How to make Excel VBA automate clicking javascript a href link in IE

Question

I have a macro in VBA which uses Excel to automate navigating to a web-page.

I am able to select elements by their ID and click or insert values to automate the site.

I am stuck however when trying to 'click' a link/button which does not seem to have any ID. It is a JavaScript link:

<div>
<table class="table" id="ctl00_cphMaster_Results" style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;" cellspacing="0">
    <tbody><tr>
        <th style="width: 70px; white-space: nowrap;" scope="col"><a href="javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','Sort$Indicator')">True?</a></th><th class="hidden" style="width: 100px;" scope="col"><a href="javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','Sort$Reference')">Reference</a></th><th scope="col"><a href="javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','Sort$Results')">Result Number</a></th><th class="hidden" scope="col">&nbsp;</th><th scope="col"><a href="javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','Sort$Type')">Type</a></th><th class="hidden" scope="col"></th><th class="hidden" scope="col">&nbsp;</th><th class="hidden" scope="col">&nbsp;</th>
    </tr><tr>
        <td align="center"><a href="Summary02.aspx?"><img title="Accepted" id="true" style="border: currentColor; border-image: none;" alt="Accepted" src="/Common/Graphics/tick_green.gif"></a><img id="Accepted" style="border: currentColor; border-image: none;" src="/Common/Graphics/tick_spacer.gif"><img id="Accepted" style="border: currentColor; border-image: none;" src="/Common/Graphics/tick_spacer.gif"></td><td class="hidden">MyValue</td><td><a href="javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','ResultNumber$0')">ResultNumber</a></td>
    </tr>
</tbody></table>

I have attempted to click 'ResultNumber$0' or trigger it in some way but so far have been unsuccessful. How can I automate IE to click this javascript link/button? My code so far:

Sub ClickJavaLink()
Const URL = "https://myurl"    
Dim ie As Object
Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")

With ie
    .navigate URL
    ieBusy ie
    .Visible = True

    For Each Item In ie.document.all
        If Item.ID = "QuickSearchField" Then
            Item.Value = 1
        End If
        If Item.ID = "QuickSearch" Then
            Item.Value = "MyValue"
        End If
        If Item.ID = "btnSearch" Then
            Item.Click
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
    ieBusy ie

'code working up to this point - below code is attempt to click the javascript link but does not work   
    For Each Item In ie.document.all
        If Item.ID = "ResultNumber$0" Then
            Item.Click
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
    ieBusy ie
End With

End Sub

Sub ieBusy(ie As Object) Do While ie.Busy Or ie.ReadyState < 4 DoEvents Loop End Sub

Answer 1

There is a better, faster, way. Use an attribute = value css selector with contains operator

ie.document.querySelector("[href*='ResultNumber$0']").click

Single line; no looping; reduced code complexity.

Answer 2

You can reach the anchor elements by first accessing the table which conveniently enough has a unique ID .

Here's how you can loop through all anchor elements inside that table:

Dim anc As HTMLAnchorElement
For Each anc In ie.Document.getElementById("ctl00_cphMaster_Results").getElementsByTagName("a")
    Debug.Print anc.innerText
    'anc.click 'uncomment this to click on all links
Next anc

For demonstration purposes the above code prints the text of these elements in the immediate window.

To access a specific element you can use the element's index. For example to access the first element in the table you can do it like so:

ie.Document.getElementById("ctl00_cphMaster_Results").getElementsByTagName("a")(0).click

To access the second one you just replace 0 with 1 and so on.

Another way to access a specific element would be to use its href attribute:

Dim anc As HTMLAnchorElement
For Each anc In ie.document.getElementById("ctl00_cphMaster_Results").getElementsByTagName("a")
    If anc.href = "javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','ResultNumber$0')" Then
        Debug.Print anc.innerText
        'anc.click
    End If
Next anc

You will need to add a reference (VBE>Tools>References) to Microsoft HTML Object Library .

Answer 3

You can try locating the href element on the page like this :

For Each item In Ie.Document.getAttribute("href", 2)

   If item.href ="javascript:__doPostBack('ctl00$cphMaster$Results','ResultNumber$0')" Then

      item.Click

         Exit For

   End If

Next item

Let me know if that works.