Web import wizard

Use this page to enter information that will connect you to a website where you can import data into inventory.

URL: The start location for the web import rule. To ensure the rule will run as expected, it's a good idea to test access to this URL using the same connection settings and browser type specified here.

It's also possible to use an attribute value from the device you're running the rule against by putting the full attribute path with %% on both sides of it.

• Use anonymous connection: The normal option. If a website uses integrated security where a pop-up asks for a username and password, you'll need to enter the User and Password. If the website has fields where you log in, you still connect as anonymous.

Use proxy: If you're not using Internet Explorer, you may need to specify proxy settings. We recommend that you use Internet Explorer; it has the most comprehensive settings to handle a variety of proxies.

Use IE and its settings: Uses Internet Explorer as the browser. Most of the time you'll want to select this option. Internet Explorer allows full website functionality, ensuring a site's scripts and cookies will work seamlessly.

• Timeout: Depending on how much data you retrieve and the speed of your connection, you may need to increase the timeout value.

From this page, you can begin defining the data that will be passed to and from the website.

In the pane, right-click and select Add web form. You can also define a condition for a form. To do so, first configure a form, then right-click it and select Add condition.

From this page, you can also right-click the form name and select Add returns to specify the data that will be searched for and returned from the website.

When you're finished configuring all options, click the Finish button. Your new rule will appear in the Web Import > All Rules folder.

Use this page to define the data that is being passed to the website.

New URL: If it's necessary to switch URLs after loading the previous web page, you can specify a new page to go to. Normally, you'll have a link on the page to click instead, which is preferred.

Send data to server as: When passing managed device data to a form, it can be sent on the URL line (query string) or in a form (form data). Query string performs a GET while form data performs a POST.

If needed, you can specify the data to be passed to the web page by clicking the Add button. Enter the field name on the page that the device data should be added to, as well as the inventory value (database attribute) to be passed. To ensure the rule will work as needed, the field name must be up-to-date and the attribute must contain the correct data.

Submit properties: Specifies how control is passed to the next page—by submitting a form, clicking a button, or just loading the page.

Form name: Performs a submit on the form. Enter the name of the form.

Button: Enables a link or button to be clicked.

• Tag: The type of object, such as “a” for a link, “button” for a button, or “input” for a text field.
• Type: Type of field. Use “a” for a link or “submit” for an input field.
• Field: Field name to search for; enables you to search a field to find the proper one to click on.
• Value: The value to search for in the field. For example, if you're looking for a link that references a page called “computer.htm,” you would put “href” in the field and “computer.htm” in the value.
• Look for inner text: Searches the text between the start and end tags instead of an attribute of the tag.

Only load page: Simply loads the page instead of performing any action on it.

Delete cookies with text in name: Necessary if information is kept that causes web pages to perform differently. For example, a web page may save the last serial number searched for its warranty and then bring up the warranty page by default instead of a page asking for the serial number.

Wait for initial page load: The browser may report a page as loaded when, in fact, only one of its sub-pages is. Select this option to wait for the entire page to load before attempting to populate the form data.

• Text to appear: Text to search for in the return page. Putting WAIT here will simply cause DTS to wait.
• Max wait: Maximum number of seconds to wait for the page.

Wait after page load: Select to pause before moving onto the next step. If you're performing another post back step, this can be handled by waiting for initial page load on the next page. If you're not performing another post back step, then you may need to wait for the data to appear before searching for the return data.

• Text to appear: Text to search for in the return page. Typing WAIT here will simply cause DTS to wait, or you can select Just wait.
• Max wait: Maximum number of seconds to wait for the page.

This page lists the data you're searching for on the web page that was returned. Click the Add button to begin adding the attributes.

Treat dates as US format: Show dates in month/day/year format. If you run this rule and later discover problems with how it formats dates, you may want to disable this option at that time.

Use this page to specify the data to search for. You can add as many attributes as you want. However, you can only pull elements for one one-to-many attribute.

Attribute: The database attribute where the data will be stored. Click the ellipsis button (...) to open the attributes browser.

Use regular expressions: Use a regular expression to search the website for data (see Microsoft Regular Expression help for correct syntax).

Return as many instances as are found: Used for one-to-many attributes where multiple items are present. For example, certain hardware vendors list the parts that were shipped in the system.

• Every X: When finding matches, skip over X number of matches to find the next.
• Set item 0: Useful for setting the first value. Used in warranties to assign the first item (0) as the last expiring warranty.
• Return as item 0: Use the largest or smallest first value as item 0.
• End at: Stop searching the page when a certain text string is found.

VBScript text box: You can use a VBScript to perform certain operations on the value.

Search for string: Generally the best method for searching a website for a value. Some of the options may not be useful in all situations. We strongly recommend that you use text in tags for these fields. Visible text may be localized depending on the website or OS language. Using the text in tags normally does not change for localization.

• Case insensitive: This option is useful because different browsers and websites will return different cases.
• Header: The first text string to search for. A header is useful for a one-to-many attribute or for a string that shows up only once, or the next time it shows up, is past the point you want to search for.
• Search for header once: Only look for the header once for a one-to-many attribute.
• Find: A string to search for that is after the header.
• Look for: Another string to search for, either forward or backward. It can also be found a variable Number of Times. For example, if a table has a number of cells (<TD> tag), you may want to go to the fourth cell.
• Advance to: Similar to Look for, but the search only goes forward. Putting a "0" in Number of Times will keep the rule at the Look for location.
• Capture until: Grab text until this string is encountered.