is this possible

9 Dec 2005 10:01 PM

rodchar

hey all,

i goto to this vendor's website each month and put in a from and to date and
hit the export button and I have my data.

is there anyway to automate this process in code like using the WebRequest
class or is this asking too much?

thanks,
rodchar

10 Dec 2005 12:02 AM

Joshua Flanagan

It depends. The trickiest part would probably be getting through
whatever authentication is on the website, though that should be
possible as well.

Look at the source of the page where you enter the dates - you should be
able to get the NAME of the INPUT controls. Those values are either sent
as a GET request (if the values show up in the query string of the URL),
or as a POST request. Whatever it is, you can then create the same type
of request with the WebRequest class. The URL for your request would be
the page that the form targets (action attribute on the form tag), not
the actual page where you enter data. Just make sure to pass any other
form values that the target page is expecting.

rodchar wrote:
Show quote

> hey all,
>
> i goto to this vendor's website each month and put in a from and to date and
> hit the export button and I have my data.
>
> is there anyway to automate this process in code like using the WebRequest
> class or is this asking too much?
>
> thanks,
> rodchar
>
>

11 Dec 2005 6:08 PM

prabhupr

Sorry if my answer is dumb
Here is a possible solution, can you RECORD the whole event (people
these days record/track mouse+keyboard events and use it for automating
testing) and then execute it on a need basis

I know it is not that simple, may be you will have to do some trial and
error

13 Dec 2005 3:42 PM

rodchar

thanks everyone i'll give these suggestions a "look see".

Show quote

"Joshua Flanagan" wrote:

> It depends. The trickiest part would probably be getting through
> whatever authentication is on the website, though that should be
> possible as well.
>
> Look at the source of the page where you enter the dates - you should be
> able to get the NAME of the INPUT controls. Those values are either sent
> as a GET request (if the values show up in the query string of the URL),
> or as a POST request. Whatever it is, you can then create the same type
> of request with the WebRequest class. The URL for your request would be
> the page that the form targets (action attribute on the form tag), not
> the actual page where you enter data. Just make sure to pass any other
> form values that the target page is expecting.
>
>
> rodchar wrote:
> > hey all,
> >
> > i goto to this vendor's website each month and put in a from and to date and
> > hit the export button and I have my data.
> >
> > is there anyway to automate this process in code like using the WebRequest
> > class or is this asking too much?
> >
> > thanks,
> > rodchar
> >
> >
>