Trying to use WWW::Mechanize for aspx websites

bluesplay106 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Trying to use WWW::Mechanize for aspx websites by bluesplay106 (Novice) on Jun 12, 2013 at 19:42 UTC
Okay, so I found that some of the forms input is "hidden". I'm not sure what that means and what I'm supposed to input. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm trying to make a crawler if that wasn't clear.	[reply]
Re^2: Trying to use WWW::Mechanize for aspx websites by jeffa (Bishop) on Jun 12, 2013 at 19:46 UTC
Hidden controls are simply not shown on the page, but their labels and values are sent to the server when the form is submitted. So you just use them as if they were not hidden: `<input name="foo" type="hidden" /> <input name="bar" type="text" />` [download] They are both treated the same when the server receives their values: `http://server.com/path/to/form?foo=1&bar=1` jeffa L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L-- -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B-- H---H---H---H---H---H--- (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Trying to use WWW::Mechanize for aspx websites by Preceptor (Deacon) on Jun 12, 2013 at 20:08 UTC
I don't know how much it's necessary to worry about 'hidden' variables - unless you're wanting to manipulate them at any rate. WWW::Mechanize is quite good about letting you ... well, 'do the same was you would on the page'. Unfortunately, the problem here is that that page quoted is javascript. WWW::Mechanize doesn't 'do' javascript. (Although as it mentions - sometimes a form will work despite having ugly javascript obfuscating it) FAQ	[reply]
Re^4: Trying to use WWW::Mechanize for aspx websites by PerlSufi (Friar) on Jun 12, 2013 at 21:12 UTC
Re^3: Trying to use WWW::Mechanize for aspx websites by bluesplay106 (Novice) on Jun 13, 2013 at 15:05 UTC
So I found this and I have no idea what kind of value they want : /title></head> <body> <form name="aspnetForm" method="post" action="default.aspx" id=" +aspnetForm"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_scriptmngr_HiddenField" i +d="ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_scriptmngr_HiddenField" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="__LASTFOCUS" id="__LASTFOCUS" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="__EVENTTARGET" id="__EVENTTARGET" value="" +/> <input type="hidden" name="__EVENTARGUMENT" id="__EVENTARGUMENT" value +="" /> <input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDw +ULLTIxM" /> </div> [download]	[reply] [d/l]