VBA - XMLHTTP and WinHttp request speed

In addition to the methods you've mentioned:

• IE automation
• WinHTTPRequest
• XMLHTTP
• ServerXMLHTTP

There are 2 other methods you can think about:

• Using the CreateDocumentFromUrl method of the MSHTML.HTMLDocument object
• Using the Windows API function URLDownloadToFileA

There are some other Windows APIs that I am ignoring such as InternetOpen, InternetOpenUrl etc as potential performance will be outweighed by complexity of guess the response length, buffering the response, and so forth.

CreateDocumentFromUrl

With the CreateDocumentFromUrl method it is a problem with your sample website because it attempts to create a HTMLDocument in an frame which is not allowed with errors such as:

Framing Forbidden

and

To help protect the security of information you enter into this website, the publisher of this content does not allow it to be displayed in a frame.

So we should not use this method.

URLDownloadToFileA

I thought you need the php equivalent of file_get_contents and found this method. It is easily used (check this link) and out-performs the other methods when used on a large request (e.g. try it when you go for >2000 baseball bats). The XMLHTTP also method uses the URLMon library so I guess this way is just cutting out a bit of middle-man logic and obviously there's a downside because you have to do some file system handling.

Private Declare Function URLDownloadToFileA Lib "urlmon" (ByVal pCaller As Long, _
    ByVal szURL As String, ByVal szFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, _
    ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long

Sub TestUrlDownloadFile(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim strTempFileName As String
    Dim strResponse As String
    Dim objFso As FileSystemObject

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    strTempFileName = "D:\foo.txt"
    DownloadFile strUrl, strTempFileName
    Set objFso = New FileSystemObject
    With objFso.OpenTextFile(strTempFileName, ForReading)
        strResponse = .ReadAll
        .Close
    End With
    objFso.DeleteFile strTempFileName
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "URL download file method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If

End Sub

'http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-27050.html
Private Function DownloadFile(URL As String, LocalFilename As String) As Boolean
  Dim lngRetVal As Long
  lngRetVal = URLDownloadToFileA(0, URL, LocalFilename, 0, 0)
  If lngRetVal = 0 Then DownloadFile = True
End Function

With the URLDownloadToFileA it is taking me about 1-2 seconds to download you sample URL versus 4-5 seconds with the XMLHTTP method (full code below).

The URL:

www.justbats.com/products/bat type~baseball/?sortBy=TotalSales Descending&page=1&size=2400

This is the output:

Testing...


XML HTTP method
Document length: 7869753 chars
Processed in: 4 seconds


URL download file method
Document length: 7869753 chars
Processed in: 1 seconds

Code

This includes all methods discussed e.g. IE automation, WinHTTPRequest, XMLHTTP, ServerXMLHTTP, CreateDocumentFromURL and URLDownloadFile.

You need all these references in project:

Here it is:

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function URLDownloadToFileA Lib "urlmon" (ByVal pCaller As Long, _
    ByVal szURL As String, ByVal szFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, _
    ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long

Sub Test()

    Dim strUrl As String

    strUrl = "http://www.justbats.com/products/bat type~baseball/?sortBy=TotalSales Descending&page=1&size=2400"

    Debug.Print "Testing..."
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

    'TestIE strUrl
    'TestWinHHTP strUrl
    TestXMLHTTP strUrl
    'TestServerXMLHTTP strUrl
    'TestCreateDocumentFromUrl strUrl
    TestUrlDownloadFile strUrl

End Sub

Sub TestIE(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim objIe As InternetExplorer
    Dim objHtml As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
    Dim strResponse As String

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    Set objIe = New SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
    With objIe
        .navigate strUrl
        .Visible = False
        While .Busy Or .readyState <> READYSTATE_COMPLETE
           DoEvents
        Wend
        Set objHtml = .document
        strResponse = objHtml.DocumentElement.outerHTML
        .Quit
    End With
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "IE automation method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If
    If Not objIe Is Nothing Then
        objIe.Quit
    End If
    Set objIe = Nothing

End Sub

Sub TestWinHHTP(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim objHttp As WinHttp.WinHttpRequest
    Dim objDoc As HTMLDocument
    Dim strResponse As String

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    Set objHttp = New WinHttp.WinHttpRequest
    With objHttp
        .Open "get", strUrl, False
        .setRequestHeader "Cache-Control", "no-cache"
        .setRequestHeader "Pragma", "no-cache"
        .setRequestHeader "If-Modified-Since", "Sat, 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT"
        .send
        .WaitForResponse
        strResponse = .responseText
    End With
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "WinHTTP method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If
    Set objDoc = Nothing
    Set objHttp = Nothing

End Sub

Sub TestXMLHTTP(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim objXhr As MSXML2.XMLHTTP60
    Dim objDoc As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
    Dim strResponse As String

