Click here to Skip to main content
15,868,016 members
Articles / Programming Languages / Visual Basic
Article

Getting Zip+4 from USPS.com

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
2.80/5 (6 votes)
2 Nov 2005 49.7K   331   21   10
Getting Zip+4 from USPS.com

Introduction

I must start by stressing that this is for educational purposes only!! Ok, now that I got that out of the way.

The purpose of this project is to demostrate how to extract data from a website.

Lets get right to the good stuff.....the code!

The Code

The first step is to format the url with all the required information.

VB.NET
<P><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Function</FONT><FONT size=2> ReplaceSpaceWithPlusSign(</FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>ByVal</FONT><FONT size=2> vStr </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</FONT><FONT size=2>) </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> strTemp </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Try</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        strTemp = Replace(vStr, vbTab, " ")</P><P>        strTemp = Replace(strTemp, vbCr, " ")</P><P>        strTemp = Replace(strTemp, vbLf, " ")</P><P>        strTemp = Replace(strTemp, " ", "+")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>        ' Remove leading and trailing spaces</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        strTemp = Trim(strTemp)</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Return</FONT><FONT size=2> strTemp</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Catch</FONT><FONT size=2> ex </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Exception</P><P>        MsgBox("Function: ReplaceSpaceWithPlusSign" + vbCrLf + "Message: " + ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Try</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Function</FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2></P></FONT>
VB.NET
<FONT size=2><P>strAdd = ReplaceSpaceWithPlusSign(txtAddress.Text)</P><P>strCity = ReplaceSpaceWithPlusSign(Trim(txtCity.Text))</P><P>strState = ReplaceSpaceWithPlusSign(cmbState.Text)</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'USPS web address</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>urlStr = "http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/zcl_0_results.jsp?visited=1&pagenumber=0&firmname=&address2=" _</P><P>           + strAdd + "&address1=&city=" + strCity + "&state=" + strState + "&urbanization=&zip5=&submit.x=6&submit.y=15"</P></FONT>

Now that you have the correcly formatted URL pass it to a function to read the websites source code.

VB.NET
<FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Public</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Function</FONT><FONT size=2> ReadWebSite(</FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>ByVal</FONT><FONT size=2> URL </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</FONT><FONT size=2>) </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> req </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> HttpWebRequest</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> res </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> HttpWebResponse</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> strContents </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> StrStream </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Stream</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> Cok </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Cookie</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> oWebResponse </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> WebResponse</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> oReturnStream </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Stream</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> oReturnStreamReader </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> StreamReader</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> myReq </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> HttpWebRequest</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> myResponse </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> HttpWebResponse</P><P>    </P><P>    req = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    res = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    strContents = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    StrStream = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    Cok = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    oWebResponse = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    oReturnStream = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    oReturnStreamReader = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    myReq = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    myResponse = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Try</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'***********************************************************************************************</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>' Connects to web site and gets cookie</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'*********************************************************************************************** </P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    myReq = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>DirectCast</FONT><FONT size=2>(WebRequest.Create(URL), HttpWebRequest)</P><P>    myReq.CookieContainer = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>New</FONT><FONT size=2> CookieContainer</P><P>    myResponse = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>DirectCast</FONT><FONT size=2>(myReq.GetResponse, HttpWebResponse)</P><P>    myResponse.Cookies = myReq.CookieContainer.GetCookies(myReq.RequestUri)</P><P> </P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    If</FONT><FONT size=2> myResponse.Cookies.Count > 0 </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        Cok = myResponse.Cookies(0)</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        Cok = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'***********************************************************************************************</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'***********************************************************************************************</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>' Constucts html request</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'*********************************************************************************************** </P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    req = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>DirectCast</FONT><FONT size=2>(WebRequest.Create(URL), HttpWebRequest)</P><P>    req.Accept = "*/*"</P><P>    req.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"</P><P>    req.AllowAutoRedirect = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>True</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    req.UserAgent = "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;" + " MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)"</P><P>    req.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" </FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'"text/html"</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    If</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Not</FONT><FONT size=2> Cok </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Is</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        req.CookieContainer = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>New</FONT><FONT size=2> CookieContainer</P><P>        req.CookieContainer.Add(Cok)</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'***********************************************************************************************</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'***********************************************************************************************</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>' Retrieves HTML Response</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'*********************************************************************************************** </P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>    oWebResponse = req.GetResponse()</P><P>    oReturnStream = oWebResponse.GetResponseStream()</P><P>    oReturnStreamReader = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>New</FONT><FONT size=2> StreamReader(oReturnStream)</P><P>    strContents = oReturnStreamReader.ReadToEnd().Trim()</P><P>    oReturnStreamReader.Close()</P><P>    myResponse.Close()</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Return</FONT><FONT size=2> strContents</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Catch</FONT><FONT size=2> ex </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Exception</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    If</FONT><FONT size=2> UCase(ex.Message) = UCase("The operation has timed-out.") </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        MsgBox("Please try again" + vbCrLf + "Postal service website timed-out.", MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Website timed-out")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Return</FONT><FONT size=2> ""</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    ElseIf</FONT><FONT size=2> UCase(ex.Message) = UCase("The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error.") </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        MsgBox("Please try again" + vbCrLf + "Postal service website returned an Internal Error.", MsgBoxStyle.Information, "Internal Error")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Return</FONT><FONT size=2> ""</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    ElseIf</FONT><FONT size=2> UCase(ex.Message) = UCase("Thread was being aborted.") </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Or</FONT><FONT size=2> UCase(ex.Message) = UCase("Thread was being aborted") </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>    'Do nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>        MsgBox("Function: ReadWebSite" + vbCrLf + "Message: " + ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Return</FONT><FONT size=2> ""</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Try</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>'***********************************************************************************************</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Function</P></FONT>

