Question

I have the following function:

 Public Sub performautowebrowserOperations()
    Try
        For Each link As HtmlElement In WebBrowser2.Document.GetElementsByTagName("input") 'sometimes throws a null reference exception
            If link.GetAttribute("value") IsNot Nothing Then
                If link.GetAttribute("value") = "Compare prices" Then
                    link.InvokeMember("click")
                End If
            End If
        Next
    Catch ex As Exception
        MsgBox(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Sometimes the commented line throws a NullReferenceException. Why, and how do I fix it?

Answer 1

I would change the GetElementsByTagName so that it is outside of the For Each statement that way it will be easier to check if the Collection is Null or Empty.

Public Sub performautowebrowserOperations()
    Try
        Dim elements As HtmlElementCollection = WebBrowser2.Document.GetElementsByTagName("input")
        If Not IsNothing(elements) And elements.Count > 0 Then
            For Each link As HtmlElement In elements
                If link.GetAttribute("value") IsNot Nothing Then
                    If link.GetAttribute("value") = "Compare prices" Then
                        link.InvokeMember("click")
                    End If
                End If
            Next
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
        MsgBox(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub