IE Error on Page Message

[rjw524]

Hello,

My name is RJ and I'm brand new to WebRecorder and Macro Scheduler (just downloaded the software last night).

I was using another Macro writing program and honestly, it was a very effective and useful program all things considered. However, the macros i have to create now are more complex than my original program could service and after looking at a few options, WebRecorder and Macro Scheduler looked like the ideal next step. I do have some light programming experience but nothing to brag about.

I am having a problem with WebRecorder and Internet Explorer and I was hoping someone here could help me out...

The macro I have to write in this instance solely uses Internet Explorer. For my work, I have to access a particular website. This website has recently introduced a lot of "buttons", Popup Menus, and mouseover Menus that are AJAX and JavaScript coded.

When I run a search on the site it brings up a table with the results (25 records per page). My searches typically generate anywhere from 20 to 40 pages (so, 500 to 1000 records). I need the macro to do the following:

1) Login to website if necessary (and know NOT to login if it is not necessary).

1) Once the results table is loaded (for example: Page 1 of 25) I need it to select the "All" link at the the top of the page to select the 25 records on the page.

2) Once the results are selected (a checkmark in a box next to each record signals this) I then have to save these records to the particular project that I created. This is done by clicking on the "Save" button also near the top right of the page.

3) The Save button opens up a small popup menu with a list of links to various Projects that I have created. (NOTE: This menu is NOT a drop down box like you see with Google or other Incremental Find styled boxes. If you try to use CTRL-F to find a term that shows up in the pop-up box, the browser does not see it.)

4) I then click on the appropriate project (Let's say "Project A"). This adds the names to the project and the webpage takes a few seconds to reload. The page looks exactly the same just with a green confirmation message at the very top.

5) I then need it click on "Next Page" at the bottom right of the page to go to the following page of results.

6) After that it needs to loop through the Click "All", Click "Save", Click "Project A-03" and Click "Next Page" steps again without going through the login step.

7) It needs to continue doing this until there are no more "Next Page" buttons to click.

Mouseclicks will not be reliable, and using Find, Tab, "Shift-Tab" commands no longer work with the new scripting.

When I record the macro in WebRecorder, WR allows me to login just fine and it opens the project with no problem. But then...

Problems Recording the Macro:

1: The browser inside WebRecorder loads the site with the records table intact. But when I click the "All" tab to select the records, nothing happens. I have to click it twice for the records on the page to get the checkmark.

2) The WebRecorder internal browser does NOT go to the next page. The 1st page just reloads and I get an error message in red at the top.


Problems Running The Macro:

1) Since the macro actually runs in IE it appears to do everything right except the "Next Page" step. When it tries to go to the "Next Page" nothing happens. Also, an "Error on Page" message appears at the bottom of Internet Explorer.

I did not get this kind of error in IE prior to using the WebRecorder. Not only can't WebRecorder open any links at this point, but even when I stop the program and manually try to click on any links, nothing happens.

I tried opening the site in Firefox and going through the same steps and had no problems.

Also, I have another computer that I work from and I went to the same site using IE and had no problem navigating the site from the 2nd computer.

This is probably basic stuff for people who are experienced with WebRecorder and Macro Scheduler, but they have me pretty baffled. If anyone here can help (and y'know...quickly, lol) I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,

R.J.

[Marcus Tettmar]

It could simply be something about the site that WR can't cope with. It sounds like an onClick handler or similar is failing to fire. In order to do what it does WR has to "hook" all OnClick handlers. For us to figure it out and try and fix we'd need the URL so that we can replicate and see what is different about this particular site and work out if it is something we can workaround. If possible could you send this to us to [email protected]

However, all this ajax and dynamic stuff may mean that this can't easily be automated with WR. The best approach in my opinion for this kind of thing is image recognition. Image Recognition can be used to find the labels/links/buttons etc on the screen and return their position so that you can then move the mouse to them. This means the coordinates do not need to be fixed and they can move about without stopping the script from working as FindImagePos will always find the object dynamically.