InfoConnect VBA Guide
HowTos / Enter Data Using an Excel Form
In This Topic
Enter Data Using an Excel Form
In This Topic

This sample shows how to use an Excel form to enter data into a terminal screen.

If you prefer to run macros in pre-configured sessions instead of creating your own sessions, you can download the VBA Sample Sessions and open the enter-data-using-an-excel-form.xlsm (IBM) file. The download package contains everything you need to run the macros in this file. See Download the VBA Sample Sessions.

When the login button is clicked, the macro creates a session, enters the User name and Password into the program, and then navigates to the screen that has the data form. When the Enter Data button is pressed, the macro checks to make sure the user has logged in and displays a message to log in if required. If the user has logged in, the macro enters the data from the user form into the program.   

 

This sample applies only to IBM terminals

Note: This example macro uses the NewScreenReady event to wait until the screen is ready for input while navigating screens. To get the best performance for macros that navigate screens, consider using a SmartWait method as shown in Navigating Through IBM Screens.

To run this sample

  1. On the Excel VBA Editor Tools menu, select References and then select the following InfoConnect Libraries:
  • Attachmate_Reflection_Objects
  • Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts
  • Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework
  1. Create a User Form with the following controls:
    Properties Names
    Text Boxes
        
       
    txtUserName
    txtPassword 
    txtProject
    txtMember
    List Box lstGroup
    Check Box optType
    Command Buttons cmdEnterData, cmdLogin
  2. Copy the following code into the form code window and then place the cursor in UserForm_Initialize and press F5 to initialize the form.
    Enter data from an Excel user form
    Copy Code
    Dim screen As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.ibmScreen
    Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
      
        'Empty ProjectTextBox
        txtUserName.Value = ""
     
        'Empty TypeRadioButtons
        txtPassword.Value = ""
          
        'Empty ProjectTextBox
        txtProject.Value = ""
          
        'Empty MemberTextBox
        txtMember.Value = ""
     
        'Empty GroupListBox
        lstGroup.Clear
         
        With lstGroup
            .AddItem "Acct"
            .AddItem "Eng"
            .AddItem "Mktng"
        End With
      
        lstGroup.Value = "Acct"
        optType.Value = "True"
      
    End Sub
    Private Sub cmdLogin_Click()
        'Declare an object variable for the InfoConnect object:
        Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject
         
        'Declare additional InfoConnect objects, such as frame, terminal, and view:
        Dim frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.frame
        Dim terminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal
        Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view
         
        Dim path As String
        Dim rCode As ReturnCode
     
        'Assign the Application object to the object variable. The following code creates an instance of InfoConnect:
        Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject
      
        'wait until InfoConnect initializes
        Do While app.IsInitialized = False
            app.Wait 200
        Loop
     
        'Create controls to open and display the session document.
        Set frame = app.GetObject("Frame")
      
        Set terminal = app.CreateControl2("09E5A1B4-0BA6-4546-A27D-FE4762B7ACE1")
                                       
        terminal.HostAddress = "demo:ibm3270.sim"
        Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal)
        frame.Visible = True
        Set screen = terminal.screen
      
        'Enter the password data from the form
        rCode = screen.PutText2(txtUserName.Value, 20, 16)
        rCode = screen.PutText2(txtPassword.Value, 21, 16)
      
        'navigate to the screen you want to screen scrape
        rCode = screen.SendControlKey(ControlKeyCode_Transmit)
        rCode = screen.WaitForHostSettle(3000, 2000)
        rCode = screen.SendKeys("ISPF")
        rCode = screen.SendControlKey(ControlKeyCode_Transmit)
        rCode = screen.SendKeys("1")
        rCode = screen.SendControlKey(ControlKeyCode_Transmit)
      
        'Clear the form data
        UserForm_Initialize
    End Sub
    Private Sub cmdEnterData_Click()
        Dim project, projectType, group, member  As String
        Dim rCode As ReturnCode
        Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject
      
        'If InfoConnect isn't open, exit and display a message to log in.
        On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
        Set app = GetObject("InfoConnect Workspace")
      
        project = txtProject.Value
        group = lstGroup.Value
        member = txtMember.Value
      
        If optType.Value = "True" Then
            projectType = "New"
            Else
            projectType = "Funded"
        End If
      
        'Put the text for each value into the appropriate field
        rCode = screen.PutText2(project, 5, 18)
        rCode = screen.PutText2(group, 6, 18)
        rCode = screen.PutText2(projectType, 7, 18)
        rCode = screen.PutText2(member, 8, 18)
    
        'This demo waits 2 seconds so you can see the data after it is entered. Remove this code if you use this sample for your projects
        app.Wait (2000)
       
        'put in the command to enter the data and go to the next screen
        rCode = screen.PutText2("autoexec", 2, 15)
        rCode = screen.SendControlKey(ControlKeyCode_Transmit)
        rCode = screen.WaitForHostSettle(3000, 2000)
        rCode = screen.SendControlKey(ControlKeyCode_F3)
        rCode = screen.WaitForHostSettle(3000, 2000)
      
        'Clear the form data
        UserForm_Initialize
      
        'Exit to avoid running the error handler when there is no error
        Exit Sub
        ErrorHandler:
            MsgBox "You need to log in"
        Exit Sub
    End Sub
    
  3. After the form opens, enter any text in the User name and Password fields and click Log In. (The demo program accepts any credentials.)
     The form opens InfoConnect, logs in, and navigates to the Browse - Enter Panel screen.
                         
  4.  After the Browse - Enter Panel screen is appears, enter some text in the Project and Member fields and select an item in the Group list.
  5. Click Enter Data.
    The form enters the data on the screen.
                        
    Note: This sample includes a Wait method to make it easier to see the data that is entered in the demo. If you want to use it as a starting point for you project, remove the following line:

    'This demo waits 2 seconds so you can see the data after it is entered. Remove this code if you use this sample for your projects
        app.Wait (2000)
        

Concepts

The UserForm_Initialize() Sub creates the form displayed at the top of this article. When the Login button is clicked, the LoginButton_Click() Sub creates a new InfoConnect session as explained in Create a Session From a Microsoft Excel Macro. Then it enters the user name and password from the form into the appropriate fields on the first screen, using the ibmScreen.PutText2 method. Finally, it navigates to the screen that has the data form.

When the Enter Data button is clicked, the EnterDataButton_Click() Sub checks to make sure the user has logged in. Then it assigns the form field values to local variables and uses the PutText2 method to put the text from each form field into the appropriate program field. After the data is entered using the SendControlKey method, the user form is initialized again.

 

 

See Also