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    Set objXhr = New MSXML2.XMLHTTP60
    With objXhr
        .Open "get", strUrl, False
        .setRequestHeader "Cache-Control", "no-cache"
        .setRequestHeader "Pragma", "no-cache"
        .setRequestHeader "If-Modified-Since", "Sat, 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT"
        .send
        While .readyState <> 4
            DoEvents
        Wend
        strResponse = .responseText
    End With
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "XML HTTP method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If
    Set objDoc = Nothing
    Set objXhr = Nothing

End Sub

Sub TestServerXMLHTTP(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim objXhr As MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP60
    Dim objDoc As MSHTML.HTMLDocument
    Dim strResponse As String

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    Set objXhr = New MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP60
    With objXhr
        .Open "get", strUrl, False
        .setRequestHeader "Cache-Control", "no-cache"
        .setRequestHeader "Pragma", "no-cache"
        .setRequestHeader "If-Modified-Since", "Sat, 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT"
        .send
        While .readyState <> 4
            DoEvents
        Wend
        strResponse = .responseText
    End With
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "Server XML HTTP method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If
    Set objDoc = Nothing
    Set objXhr = Nothing

End Sub

Sub TestUrlDownloadFile(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim strTempFileName As String
    Dim strResponse As String
    Dim objFso As FileSystemObject

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    strTempFileName = "D:\foo.txt"
    If DownloadFile(strUrl, strTempFileName) Then
        Set objFso = New FileSystemObject
        With objFso.OpenTextFile(strTempFileName, ForReading)
            strResponse = .ReadAll
            .Close
        End With
        objFso.DeleteFile strTempFileName
    Else
        Debug.Print "Error downloading file from URL: " & strUrl
        GoTo ExitFunction
    End If
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "URL download file method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If

End Sub

'http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-27050.html
Private Function DownloadFile(URL As String, LocalFilename As String) As Boolean
    Dim lngRetVal As Long
    lngRetVal = URLDownloadToFileA(0, URL, LocalFilename, 0, 0)
    If lngRetVal = 0 Then
        DownloadFile = True
    Else
        DownloadFile = False
    End If
End Function

Sub TestCreateDocumentFromUrl(strUrl As String)

    Dim dteStart As Date
    Dim dteFinish As Date
    Dim strResponse As String
    Dim objDoc1 As HTMLDocument
    Dim objDoc2 As HTMLDocument

    On Error GoTo ExitFunction

    dteStart = Now
    Set objDoc1 = New HTMLDocument
    Set objDoc2 = objDoc1.createDocumentFromUrl(strUrl, "null")
    While objDoc2.readyState <> "complete"
        DoEvents
    Wend
    strResponse = objDoc2.DocumentElement.outerHTML
    Debug.Print strResponse
    dteFinish = Now

    Debug.Print "HTML Document Create from URL method"
    Debug.Print "Document length: " & Len(strResponse) & " chars"
    Debug.Print "Processed in: " & Format(dteFinish - dteStart, "s") & " seconds"
    Debug.Print VBA.vbNewLine

ExitFunction:
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.Description
    End If
    Set objDoc2 = Nothing
    Set objDoc1 = Nothing

End Sub

Most of the time is spent waiting for a response from the server. So if you want improve the execution time, then send the requests in parallel.

I would also use the "Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP.6.0" object/interface since it doesn't implement any caching.

Here's a working example:

Sub TestRequests()
  GetUrls _
    "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34880012", _
    "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34880013", _
    "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34880014", _
    "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34880015", _
    "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34880016", _
    "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34880017"

End Sub

Private Sub OnRequest(url, xhr)
  xhr.Open "GET", url, True
  xhr.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "text/html; charset=UTF-8"
  xhr.setRequestHeader "User-Agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:25.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/25.0"
  xhr.Send
End Sub

Private Sub OnResponse(url, xhr)
  Debug.Print url, Len(xhr.ResponseText)
End Sub

Public Function GetUrls(ParamArray urls())
    Const WORKERS = 10

    ' create http workers
    Dim wkrs(0 To WORKERS * 2 - 1), i As Integer
    For i = 0 To UBound(wkrs) Step 2
      Set wkrs(i) = CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP.6.0")
    Next

    ' send the requests in parallele
    Dim index As Integer, count As Integer, xhr As Object
    While count <= UBound(urls)
      For i = 0 To UBound(wkrs) Step 2
        Set xhr = wkrs(i)

        If xhr.readyState And 3 Then  ' if busy
          xhr.waitForResponse 0.01    ' wait 10ms
        ElseIf Not VBA.IsEmpty(wkrs(i + 1)) And xhr.readyState = 4 Then
          OnResponse urls(wkrs(i + 1)), xhr
          count = count + 1
          wkrs(i + 1) = Empty
        End If

        If VBA.IsEmpty(wkrs(i + 1)) And index <= UBound(urls) Then
          wkrs(i + 1) = index
          OnRequest urls(index), xhr
          index = index + 1
        End If
      Next
    Wend
End Function