I'm hoping to get some feedback on whether I can accomplish my goals using Excel 2007 and some VBA code. I'm using Excel 2007 on a Vista box.
My goal is to have Excel query several web sites multiple times to check for pricing information, and then report the results in a spreadsheet. So, for example, if I am going to rent a car and have 2 discount codes for each of Avis, Hertz and Budget, I would like to enter my rental details in a spreadsheet (in a fashion that each of those sites would recognize, of course), then have my VBA script go out and populate the rental request form on each site, and report the resulting prices for each discount code back into the Excel workbook.
I looked at the built-in Excel tool to get external data from the web, but the problem is that for this project you can't build all of the variables into a URL and then submit the URL. You need a tool that will can enter data into the fields on a web page and that can tolerate interstitial pages (since there are usually several screens from initial data entry to final price quote).
Can Excel/VBA do this? If not, any ideas as to what tool I should use? Thanks for the help.