I am looking for a software application to search a locally copied HTML document/webpage and at specific key WORDS or static locations in the HTML page, to grab the information and populate the information into an Excel spreadsheet at specific locations.

Currently I have a work around that is really a low cost jimmy rig setup. I am using a scheduled EXE macro that I generated through use of JitBit Macro Recorder to record Keystrokes and Mouse commands/movements to grab infomation and populate it into my excel spreadsheet. BUT there has to be a better way !!!! :-? :-? :-?

Or is this such an odd application of processes that I am running, that the Jimmy Rig of the Macros are my Best Bet at GETTING what I need, and which currently works for me, so dont change what works? :-/

It took me about 4 hrs of creating 63 single Macro EXE's for each page that it grabbed info from, to create the 63 Macros and compile them into EXE's, then put together a quick batch file that simply executes by the Windows XP Pro SP2 Scheduler and executes the macros in order from EXE 1 to 63 multiple times a day.

This process of extracting data from the web site and copying it to my Excel spreadsheet takes about an hour to complete, and I have to make sure that I leave my system logged on and at the desktop, so that the Macros when executed will function properly and not click on the wrong stuff.

Also god forbid the website should ever change, I would have to recreate the 63 +/- Macros to operate properly, while if I had the right software it might be able to adjust to changes on web sites by being able to change with DYNAMIC pages by searching for keywords and able to copy and paste the info to even a text file that could be then imported into Excel if a direct import is not available from the software to Excel.

This data extraction is used BTW to populate Excel spreadsheets which are then used to generate statistical resports etc in search for potential Trends at their early stages and perform market analysis on specific markets of personal investment interests.

Not sure if anyone will be able to step up to the plate with a solution for this one.... Its a very odd application that I have created that I have running..... Any suggestions??? 8-)

The other problem that I am facing is that I now have the need for more data extraction and analysis, and if the executions can only be performed one at a time on my current computer, to get more data, I am looking at putting some old Pentium 1, 2 and or 3 computers to work at harvesting data and populating excel spread sheets, connected together on my home network and pooling the data together to generate some powerful reports from readily available FREE Data, in which I can make some good profits. In the past, I have had to manually do it all and I said hey...I am an IT Support Specialist and have been one for 12 years now, I might as well use my knowledge to make it easier and have the reports redily available at my finger tips with only the one time large project of running redundant processes betwen 1 or more machines to get the info that I need for Smart Investments !!! Thanks, Dave Seems to me you need to look for stock market data feeds, rather than do what you're attempting to do.Well I have checked into data feeds, but they are lacking some vital details which affect my decisions. I am not investing large amounts of money, since I dont have much to invest, but with the reporting that I generate, it seems to work for me and has detected potential drops in trends beforethey happen BASED on other sectors affect in the relation of stocks on each other. The most influential is lack of supply for a commodity, which shows up on my reports, but the feeds dont show, and various other details. So it looks like a good investment with the market feeds, but my reports show it being a bad investent and have been correct 40% of the time. 40% is not a lot, but significant enough for me to keep doing what I am doing.

They are great for data for most of the investors but some of the reports I generate are different than what others provide, and can be created from the same data... So I am still back in a situation where I have data that needs to conform to my spreadsheets that create my reports and analysis's.

With less money to invest and smaller monetary losses hurting me more than an investor with a 100k portflio, I like to stick to smart investments. There is no guaranty and its a gamble, but I'd rather take an educated gamble than a gamble on strickly info supplied by a data feed..

Thanks for your reply ... Hope to hear some more .... Dave You might take a look at some financial forums; see http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=financial+forums&btnG=Search. Maybe others are using procedures similar to what you are doing and WANT to do.

A visit to http://www.excelforum.com/ might be worthwhile, also.Hey ... good idea ... will post to those and see where it leads me. Thanks for your help..... Dave 8-)You could use the XML parsing functions of PHP to extract the data from webpages and then insert them into a database. You can link that database with Excel through ODBC.