Is this a "macroable" operation? What's the best solution?

[AtomicBob]

Running XP Pro, 3ghz machine, 512 ram.

At work I get this Excel spreadsheet sent to me with plain text values
in it. Each row has maybe 25 values in it, each of which must be pasted
into a form field in IE 6, submitted, then I start pasting from the
next excel row into a new form. This form has your regular text fields,
a few checkboxes, one radio button, and a few drop-down selectors,
(such as choosing a U.S. state).

What macro application would be best suited for automating this, after
"teaching" it the exact keystrokes with the first row of data? Then I
imagine I would let the macro rip on all the subsequent rows?

All I do is use ctrl-c, ctrl-v, alt-tab to get between apps, the
spacebar to select checkboxes, and the Left-Right arrow keys to select
the radio button. I also use the first letter of the state to get
within key repeat range of the U.S state I want in a dropdown, and
sometimes use the up-down arrow keys for that.

Been doing this by hand for awhile, but have been too busy to explore
an automated solution.

Thanks for all your input!
Bob

 

[Rob ^_^]

Hi Bo(m)b, again.

Where does the excel spreadsheet come from? A database? Access, Sql or
whatever. Where do the web forms come from (the same address/site?) and
where do they go?
The best business solution would eliminate all human intervention between
the data store and the data consumer (viz.. your job!) as human intervention
equates to a variable cost and a potential for errors in the
production/publishing process. (The weakest link in automated systems is the
loose nut holding the keyboard!)

The problem with Macros is variability. If both the inputs and outputs are
well known then they will work well, but they will break down once any
variability or change is introduced.

You could try a "Form Filler" like RoboForm or Gator (beware it bites!) to
fill in the static fields on your web forms like State, Country and or a
Macro to automate the cut and paste process. But again you would have to
weigh up the costs and benefits of each approach and discount the future
costs/benefits back to a NPV to access which is the best solution. The costs
of developing the macros could outweigh the cost savings of eliminating the
processing labor if the term of the process is short.

Hope my (non-) answer helps.

Regards.

 

[FloMM2]

Bob,
Have you tried to save the Excel file as a Webpage (*.htm, *.html) ?
and posting that on the webpage in IE6?

 

[marcus.tettmar]

What macro application would be best suited for automating this, after
"teaching" it the exact keystrokes with the first row of data? Then I
imagine I would let the macro rip on all the subsequent rows?

Our Macro Scheduler product will do this for you. Macro Scheduler can
do it a number of ways. At the simplest level you could just record
keystrokes/mouse events. For more reliability, and if you are not
adverse to writing a bit of code, you can retrieve data from Excel
directly using VBScript or DDE and you can drive IE using VBScript or
our WebRecorder product. There are examples showing how to manipulate
Excel and IE with Macro Scheduler on our website.

So there are a number of ways to achieve what you want with Macro
Scheduler using different degrees of complexity.

You can read about Macro Scheduler here:
http://www.mjtnet.com/macro_scheduler.htm

Marcus
http://www.mjtnet.com
Macro Scheduler for Windows and Software Process Automation