Now that you have the source code pass it to another function that uses regular expressions to find the zip code.

VB.NET
<FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Public</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Function</FONT><FONT size=2> GetZipCodeFromWeb(</FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>ByVal</FONT><FONT size=2> str </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</FONT><FONT size=2>) </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> RemoveNonDigits </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>    'Removes all none digits</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> r1 </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Regex = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>New</FONT><FONT size=2> Regex("[^\d]")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>    'String format on usps.com's web site</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> r12 </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Regex = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>New</FONT><FONT size=2> Regex("(\d{5})-(\d{4})")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>    'Finds all digits</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> r13 </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Regex = </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>New</FONT><FONT size=2> Regex("\d\d\d\d\d\d\d\d\d")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    If</FONT><FONT size=2> str <> "" </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> m14 </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> MatchCollection = r12.Matches(str)</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> lstr </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>String</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Try</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        If</FONT><FONT size=2> m14(1).Success </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>            RemoveNonDigits = r1.Replace(m14(1).ToString, "")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>            If</FONT><FONT size=2> RemoveNonDigits <> "" </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                Dim</FONT><FONT size=2> m15 </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Match = r13.Match(RemoveNonDigits)</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                If</FONT><FONT size=2> m15.Success </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                    Return</FONT><FONT size=2> Convert.ToString(Regex.Replace(m15.ToString, "(\d{5})(\d{4})", "$1-$2"))</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                    Return</FONT><FONT size=2> "1"</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>            Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>                Return</FONT><FONT size=2> "1"</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>            End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>            Return</FONT><FONT size=2> "1"</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    Catch</FONT><FONT size=2> ex </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>As</FONT><FONT size=2> Exception</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        If</FONT><FONT size=2> ex.TargetSite </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Is</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Nothing</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Then</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#008000 size=2>            'Do nothing</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>            Return</FONT><FONT size=2> "1"</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P>            MsgBox("Function: GetZipCodeFromWeb" + vbCrLf + "Message: " + ex.Message, MsgBoxStyle.Critical, "Error")</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>            Return</FONT><FONT size=2> "1"</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>        End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>    End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Try</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>      Else</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>   Return</FONT><FONT size=2> "1"</P><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>If</P></FONT><FONT size=2><P></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>End</FONT><FONT size=2> </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>Function</P></FONT>

Thats it!!

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
United States United States
Specialize in interfacing SAP and .net applications.

Comments and Discussions

 
Generalweb services Pin
7prince16-Oct-06 7:58
7prince16-Oct-06 7:58 
Generalopening database Pin
7prince25-Sep-06 6:05
7prince25-Sep-06 6:05 
Generalre:re: Looping Pin
7prince20-Sep-06 5:33
7prince20-Sep-06 5:33 
Generalre:Looping Pin
7prince20-Sep-06 4:46
7prince20-Sep-06 4:46 
Generallooping Pin
7prince19-Sep-06 12:31
7prince19-Sep-06 12:31 
How Can I add Loop command to get all the zip codes automatically downloaded from USPS when I click on GetZip button on the form?

Quick help would be appriciated,

thanks in advance.

Joseph





programmer

GeneralRe: looping Pin
Ryan Rader19-Sep-06 13:12
Ryan Rader19-Sep-06 13:12 
GeneralRe: looping Pin
7prince19-Sep-06 18:41
7prince19-Sep-06 18:41 
GeneralRe: looping Pin
Ryan Rader20-Sep-06 0:41
Ryan Rader20-Sep-06 0:41 
QuestionAdding vb code to Getting Zip+4 from USPS.com Pin
7prince14-Sep-06 7:27
7prince14-Sep-06 7:27 
Generalreq.ContentType appears 2x Pin
wdjyjvoxmmb27-Apr-06 11:26
wdjyjvoxmmb27-Apr-06 11:26 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.