From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 4 21:45:15 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6541C16A401 for ; Tue, 4 Apr 2006 21:45:15 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from mail.scls.lib.wi.us (mail.scls.lib.wi.us [198.150.40.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 125C743D45 for ; Tue, 4 Apr 2006 21:45:14 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from [172.26.2.238] ([172.26.2.238]) by mail.scls.lib.wi.us (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id k34LdZFv027927; Tue, 4 Apr 2006 16:39:35 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Message-ID: <4432E797.4010308@scls.lib.wi.us> Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:39:35 -0500 From: Greg Barniskis User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (Windows/20051201) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD. ORG" Subject: Re: software recommendation X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 21:45:15 -0000 fbsd_user wrote: > I am looking for am application that will simulate a browser and > allow me to program responses to filling in forms from the internet > application the browser is accessing. > > I have read about this type of thing before and even seen it > mentioned on this list but at the time I had no interest in it. I > don't even know what this type of function is called so I can not do > a successful web search or ports search. I tried the words scraping, > session capture, and browser session simulation all with no luck. > > Does anyone know what this is called or the port name if there is > one? If you like Perl at all, take a look at WWW::Mechanize and its companion modules, e.g.: ./devel/p5-Test-WWW-Mechanize ./devel/p5-Test-WWW-Mechanize-Catalyst ./www/p5-WWW-Mechanize ./www/p5-WWW-Mechanize-FormFiller ./www/p5-WWW-Mechanize-Shell There are probably (many) other Perl modules that would be of tremendous usefulness, but WWW-Mechanize is specifically designed for what you are asking. http://search.cpan.org/~PETDANCE/WWW-Mechanize-1.18/lib/WWW/Mechanize.pm -- Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator South Central Library System (SCLS) Library Interchange Network (LINK) , (608) 266-6348