Get data from webpage

[pfm721]

Does anyone have any experience getting data off of webpages automatically. I
guess this is really a datamining project. If anyone could point me in the
right direction for some resources on this it would be great.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Wayne-I-M]

It quite simple if you have an on-line access database (or a csv, txt etc
file that you can import to access)

What type of on line database are you using - if you have sql you can use
the same DB on and off line (but this is not a good idea for lots of reasons).

Can you give some details

Oh - any second now you will get a message from arron ??

 

[pfm721]

If it was just a problem with importing from a streamlined data source I
would have probably found an answer to what I was looking for. It really is a
data capture situation. I guess the best example would be to look at an
online auction. When the auction closed, you would want the capture to record
final item sold, sale price, date, and url for the auction. I know this is an
abstract idea, but I am trying to import so I can study data trends. I can
enter the data by hand, however there will be a large volume so some sort of
automation would be helpful to my cause.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Wayne-I-M]

Thats a little above my skill level. There are many people on this forum
MVPs and others who will know.

The automation of lots of variables will be tricky. I just a have quite a
few website with forms on and these feed access on-line db. I import the
data input onto the forms into a number of off-line DB.

Auctions will be something that need quite a little codeing as (not sure
about this) I use asp pages and with those it's quite simple

Sorry can't be any help here

 

[pfm721]

Thanks, I am hoping one of the MVP's with experience can at least point me in
the right direction as to the resources I will need to consult. I am hoping
that although code intensive it will be straight forward since all of the
information is located at the same spot on all of the pages. The design of
the page is static at least. I have wondered if I transferred it to the text
html form if I could automate it then, but I don't really know where to start.

 

[Wayne-I-M]

Not really sure if you get any help here as it does not look like an access
problem.

Can you get the information you need into an on-line database - if yes then
it's an access problem (quite simple to import to an off line DB) - if not
then its a web design problem. You will need to ask in a web forum - you
could try the frontpage forum as there are many web gurus in there.

 

[MikeR]

Thanks, I am hoping one of the MVP's with experience can at least point me in
the right direction as to the resources I will need to consult. I am hoping
that although code intensive it will be straight forward since all of the
information is located at the same spot on all of the pages. The design of
the page is static at least. I have wondered if I transferred it to the text
html form if I could automate it then, but I don't really know where to start.

I'm no MVP, but here goes.
For me, it would be easier from a stand-alone program, if you have the tools to write
one. I'm not competent enough with VBA to tell you how to do it in Access. Hopefully
you can call an external dll.

In any case start with WinInet.dll. Google will turn up a ton of stuff. There are
some good articles on the Microsoft site. You can use it to read a web page into a
string variable, and parse it as you wish.

Secure pages (https://) are tougher, but maybe doable.

To get a feel for what you'd need to search the string for, right click on a web page
of interest, and choose 'View source', then see if you can find what you're looking
for(some distinct word or phrase).

HTH,
Mike