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title: "Excel - VBA - Call a web service" subtitle: "How to" date: "22 juin 2020, 23:26" keywords: [] language: "en"

Excel - VBA - Call a web service

How to call a web service in Excel VBA. The example is built using the European Union's VIES CheckVAT web service.

• How to install
• How to call
• Source
  • modWebService.bas
  • checkVat.xml

How to install

1. Create a new Excel workbook

2. Press ALT-F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor

3. Create a new module

   

4. Copy/paste there the VBA code you can find below or in the files/modWebService.bas file.

5. Take a look to the declaration of the InputXmlFile constant: update the path to any valid path on your system and create that file.

6. Open that file and copy/paste there the content of the files/checkVat.xml

How to call

Go in the Visual Basic Editor, put the cursor in the run subroutine and press F5. The code will retrieve the company behind the provided VAT number.

Source

modWebService.bas

Option Explicit

' URL to call
Const URL = "http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/services/checkVatService"

' XML to send to the web service method
Const InputXmlFile = "C:\temp\checkVat.xml"

' *************************************************************
'
' Entry point
'
'    - Call the web service checkVAT method
'    - Upload XML data (country and VAT number)
'    - Get XML response
'    - Open the response as a workbook
'
' *************************************************************
Sub run()

    Dim sData As String
    Dim sResponseFileName As String

    ' Get the input manifest
    sData = openCheckVatXml(InputXmlFile)

    ' Consume the web service and get a filename with the response
    If (sData = "") Then
        MsgBox "Failure, the " & InputXmlFile & " file didn't exists", vbExclamation + vbOKOnly
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sResponseFileName = consumeWebService(URL, sData)

    ' Open the response as a workbook
    Call Application.Workbooks.OpenXML(Filename:=sResponseFileName)

End Sub

' *************************************************************
'
' Open the checkVat.xml input and replace variables
'
' *************************************************************
Private Function openCheckVatXml(ByVal sFileName As String) As String

    Dim sData As String

    sData = readFile(sFileName)

    If (sData <> "") Then
        sData = Replace(sData, "%COUNTRY%", "BE")
        sData = Replace(sData, "%VATNUMBER%", "0403170701") ' ENGIE Electrabel Belgique
    End If

    openCheckVatXml = sData

End Function

' *************************************************************
'
' Generic file reader. Return the content of the text file
'
' *************************************************************
Private Function readFile(ByVal sFileName As String) As String

    Dim objFso As Object
    Dim objFile As Object
    Dim sContent As String

    Set objFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    If Not (objFso.FileExists(sFileName)) Then
        ' The file didn't exists
        readFile = ""
        Exit Function
    End If

    Set objFile = objFso.OpenTextFile(sFileName, 1)

    sContent = objFile.readAll

    objFile.Close

    Set objFile = Nothing
    Set objFso = Nothing

    readFile = sContent

End Function

' *************************************************************
'
' Return a filename with the response of the web service method
'
' *************************************************************
Private Function consumeWebService(ByVal sURL As String, ByVal sData As String) As String

    Dim xmlhttp As Object
    Dim sResponseFileName As String

    Set xmlhttp = New MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP60  ' Requires Microsoft XML, v6.0

    xmlhttp.Open "POST", sURL, True
    xmlhttp.send sData
    xmlhttp.waitForResponse

    sResponseFileName = createXmlTempFile(xmlhttp.responseText)

    Set xmlhttp = Nothing

    consumeWebService = sResponseFileName

End Function

' *************************************************************
'
' Create a temporary file in the TEMP folder and write in that
' file the XML response received by the web service.
'
' Return the temporary filename as result of this function
'
' *************************************************************
Private Function createXmlTempFile(ByVal sContent As String) As String

    Dim objFso As Object
    Dim objFile As Object
    Dim objFolder As Object
    Dim sFileName As String

    Set objFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    ' 2 = temporary folder
    Set objFolder = objFso.GetSpecialFolder(2)
    sFileName = objFolder & "\"
    Set objFolder = Nothing

    sFileName = sFileName & objFso.GetTempName()
    sFileName = Replace(sFileName, ".tmp", ".xml")

    Set objFile = objFso.CreateTextFile(sFileName)

    objFile.Write sContent

    objFile.Close

    Set objFile = Nothing
    Set objFso = Nothing

    createXmlTempFile = sFileName

End Function

checkVat.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soapenv:Body>
        <urn:checkVat xmlns:urn="urn:ec.europa.eu:taxud:vies:services:checkVat:types">
            <urn:countryCode>%COUNTRY%</urn:countryCode>
            <urn:vatNumber>%VATNUMBER%</urn:vatNumber>
        </urn:checkVat>
    </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>