Member Avatar for Sunny28525

i need to automate web browser using vb.net

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Quick summary and a practical path forward for : recording & replaying browser actions is best done with a proper browser automation tool rather than trying to “record events” inside a generic WebBrowser host. The coderewind sample posted was hard-coded for one site, so substituting rediff.com will fail if element names/IDs differ — inspect the page and update selectors. Commercial RPA tools (as mentioned) and browser recorders (as suggested) can help, but for repeatable, scriptable VB.NET automation the two pragmatic choices are Selenium WebDriver (.NET) or Playwright for .NET. (selenium.dev)

Practical options and why you might pick them:

  • Selenium WebDriver (.NET) — robust, language bindings for .NET and good cross-browser support; good if you want fine control from VB.NET. (selenium.dev)
  • Playwright for .NET — newer, auto-waiting, reliable download APIs and a test-generator (recorder) to bootstrap scripts. Good if downloads and flaky elements are a problem. (playwright.dev)
  • Embedding a System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser in a WinForms app is possible but uses legacy engines and has compatibility limits for modern sites. Use only for simple, legacy scenarios. (learn.microsoft.com)
  • For desktop-level interaction (if you must capture OS events outside the browser) use Microsoft UI Automation APIs. (learn.microsoft.com)

How to fix the coderewind/rediff problem (step checklist)

  1. Open DevTools, find the login form element names/IDs/XPaths and update the script selectors.
  2. Replace fixed sleeps with explicit waits (WebDriverWait) so the script waits for elements.
  3. For attachments: prefer to locate the attachment link href and download it directly (or use the browser’s download preferences). Playwright’s download API often simplifies this. (playwright.dev)

Minimal VB.NET Selenium skeleton (install Selenium.WebDriver via NuGet first):

Imports OpenQA.Selenium
Imports OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome

Dim opts As New ChromeOptions()
opts.AddUserProfilePreference("download.default_directory","C:\Temp")
Using driver As IWebDriver = New ChromeDriver(opts)
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://mail.example.com")
    driver.FindElement(By.Name("userid")).SendKeys("you")
    driver.FindElement(By.Name("password")).SendKeys("pw")
    driver.FindElement(By.Id("signin")).Click()
    ' use explicit waits here before clicking attachment link
End Using

Notes: install the Selenium .NET packages and a browser driver (or use the manager that recent Selenium releases provide). Start by recording with Selenium IDE or Playwright codegen to see selectors, then translate/clean the generated script into VB.NET and add robust waits and error handling. (selenium.dev)

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Member Avatar for preetham.saroja

what d u mean-u mean u want to open the browser using vb.net..!

Member Avatar for Sunny28525

hi prretham.saroja, first thanks for reply !

i want to open any website in web browser using vb.net, and then i want to record the all events that happened on the web site like clicking, enter data in text box etc. i know it is complicated to understand. for example, i open the rediff.com in web browser and then i enter my userid and password and then i read a particular mail what has an attachment and then i save that attachment on desktop.
i need to store or record all events and next time i don't want to do all steps again, i just want to click on button and that attachment should be save on desktop. i mean all events should be automatically. if don't understand please tell me i will try again.

Member Avatar for binoj_daniel

So basically you need a BOT. Which will work for you:) This can be done.

Member Avatar for stevemckann

You can certainly develop this, but there are many programs out there which can do this for you.

I use a program called Automation Anywhere http://www.tethyssolutions.com/automation-software.htm
It has a web recorder tool that records all web actions. We use it automate reports at my company.

Member Avatar for binoj_daniel

Please read this article and you can download the sample app i have created. You can customize this application as per your need.

Let me know if it helps. You can read more code articles here

Member Avatar for Sunny28525

hi Binoj Daniel,
first thanks for reply.
i read your article , i think it really can help me.
so i downloded it. but when i run it it was not working properly. i just made one change only, i used "rediff.com" in place of "coderewind.com".
it gives error about link. so please tell me now what should i do ?
thanks.

Member Avatar for binoj_daniel

What error does it give, see it is customized for coderewind.com., to make it work with rediff. you have to get the form element names on the rediff. site.

Member Avatar for ashishgh

Use Selenium IDE to record automation macro for firefox thats best in World...!!!

See attachment

selenium.png 27.98 KB
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