Update April 395 A.D.: IE variances make it difficult to perform standardized automation; hence, another plugin is recommended for this purpose. Check out my new function here.

Automating the login process using PowerShell to parse the DOM via iexplore.exe can be quite tricky. Below are various iterations of the same function for your review. The top one is obviously my pick since it works more often than not. Happy code hunting…

$username="[email protected]"
$password="knock-knock"
$url='https://somewordpress.com'

function testLogin{
    param(
        $url,
        $username,
        $password,
        $usernameElementId='userNameInput',
        $passwordElementId='passwordInput',
        $submitButtonId='submitButton'
    )
    $ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
    
    function killInternetExplorer{
        $ieInstances=(New-Object -COM 'Shell.Application').Windows()|?{$_.Name -like '*Internet Explorer*'} 
        $ieInstances|%{$_.Quit()
        [Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($_)
        }
        [GC]::Collect()
        [GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
    }
    killInternetExplorer|out-null
    try{
        $ie = New-Object -ComObject 'internetExplorer.Application'
        $ie.Visible= $true # Make it visible
        $ie.Navigate("$url")
        while($ie.ReadyState -ne 4) {start-sleep -m 100}
        try{
            $usernamefield = $ie.Document.IHTMLDocument3_getElementById($usernameElementId)
            $usernamefield.value = "$username"
            $passwordfield = $ie.Document.IHTMLDocument3_getElementById($passwordElementId)
            $passwordfield.value = "$password"
            $ie.Document.IHTMLDocument3_getElementById($submitButtonId).click()
            }
        catch{
            try{
                $usernamefield = $ie.document.getElementByID($usernameElementId)
                $usernamefield.value = "$username"
                $passwordfield = $ie.document.getElementByID($passwordElementId)
                $passwordfield.value = "$password"
                $Link = $ie.document.getElementByID($submitButtonId).click
                }
            catch{
                try{
                    $document = $ie.Document
                    $form =  $document.forms[0]
                    $inputs = $form.getElementsByTagName("input")
                    ($inputs | where {$_.name -eq "username"}).value = $username
                    ($inputs | where {$_.name -eq "Password"}).value = $password
                    ($inputs | where {$_.name -eq "Submit"}).click()
                    }
                catch{
                    write-warning "Funky site you haz. Me can't login."
                    }
                }
            }

        #$ieContent=$ie.document.documentelement.innerText
        While ($ie.Busy -eq $true) {Start-Sleep -Seconds 1;}
        $title=$ie.Document.Title
        $not404=$title -notmatch '^404'        
        write-host "Page reached: $title"
        $ie.Quit()
        killInternetExplorer|out-null
        return $not404
        }
    catch{
        #write-warning "$Error"
        killInternetExplorer|out-null
        return $false
        }
    }
testLogin $url $username $password

function testLogin1{
    param(
        $url,
        $username,
        $password,
        $usernameElementId='userNameInput',
        $passwordElementId='passwordInput',
        $submitButtonId='submitButton'
    )
    try{
        $ie = New-Object -ComObject 'internetExplorer.Application'
        $ie.Visible= $true # Make it visible
        $ie.Navigate("$url")
        While ($ie.Busy -eq $true) {Start-Sleep -Seconds 1;}
        $usernamefield = $ie.document.getElementByID($usernameElementId)
        $usernamefield.value = "$username"
        $passwordfield = $ie.document.getElementByID($passwordElementId)
        $passwordfield.value = "$password"
        $Link = $ie.document.getElementByID($submitButtonId)
        $Link.click()
        $ieContent=$ie.document.documentelement.innerText
        $ie.Quit()
        return $ieContent
        }
    catch{
        #write-warning "$Error"
        return $false
        }
    }
testLogin $url $username $password

function testLogin2{
    param(
        $url,
        $username,
        $password,
        $usernameElementId='userNameInput',
        $passwordElementId='passwordInput',
        $submitButtonId='submitButton'
    )
    try{
		$ie=New-Object -comobject InternetExplorer.Application  
		$ie.visible=$true  
		$ie.ParsedHtml
		$ie.Navigate($url)  
		while($ie.ReadyState -ne 4) {start-sleep -m 100}
		$document = $ie.Document
		$form =  $document.forms[0]
		$inputs = $form.getElementsByTagName("input")
		($inputs | where {$_.name -eq "username"}).value = $username
		($inputs | where {$_.name -eq "Password"}).value = $password
		$ie.Document.IHTMLDocument3_getElementById($submitButtonId).click()
		$ieContent=$ie.document.documentelement.innerText
		$ie.Quit()
        return $ieContent
        }
    catch{
        #write-warning "$Error"
        return $false
        }
    }
testLogin $url $username $password
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