how to extract data from a website while navigating logically

Question

I've posted a question earlier and I ran into another problem.

I have a website www.abc.com with 2 pages www.abc.com/a and www.abc.com/b

I need to extract data from page b by navigating from www.abc.com, based on the user input.

pseudo code would be something like this

1. prompt user for input (if input is 'b')
2. goto www.abc.com
3. search for page www.abc.com/(user input). In this case www.abc.com/b
4. extract data from this page into excel sheet or a simple text file etc.

Is there a language which would be help me in achieving this task ? Can we do this in VBA ?

Thanks

Answer 1

The easiest way to do this using VBA would be with the built-in WebBrowser Control (some examples here) which allows you to see what's going on at the same time as it's happening. Also, it allows for great portability and keeps everything in one place.

You'll probably need to find yourself a beginner's VBA tutorial, and have some HTML understanding, but it's all basic and easy-going.

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Another simple approach :

1. Download the HTML file directly from the URL
2. Parse the file
3. Extract the informations to an excel file

Chances are, the language you're most accustomed to will let you do this.