Navigating a Web Browser Using Excel VBA and Selenium Basic (Automation)

The general format consists of an object declaration and then a call to a function.

Object declaration:

Dim selenium_obj As New Selenium.[Chosen Web Driver]

There are several possible web drivers

• ChromeDriver: For the Google Chrome Web Browser
• EdgeDriver: For the Microsoft Edge Web Browser
• FirefoxDriver: For the Mozilla Firefox Browser
• IEDriver: For the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web Browser
• OperaDriver: For the Opera Web Browser
• PhantomJSDriver: For the PhantomJS Browser
• WebDriver: General use

*There is also the ability to read PDF files using PdfFile

Web navigation – open a browser and navigate to a page:

selenium_obj.Start(Browser_Name, URL)

Parameter	Description
Browser_Name	REQUIRED. The name of a web browser in string form. “chrome” “firefox” “edge” “ie” “opera” “phantomjs”
URL	REQUIRED. The navigation location, a URL or file location.

Web navigation – when a browser is already open:

selenium_obj.Get(URL, Timeout, Raise)

Timeout and Raise are optional parameters.

Parameter	Description
URL	REQUIRED. The navigation location, a URL or file location.
Timeout	OPTIONAL. The amount of time the application should try to navigate the web browser to the specified URL
Raise	OPTIONAL. Boolean value specifying whether an alert should be issued when Timeout duration has expired.

Web navigation – return to the previous page:

selenium_Obj.GoBack

Goes back one page, like pressing a web browser’s back button.

Web navigation – move forward one page:

selenium_Obj.GoForward

Navigates the browser forward one page, like pressing the web browser’s forward button.

Example 1: Start()

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
     Dim selenium_Obj As New Selenium.ChromeDriver
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Start("chrome", "https://agile-mercurial.com")
    selenium_Obj.Wait 5000
End Sub

The above code should open up the Chrome web browser and navigate to https://agile-mercurial.com. It should also wait for 5 seconds.

Example 2: Get()

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
     Dim selenium_Obj As New Selenium.ChromeDriver
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Start("chrome", "https://agile-mercurial.com")
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Get("https://google.com")
     selenium_Obj.Wait 5000
 End Sub

The code above will open a browser, navigate to https://agile-mercurial.com, then navigate to https://google.com. It should also wait for 5 seconds.

Example 3: GoBack()

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
     Dim selenium_Obj As New Selenium.ChromeDriver
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Start("chrome", "https://agile-mercurial.com")
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Get("https://google.com")
    
     Call selenium_Obj.GoBack
     selenium_Obj.Wait 5000
 End Sub

This code will go to one web page, then a second page, and then it will return to the first page.

Example 4: GoForward()

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
     Dim selenium_Obj As New Selenium.ChromeDriver
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Start("chrome", "https://agile-mercurial.com")
    
     Call selenium_Obj.Get("https://google.com")
    
     Call selenium_Obj.GoBack
    
     Call selenium_Obj.GoForward
     selenium_Obj.Wait 5000
 End Sub

The above code navigates to one page, then a second page. It will then go back to the first page before finally going forward to the second page.

SHARE

Oscar perez

Arquitecto especialista en gestion de proyectos si necesitas desarrollar algun proyecto en Bogota contactame en el 3006825874 o visita mi pagina en www.arquitectobogota.tk

• 
• 
• 
• 
•