Bring Internet Explorer Download Window to Focus - Foreground via VBA

Question

I've got a macro which currently works but I'm trying to automate the final "quirk" that I have had to live with up till now. Basically it opens IE to a URL which then closes the window and spits back a download window and I have excel use SENDKEYS to download file.

I'm struggling to bring the download window to focus, currently my end users click on the DL window for sendkeys to work as expected.

I have read through the following and tried utilizing the code to no avail:

vbscript - Bring Internet Explorer Application window to front

VBA to Activate Internet Explorer Window

Bringing Internet Explorer window to foreground

Set Focus to Internet Explorer Object in Visual Basic

There a few things to note:

• I can't download the file via batch as I need IE to pass along the credentials.
• The file is not static, the URL runs a script on the backend and then presents the file back to end terminal
• I can't have any requirement to "Enable Reference Library" on end users computers

The macro is as follows:

Public Sub DLFILE()
'This will load a webpage in IE
    Dim i As Long
    Dim URL As String
    Dim ie As Object
    Dim objElement As Object
    Dim objCollection As Object
 
    'Create InternetExplorer Object
    Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
 
    'Define URL
    URL = "http://example.com/"
 
    'Navigate to URL
    ie.navigate URL

    ' Statusbar let's user know website is loading
    Application.StatusBar = URL & " is loading. Please wait..."
    'IE ReadyState = 4 signifies the webpage has loaded (the first loop is set to avoid inadvertently skipping over the second loop)
    Do While ie.ReadyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop   'Do While
    Application.Wait (Now() + TimeValue("00:00:04"))
    SendKeys "{RIGHT}{RIGHT}{ENTER}{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{ENTER}"
    'Do Until IE.ReadyState = 4: DoEvents: Loop   'Do Until
 
    'Unload IE
    Set ie = Nothing
    Set objElement = Nothing
    Set objCollection = Nothing
    
End Sub

Also note, this doesn't bring up the prompt in the bottom of the IE window, but closes that window and brings up the "Full Downloads Window" like below.

Answer 1

As the shortcut for the "View Downloads" window is Ctrl+J in IE so I think we can use sendkeys to click Ctrl+J to bring the window to the front.

Sample code:

Sub LOADIE()
    Set ieA = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
    ieA.Visible = True
    ieA.navigate "https://www.bing.com/"
    Do Until ieA.readyState = 4
       DoEvents
    Loop
    Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("00:00:03"))
    Application.SendKeys "^{j}"
End Sub

Result:

Answer 2

What I ended up doing was using an ObjURL to open the IE instance and then a DLUrl which I opened after. This made a few important adjustments, it's similar to opening a second tab in IE which would close, but instead of using the "Downloads Window" it would use the prompt at the bottom of the IE Window. This allowed me to continue to control the IEObj as the original ObjURL was still open. I couldn't get excel VBA to consistently control the "Downloads Window", but I was able to get consistent results using the following snippets. Between the two adjustments I now have consistent results.

Public Declare Function SetForegroundWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal HWND As Long) As Long

And

'Bring IEObj to Focus
HWNDSrc = IEObj.HWND
SetForegroundWindow HWNDSrc

Full Sub:

Public Declare Function SetForegroundWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal HWND As Long) As Long
Public Sub DL_File_IE()
    Dim DLUrl As String, ObjURL As String
    Dim IEObj As Object, objElement As Object, objCollection As Object
 
    Set IEObj = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
    IEObj.Visible = True
    
    ObjURL = "http://google.com"
    DLUrl = "http://example.com/file
    
    IEObj.navigate ObjURL
    Do Until IEObj.readyState = 4
       DoEvents
    Loop
    IEObj.navigate DLUrl

    'Bring IEObj to Focus
    HWNDSrc = IEObj.HWND
    SetForegroundWindow HWNDSrc

    Application.Wait (Now() + TimeValue("00:00:02"))
    SendKeys "{TAB}{TAB}{ENTER}", True ' Select "Save" in DL Window
    Application.Wait (Now() + TimeValue("00:00:02"))
    SendKeys "%{f4}", True ' Alt + F4 = Close IEObj
    
    'Unload IE
    Set IEObj = Nothing
    Set objElement = Nothing
    Set objCollection = Nothing
    
End Sub