsoleWrite("obj info: [" & ObjName($oElem1) & "]" & @CRLF)
ConsoleWrite("obj info: [" & ObjName($oElem2) & "]" & @CRLF)

; Try to get element within the INNER iframe.
; Unfortunately both the following methods will fail to get the element object :(
$oElem3 = $oMainFrame.document.getElementById("sub_iframe_elem_1")
$oElem4 = $oSubIFrame.document.getElementById("sub_iframe_elem_1")
ConsoleWrite("obj info: [" & ObjName($oElem3) & "]" & @CRLF)
ConsoleWrite("obj info: [" & ObjName($oElem4) & "]" & @CRLF)

The obj info for $oElem1 and $oElem2 are both right.

While the obj info for $oElem3 and $oElem4 are empty.

Expecting your reply...

[DaleHohm]

What is output to the SciTe console?

Why are you mixing the calls to _IE functions with low level DOM references that do the same thing? The _IE functions will give you error handling and helpful warning messages.

Dale

[jwei]

What is output to the SciTe console?

Why are you mixing the calls to _IE functions with low level DOM references that do the same thing? The _IE functions will give you error handling and helpful warning messages.

Dale

Thanks for your reminder for not mixing _IE with low level DOM reference.

For the above code snippet, SciTe console output is like follows:

obj info: [DispHTMLTable]

obj info: [DispHTMLTable]

obj info: []

obj info: []

So the last two statements both failed. And if I replace them with _IEGetObjById, I indeed got warning messages like "IE.au3 Warning from function _IEGetObjById, $_IEStatus_NoMatch". While there should be a match as I expected.

I'm new to web auto test, and very fond of AutoIt. I'm trying to get familiar with IE.au3 so that I could make it more helpful for my routine tasks.

Expecting more suggestions on this issue and beyond, many many thanks indeed!

[jwei]

By the way, the OUTER frame contains the basic contents of the page, and the INNER iframe is used as a container for a popup menu.

[jwei]

What is output to the SciTe console?

Why are you mixing the calls to _IE functions with low level DOM references that do the same thing? The _IE functions will give you error handling and helpful warning messages.

Dale

Dale,

I read through the source code of IE.au3, and found one thing I'm not sure, it's about function parameters' description:

For some functions such as _IEFormGetCollection, the param $o_object can be iFrame.

;===============================================================================
;
; Function Name:    _IEFormGetCollection()
; Description:      Returns a collection object variable representing the Forms in the document
; Parameter(s):     $o_object   - Object variable of an InternetExplorer.Application, Window, Frame or iFrame object

While for other functions like _IEGetObjById, the $o_object is not claimed to be able to an iFrame.

;===============================================================================
;
; Function Name:    _IEGetObjById()
; Description:      Returns an object variable by Id or name
; Parameter(s):     $o_object   - Object variable of an InternetExplorer.Application, Window or Frame object

So far I have only very basic ideas about DOM, I'm not sure the difference between the management of Frame and iFrame.

I wonder if _IEGetObjById can work with an iFrame. Can I offer an iFrame object where a Frame object is expected, and hope the function will actually work with my iFrame object?

Thanks!

[DaleHohm]

Frame and iFrame can be interchanchangably in this context.

There is something else that is an important nuance however. When you get a reference to a Frame or iFrame, you can get either a "Frame as tag" or a "Frame as window".

A "Frame as tag" (which you would get from GetElementById or _IEGetObjById) is typically not what you want -- with it you can only get attribute information about the Frame or iFrame tag itself (like src), but cannot access its contents (a document).

It is a "Frame as window" that can be used in the places you can use the InternetExplorer object because it is a document container and is the parent of the document it contains. _IEFrameGetObjByName and _IEFrameGetCollection return this sort of object. You'll see that ObjName() for both Frame and iFrame gotten this way will return the same object type.

Work through the examples for _IEFrame* to get a feel for this.

Dale

[jwei]

Frame and iFrame can be interchanchangably in this context.

There is something else that is an important nuance however. When you get a reference to a Frame or iFrame, you can get either a "Frame as tag" or a "Frame as window".

A "Frame as tag" (which you would get from GetElementById or _IEGetObjById) is typically not what you want -- with it you can only get attribute information about the Frame or iFrame tag itself (like src), but cannot access its contents (a document).

It is a "Frame as window" that can be used in the places you can use the InternetExplorer object because it is a document container and is the parent of the document it contains. _IEFrameGetObjByName and _IEFrameGetCollection return this sort of object. You'll see that ObjName() for both Frame and iFrame gotten this way will return the same object type.

Work through the examples for _IEFrame* to get a feel for this.

Dale

Thanks!

Now it works by using _IEFrameGetCollection instead. That's great!

$oSubIFrame = _IEFrameGetCollection($oMainFrame, $i_Index)