Using Mechanize With Odd Query String

varanasi has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Using Mechanize, I am trying to pass a name/value pair to a form that looks like this:

<form action="action.cgi?use-a" method="post" >
    <input type="submit" value="entry one" >&nbsp;for&nbsp;
    <select name="target">
     <option value="">User
     <option value='195'>Affiliate
</select>
</form>
[download]

Other variants of action.cgi work fine for me, e.g. action.cgi?use-f, but those variants don't require a name value/pair to work. I simply do a $browser->get() on them. If I simply get action.cgi?use-a, the cgi script acts as if I had selected the User option, since it received no name/value pair.

I have tried many ways of structuring the url directly but without any success. I have also tried using LWP's post method, without success, like this:

$browser->post("$BASEURL?use-a", 'target' => '195');

I am stumped (and probably stupid.) Would you be kind enough to help?

Comment on Using Mechanize With Odd Query String Select or Download Code

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Re: Using Mechanize With Odd Query String by repellent (Priest) on Mar 03, 2012 at 21:12 UTC
Your form key/value pairs need to be specified as Content: `$browser->post("$BASEURL?use-a", { 'target' => '195' } ); # now a hash +ref` [download] The documentation for `->post` mentions `$field_name` which may be confused as being a form key name. The `$field_name => $value` pairs actually get pushed onto the Header instead of the Content.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Using Mechanize With Odd Query String by Anonymous Monk on Mar 06, 2012 at 22:12 UTC
Thank you. I did not understand the documentation even when I re-read it. Thank you for explaining it succinctly.	[reply]
Re: Using Mechanize With Odd Query String by Gangabass (Vicar) on Mar 05, 2012 at 09:33 UTC
Just load this form's page with `$mech->get(...)` and do: `$mech->submit_form( form_number => 1, fields => { target => "Affiliate", }, );` [download] But you need to check `form_number` param by yourself.	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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