Question

If it is possible to read information from a website that is organized using a standardized layout, meaning that the site’s controls/textboxes/button etc are always in the same location, but the data/values it is holding changes.

In a C# WinForm application can I open that page in the background read some values and use those in my form? Is there a way to reference specific areas/items on the webpage, even if it is something as inefficient as tabbing exactly 12 times? Am I totally dreaming here?

Again I don’t need to click certain things on the page, just read what is in a certain textbox or things of that nature.

Answer 1

You could also use the webbrowser control to do this. To get all of the posters in this thread and their reputation, you could do this:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    webBrowser1.Navigated += new WebBrowserNavigatedEventHandler(webBrowser1_Navigated);
    webBrowser1.Navigate("http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9712699/read-website-information-display-application");    
}


private void webBrowser1_Navigated(object sender, WebBrowserNavigatedEventArgs e)
{

    foreach (HtmlElement ele in webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("SPAN"))
    {
        if (ele.GetAttribute("title") == "reputation score")
        {  
            MessageBox.Show(ele.Parent.Children[0].InnerText + " - "+ ele.InnerHtml);
        }
    }
}