web scraping - C# Web scraper copying text -

i have web scraper written in c# extracting data. want copy text web browser control , paste word file programmatically. when try extract rich text box content using id , innertext, text contains encoded characters %2c.

i need text formatting can't find way. have tried encoding, httputility.urldecode, sendkeys , elem.invokemember() without success.

how can programmatically copy , paste text web browser control preserving formatting?

here sample data extract:

description

the advance concepts engineering team designs , develops new vehicles meet future regulatory requirements , customer competitive requirements. qualified candidate responsible total vehicle packaging. candidate identify , resolve adaptation , packaging issues vehicle moves toward production. lead cross functional team meetings working systems & components, advance manufacturing, service, etc. ensure solutions optimized stages of vehicle's life.

htmlelement elem = wb.document.getelementbyid("ctl00_contplhdynamic_txtdescrcontenthiddentextarea");                 if (elem == null) return;                 elem.invokemember("click");                 //elem.invokemember("select all");                 //elem.invokemember("copy");                 sendkeys.sendwait("^a");                 sendkeys.sendwait("^c");                  clipboard.clear();                 elem.focus();                 elem.invokemember("right click");                 elem.invokemember("select all");                 elem.invokemember("copy");                  clipboard.settext(elem.innertext);                 string clipbrdtext = clipboard.gettext();                  string data = elem.innertext;                  richtextbox1.text = data;                 string temp = system.web.httputility.urldecode(data);                  encoding iso = encoding.getencoding("windows-1252");                 encoding utf8 = encoding.utf8;                 byte[] utfbytes = utf8.getbytes(data);                 byte[] isobytes = encoding.convert(utf8, iso, utfbytes);                 string msg = iso.getstring(isobytes); 

the text "%2c" etc has been encoded. if getting content of web page, decoding html, not url. can use httputility.htmldecode, or if using .net 4.0 or above can use webutility.htmldecode - available within system.net namespace.

you should note word not use html formatting, won't able paste html tags , expect recognise them. i.e. <strong>description</strong> not result in bold text if type word.

edit:

it looks mixing 2 different ways copy text in code pasted - both sendkeys.sendwait("^c"); , elem.invokemember("copy");. presume both of these methods work?

i think problem having lies in way getting text. see you're using clipboard.gettext() text. try specifying formatted text using clipboard.gettext(textdataformat.rtf) or clipboard.gettext(textdataformat.html). should copy string preserving formatting.