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Using vb.net to output text to a browser textbox?

So here is what I'm try to attain:

I current use the signature plug-in for Firefox. I currently use it to manage my canned answers as work. My one dislike of the signature plug-in is that it allows me now way to organize signatures based on something like a category. So I have coded a GUI to organize specific canned answers but I cannot find any way to have the vb.net application push the data out to a text box in a browser web page. To explain to more detail at work our ticketing system is accessed through a browser and so I am trying to get my vb code to output text to the browser.

Also I am trying to also get the application the push specific text on a computer to where ever the text cursor is currently located. If this is an easier option then passing the data to an actual text box on a web page I'll use that option for both functions.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

1 Answer

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    You can add a reference to the system.web namespace and gain access to the web document model. I was recently working on a similiar idea and did not go the whole way with this because I already had a solution that would work for me. My alternate solution used parts if the Windows API to enter the text at a particular location on the screen.

    here are the API declarations for VB.NET

    __________________________________________________________

    Private Declare Sub mouse_event Lib "user32" (ByVal dwFlags As Integer, ByVal dx As Integer, ByVal dy As Integer, ByVal cButtons As Integer, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Integer)

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE As Integer = &H1 ' mouse move

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN As Integer = &H2 ' left button down

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTUP As Integer = &H4 ' left button up

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN As Integer = &H8 ' right button down

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP As Integer = &H10 ' right button up

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEDOWN As Integer = &H20 ' middle button down

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEUP As Integer = &H40 ' middle button up

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_WHEEL As Integer = &H800 ' wheel button rolled

    Private Const MOUSEEVENTF_ABSOLUTE As Integer = &H8000 ' absolute move

    I used these along with the sendkeys function to enter text to the specific locations.

    Here are some sample subroutines that I used

    Private Function right_click(ByVal hold As Boolean)

    Dim i As Integer

    mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN, 0, 0, 0, 0)

    ' may be necessary to pause here

    For i = 1 To 1000

    My.Application.DoEvents()

    Next

    If Not hold Then

    mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP, 0, 0, 0, 0)

    End If

    Return True

    End Function

    Private Function move_mouse_to_location(ByVal x As Integer, ByVal y As Integer)

    Dim desired As Point

    Dim current As Point

    Dim move As Point

    Dim resolution As Rectangle

    resolution = My.Computer.Screen.Bounds

    If x > 0 And x < resolution.Right Then 'the value is legimate

    desired.X = x

    Else

    MsgBox("The value for the mouse that you passed is out of bounds. X must be a value between 0 and " & resolution.Right & " You passed the value " & x)

    desired.X = 0

    End If

    If y > 0 And y < resolution.Bottom Then

    desired.Y = y

    Else

    MsgBox("The value for the mouse that you passed is out of bounds. Y must be a value between 0 and " & resolution.Bottom & " You passed the value " & y)

    desired.Y = 0

    End If

    move = desired - current

    current.X = MousePosition.X

    current.Y = MousePosition.Y

    While current.Y > desired.Y

    mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE, 0, -1, 0, 0)

    current.Y = MousePosition.Y

    End While

    While current.Y < desired.Y

    mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE, 0, 1, 0, 0)

    current.Y = MousePosition.Y

    End While

    While current.X > desired.X

    mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE, -1, 0, 0, 0)

    current.X = MousePosition.X

    End While

    While current.X < desired.X

    mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE, 1, 0, 0, 0)

    current.X = MousePosition.X

    End While

    Return True

    End Function

    Private Function send_text(ByVal text As String)

    Dim i As Integer

    SendKeys.Send(text)

    For i = 1 To 10000

    My.Application.DoEvents()

    Next

    Return True

    End Function

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