Is there an example of how to call Microsoft Internet Explorer as an automation server?

I would like an example of how to use MATLAB and ActiveX to call Internet Explorer as an automation server.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The following example uses the ACTXCONTROL command to call Internet Explorer. Note: This may not work on newer versions of MATLAB as the COM interface for Internet Explorer may have changed.

This function takes in a URL as a string, loads the URL in Internet Explorer, copies the text from the URL, and returns the copied text as a string for use inside of MATLAB.

function str=CopyPasteIE(url);
ha = actxserver('internetexplorer.application');
ha.Visible = 1;
Navigate(ha, url);
pause(3); % Pause to let the page load
ha.document.execCommand('selectall','','');
ha.document.execCommand('copy','','');
str=clipboard('paste');

Note: The code provided in this example is for demonstration purposes and has not been thoroughly tested.