Few tasks are more tedious, slow and prone to errors than manual data entry which makes the automation of data entry a very attractive prospect. Automation is not without its hazards however and a badly written program will allow you to screw up a whole lot faster than just typing by hand.

Many business applications have been designed to allow the use of a web brower and html generated by the application to act as a user interface. Unfortunately most web browsers have a limited ability to interact with other applications such as MS Excel and Access and often require the use of a third party application to create a connection in order to allow tasks to be automated.

Enter Web Address of Form and click load form. If blank then the default form will load.

Copy and Paste Area

Target Form Array Number

Test data to demonstrate the function

fAccount_number,fMaster_Acct,fCompany_Name,fAddr1,fAddr2,fCity,fState,fZipcode,fContact,fPhone
10010,50001,Adobe, 6047 Arcu. Street,Attn: Payroll,Moorhead,ID,53144,Irene E. Marks,3603096007
10013,50001,Adobe,1744 Aliquam Ave,Attn: Sales and Marketing,Idabel,VT,93014,Giselle P. Morton,9313571267
10016,50001,Adobe, 5946 Augue Av.,Attn: Advertising,Forrest City,SD,7627,September Y. Moore,6839358762
10019,50001,Adobe,7116 Nunc Avenue,Attn: Tech Support,Arlington,TX,10414,Jasmine B. Camacho,9081142363
10022,50001,Adobe, 8438 Maecenas Av.,Attn: Sales and Marketing,Manassas Park,NE,46280,Alma T. Heath,930351418
10025,50001,Adobe,1785 Sagittis Avenue,Attn: Human Resources,Cairo,SC,38272,Hedda B. Dale,6915788760
10028,50002,Altavista,7578 Egestas St.,Attn: Accounting,Batavia,AK,5729,Zelda Q. Townsend,345227855

This simple application uses a form and javascript code to enter data into a html form from a separate page or application contained within an iframe on the page. The page has several functions.

• The Load Form button and the function "loadforms()" puts the target form in the iframe div.
• The Analyze Form button calls the " listformobjects()" function which the controls of the target form(s) and lists them as a comma delimited list that can be pasted into excel or some other spreadsheet.
• The Run New Record Script button calls the "loadforms()" function which takes the comma delimited contents of the copy and paste area and parses the text by spliting it at carriage return and new line characters. An array of records is created with the first record being a list of names of the fields on the form. Subsequent records are the data to be inputted into specific fields listed in the same order as the field names. The program calculates the number of records and loops through the array. The "NEXT RECORD" button is triggered to advance to a blank form. The record is split at the commas into items, creating an array. The program loops through the array, associating each item with the appropriate control name and writing that item in the form. When the form is filled the "ADD RECORD" button is triggered to finalize the transaction. The program then enters the next record until the end of the record array is reached. Highlighted in yellow above is some sample data in comma delimited format that can be inserted into the copy and paste area and the Run New Record Script button clicked to demonstrate the program.

The text of this function can be found here.

Function to load data into form in the iframe works only in Internet Explorer. Only tested in 6.0.2 Colin Riley Nov 2007

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